My name is Joe Camp, creator of the floppy-eared superstar Benji. I’ve spent most of my life trying to lure you into the heart and soul of a dog. Now with my new book I’m trying to lure you into the heart and soul of a horse because it is there that I began to understand that there was something amiss with the traditional thinking about horses. It all began when I received a surprise birthday gift from my wife Kathleen.

As complete neophytes, without a clue, we were plunged head first into what turned out to be a very enigmatic world of horses, navigating unexpected, uncharted, and often controversial territory. The result is THE SOUL OF A HORSE: Life Lessons from the Herd (Random House/Harmony; On-sale April 29, 2008; Hardcover), a book that we hope will not only entertain you but change the way you think about horses. We’re told it’s an engaging, emotional and often humorous book, but we'd like to think it's also an important book about our discovery of a majestic creature who has survived on this planet without humans for fifty-five million years. Our journey parallels that of a fabled herd in the wild as we try to make sense out of this new and perplexing world.

When a new foal is born it is genetically encoded to be a wild horse, a prey animal meant to travel ten to twenty miles a day on unshod feet, eating small amounts around the clock, avoiding predators, and living with the family herd for safety. Yet the majority of domestic horses today are stabled alone, stand in one place around the clock, wear metal shoes, and are fed twice a day from a trough in a box stall. None of that seemed to make sense to us. We were asking a lot of questions and getting a lot of answers that didn’t compute. We talked with authorities in veterinary medicine, equine research, training, equine psychology, and natural hoof care. When logic was missing we dug ever deeper, ultimately discovering that this so-called traditional kind of horse care actually cuts a domestic horse’s life in half. And we discovered that relationship with a horse begins with choice. The horse’s choice.

Monty Roberts, New York Times #1 best-selling author of THE MAN WHO LISTENS TO HORSES says: "Joe Camp is a natural when it comes to understanding how animals tick and a genius at telling us their story. THE SOUL OF A HORSE is a must read for those who love animals of any species."

We hope you will help us make a difference for domestic horses everywhere by passing the word about the book along to your friends and associates. At Amazon.com, just after the pre-order page went up a few weeks ago, the book began ranked at something well over one million. A few days ago it was down to 3812. The more this happens, the more Amazon will pay attention, and the more good news gets back to the publisher, and the whole thing begins to snowball. At this stage it’s truly one of those times when a very few people can make a very big difference. So we're asking everyone who can to pre-order a book and ask your friends and their friends to do the same. Amazon is offering a pre-order price that is one-third off the publication day price. And Katheen and I are offering a signed and personally inscribed bookplate to anyone who pre-orders. Instructions to receive the bookplate are on our website page linked below:

To pre-order THE SOUL OF A HORSE at Amazon.com or your favorite bookseller and receive a personally inscribed bookplate, visit: http://www.thesoulofahorse.com/Pre-Order-Reviews.htm

To read early reviews: http://www.thesoulofahorse.com/PraiseForTSOAH.htm

For more about our efforts and passions for animals go to: http://www.thesoulofahorse.com/PressRoom.htm

Thank you so very, very much.

Kindest regards,

Joe Camp