Richard Shrake wrote, "If you love horses, read this book.!" Why? Because Getting It Right: A Close Look at Equine Flooring" provides an unbiased analysis of what can be expected from fourteen different types of stall footing. Over thirty years, these different types and more than fifty different brands were tested and compared. However, the purpose was not to declare the "best" or the "worst" products, but rather to provide a detailed analysis of what each would, and would not do. With this information the reader can evaluate his or her priorities and make an educated choice on footing for stalls. Other sections provide information on: Bedding: what can be expected as it interacts with various types of footing. Flooring for aisle ways, wash bays, tack and feed rooms. A special chapter on foaling stalls. Outdoor footing, sections on corrals, turnouts and round pens. Arena Construction, indoors and out. An amazing new approach. Beyond the barn. Feeding stations, gateways, water troughs and on the trail. Twelve Guidelines: Selecting the right stall flooring the first time. Containing charts and 46 full color photographs, the information this book offers will benefit owners of a single horse to a large stable. "If you love horses, read this book! --- Richard Shrake "This book's approach gives horses the ultimate in stall cleanliness and comfort while giving us more quality time with our friend, the horse." --- Karen Scholl "Getting It Right: A Close Look at Equine Footing" is a valuable source of unbiased information that every horse owner should have to help make critical decisions about one of the key management aspects of owning a horse." --- Kevin Hankins, DVM, MBA "This book does a fine job of surveying the issues of horse flooring and addressing the many challenges. Thank you very much for providing this and your other information in an easy to use and understand format." --- Professor Eileen Wheeler, Penn State Univ.
About the Author: Lyn Walker is a former university professor who retired to write a book. Now, four books later, "Getting It Right: A Close Look at Equine Footing", reflects my love for horses. As a child, working with my father, we experimented with every type of stall flooring available because "he just knew that there had to be something better." His plan was to try a type of flooring for a year. If the flooring met his expectations, we would keep it, but none of them ever did. So each spring we took that flooring out and replaced it with a new one that seemed promising. I assumed that every horse owner did this, and it was only years later that I realized I had never met anyone else who did. However, by working with my dad in these experimental stalls, I learned about horses. I could tell when they were comfortable or uncomfortable and then how to figure out what might be the cause. My dad called it "Reading Horses". Later, my husband and I concluded that since, the perfect stall flooring had not yet been found, we needed to continued the search. By this time, several more flooring options were available and our odd obsession was known in some horse circles. Even though we had not yet found the perfect flooring, we had a very clear understanding of horse footing and what various products would or would not do. So we began to be asked to conduct clinics and seminars and to test new flooring and bedding products. At great length, we have studied the impact that various stall footings have on horses. Similarly, we have also recorded what various products do from the stand point of cleanup and maintenance. Then finally, the search for the perfect flooring was rewarded. After using it in numerous applications for over ten years, we can say with certainty, that at least, there is a flooring that does everything that we had been looking for. There is a flooring that is safe; comfortable, and dry for the horse. One that requires almost no maintenance and and very little cleanup time. Now, the book I had been working on for years is finished. As an advocate for horses, this book, "Getting it Right: A Close Look at Equine Footing" is dedicated "to horses everywhere" with the hope that it will enable horse owners to better understand their horses' needs, and why, what your horse stands on matters.