Catherine Bird's A Healthy Horse the Natural Way is one of a select few books that I repeatedly recommend and loan to clients. The book was off my bookshelf so often that when I finally found one at a used book store, I snapped it up so I would have a loaner copy. For a clear, concise and effective overview of a range of healing modalities - massage, aromatherapy, homeopathy, herbs, flower essences - it can't be beat.

The massage section is exceptionally well illustrated, and the chapter on essential oils gives horse-specific information that just isn't available in other resources (unless you're lucky enough to also own Catherine's self-published book on the subject).

You'll see this book recommended in several categories on the new Desert Horse Bookshelf simply because it's one of the very best resources I know of on several alternative healing modalities. The author is a veteran human massage therapist from Sydney, Australia. (She's been doing therapeutic massage long enough that in the early days she frequently had to explain to potential male clients the difference between therapeutic massage and the massage parlor kinds of services!) She's also a gifted aromatherapist and one of the pioneers of using the modality in work with horses.

Several years ago, I had the pleasure of "meeting" Catherine on an email listserve. She was incredibly knowledgeable and very generous about sharing that knowledge. The information in this book represents a collaboration of several of my favorite people from that amazing group of healers and horsewomen - U.S herbalist Patty Salmon-Duffy, Australian homeopath Tanya Nolte and British aromatherapist Lyn Palmer.

It's great to have personal experience with the sources of a healing reference. I know that the information in this book is completely trustworthy, presented by a practitioner with depth and breadth of education and practical knowledge of the subjects. I recommend the information in this book completely without reservation.

For years I've said that if I win the lottery, I'd like to go spend a year following Catherine around and learning from her. In lieu of that (you can't win if you don't play?!), I have her wisdom and insights in print, and so can you.