The organic horse - Peter Gray

Here, Gray provides a close look at how we can improve our horses' well-being through a more thorough understanding of the effects of contaminants, additives and the like on the immune system. The "organic horse" is the horse designed by nature, free of defects that might arise as a result of poor management, or even environmental pollution. It is an ideal state, something that we should all aim to achieve for the sake of our horses.;Many of the diseases which affect our horses today are either man-made or, at least, precipitated by factors over which we have some degree of control. The level of contagious disease reflects our failure to understand how infection is induced and spread, or to accommodate natural immunity. The question arises: are we better off trying to keep contamination down in the first place rather than using potentially harmful drugs to improve the situation, even if these are not toxic (as far as we know) to the horse?;And what of the water and food our horses consume? Are nutritionists pressing nature too far? Can we ignore the influences of known toxins, even if they are only detected in tiny amounts? Can these trigger off low grade disease? This book answers all these questions, among others.