The Truth about Feeding your Horse is a very informative and enjoyable read covering every aspect of nutrition an equine student or equine owner would require. The book eases you in gently as the reader by beginning with an overview of nutrition and feeding, including a metric units conversion chart, before beginning with the Anatomy behind nutrition - ‘The Digestive Tract’. 

With a total of sixteen chapters and two hundred and seventytwo pages, Macleod covers a range of topics from basic feeding, supplements and pasture to feeding for performance, reproduction, old age and even illness. The chapter ‘Clinical Illness’ offers a breakdown of feed related problems, detailing preventative and correctional methods, written in a language suitable for the everyday horse owner.

I personally found this book a very good read. The excellent use of figures and tables throughout allows the equine enthusiast to not only increase their knowledge of a particular component for successful feeding, but enables comparisons to be made in relation to their own horse’s diet (which is frequently a topic that is covered on my course and no doubt many others).

The presentation of the book works very well, the use of colour photos, tables, charts and carefully divided chapters allows for an aesthetically pleasing read. This book hosts a clear Contents page with chapter sub-sections and two separate Contents pages featuring a list of tables and figures allowing for easy reference.

In summary the text is written professionally allowing the more in depth side of nutrition to be discovered, in a friendly easy to relate to way, without over complicating or patronising the reader. I would certainly recommend this book to any higher education equine student covering nutrition or simply the average horse owner who longs to understand the complex science that is correct feeding.

This book is spot on!

Kirsty Whittle
BSc (Hons) Equine Management, Hadlow College