The amazing thing about horses is there's one out there suited for just about every human. They come in all colors, shapes, and sizes, and we've trained them to excel at any number of riding sports that appeal to human personalities across the board. But until now, there hasn't been an internationally recognized, competitive horse sport dedicated to those horse lovers who most enjoy working their horse from the ground. With Horse Agility, that's all changing. Over the past few decades, an evolution in how we go about training horses has encouraged horse owners to spend more time handling their horse on the ground in order to achieve good behavior, mutual trust, and a healthy partnership before they ever think about getting in the saddle. This has created a generation of horsemen and women perfectly poised to pursue the competitive and social benefits of the sport of Horse Agility. "The Horse Agility Handbook" has all you need to get started in the sport, including lessons in handling and body language, directions for obstacle and course construction, and information for managing competitions and "play days".
The classic guide that builders, architects, and students have relied on for almost 20 years has been completely updated to cover new materials, construction methods, and the latest building code revisions. The standard reference in its field, Rob Thallons Graphic Guide to Frame Construction is the ultimate visual guide to building with wood. Filled with hundreds of detailed drawings, helpful annotations, and field-tested advice, the guide covers foundations, floors, walls, roofs, and stairs. This third revised edition also offers additional information on advanced framing, engineered and composite materials, and construction in high-wind and seismic areas.
The first edition of "Gaia's Garden" sparked the imagination of America's home gardeners, introducing perm culture's central message: Working with Nature, not against her, results in more beautiful, abundant, and forgiving gardens. This extensively revised and expanded second edition broadens the reach and depth of the perm culture approach for urban and suburban growers. Many people mistakenly think that ecological gardening, which involves growing a wide range of edible and other useful plants, can take place only on a large, multiacre scale. As Hemenway demonstrates, it's fun and easy to create a "backyard ecosystem" by assembling communities of plants that can work cooperatively and perform a variety of functions, including: Building and maintaining soil fertility and structure; catching and conserving water in the landscape; providing habitat for beneficial insects, birds, and animals; growing an edible "forest" that yields seasonal fruits, nuts, and other foods. This revised and updated edition also features a new chapter on urban perm culture, designed especially for people in cities and suburbs who have very limited growing space. Whatever size yard or garden you have to work with, you can apply basic perm culture principles to make it more diverse, more natural, more productive, and more beautiful. Best of all, once it's established, an ecological garden will reduce or eliminate most of the backbreaking work that's needed to maintain the typical lawn and garden.
The powerful bond between humans and dogs is one that's uniquely cherished. Loyal, obedient, and affectionate, they are truly "man's best friend". But do dogs love us the way we love them, Emory University neuroscientist Gregory Berns had spent decades using MRI imaging technology to study how the human brain works, but a different question still nagged at him: "What is my dog thinking", After his family adopted Callie, a shy, skinny terrier mix, Berns decided that there was only one way to answer that question use an MRI machine to scan the dog's brain. His colleagues dismissed the idea. Everyone knew that dogs needed to be restrained or sedated for MRI scans. But if the military could train dogs to operate calmly in some of the most challenging environments, surely there must be a way to train dogs to sit in an MRI scanner. With this radical conviction, Berns and his dog would embark on a remarkable journey and be the first to glimpse the inner workings of the canine brain. Berns's research offers surprising results on how dogs empathize with human emotions, how they love us, and why dogs and humans share one of the most remarkable friendships in the animal kingdom. "How Dogs Love Us" answers the age-old question of dog lovers everywhere and offers profound new evidence that dogs should be treated as we would treat our best human friends: with love, respect, and appreciation for their social and emotional intelligence.