four legs and a tale

by Alan Walker

The autobiography of equine vet Alan Walker.

For nine successive generations, father to son, the Walkers have served the same widespread rural community on the borders of South Warwickshire and North Oxfordshire, first as farriers and then as vets, since as long ago as the late 17th century.

Alan, the first to gain full formal RCVS qualification as a veterinary surgeon, went on to specialise in the treatment of racehorses, making his name with trainers such as Jenny and Mark Pitman, John and Paul Webber, John and Martin Bosley, John Upson, Peter Hiatt and Peter Pritchard.

In Four Legs And A Tale Alan recalls the many great and often very colourful characters, both human and equine, that he has worked with over the years. He also traces the development of the family practice he inherited from his father from its humble origins in a small, white, tin-roofed shed in the back yard of the old manor house in which he grew up into a modern veterinary hospital. In writing about the Walker family history he also provides a fascinating insight into country life in rural England in the days when his grandfather, and even his father, still did their rounds of outlying farms in a pony and trap and mixed all their own potions, using herbs and plants they either grew themselves or collected from the fields and hedgerows.

It is, in so many different ways, a uniquely enthralling story.

Available direct from Alan Walker at Hook Norton Vets, Whitehills Surgery, Sibford Road, Hook Norton, Oxfordshire, OX15 5DG (Cheque made out to J A Walker) or via email: jawalker8@gmail.com (pay by PayPal)

Price £12.50 + £1.75 p&p.

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