Sound Advice was established by Alyssa Brugman. Alyssa has been riding from 6 years old and owned horses from 12 years old. Alyssa has written 14 novels published in 8 languages, being shortlisted for many popular choice and literary prizes. Alyssa's books about ponies, published by Penguin Random House are listed below.
Sound Advice started in 2004. After having trouble finding a reliable farrier for her 15 horses, she decided to learn how to do it herself and went down the rabbit-hole of barefoot hoofcare and rehabilitation of both common and unusual lameness. Initially she managed her own horses but soon was caring for horses of neighbours, friends, friends of friends, and strangers with perplexing lameness issues that vets and farriers had given up on.
Soon it was clear that nutrition was equally as important in hoof-care as the rasp, and Alyssa studied equine nutrition. It was clear that many of the supplements and feeds available on the market were not meeting the specific requirements of the horses on her client list. Alyssa began making these supplements for individual horses on her roster. At the same time, developing a range of hoof health products that clients would actually use.
Over time clients moved away, horses were sold to other areas, friends from afar wanted to access these supplements and treatments, and so Sound Advice went online to make these supplements more accessible.
Clients began asking for a range of products - not just nutrition, and so we began to stock unique horse gear that clients couldn’t find elsewhere.
Sound Advice has always been a family business, but as it has grown, members of the family have become involved in the picking, packing, stocktaking, website, socials and warehouse management.
We are still committed to providing what your horse needs, and only what your horse needs, affordably and delivered as promptly as possible from right here in the Hunter Valley.
Books by Alyssa Brugman
Between 2010 and 2014 I wrote 5 books for horsey kids published by Penguin Random House Australia. You can read more about that here.
Brumby Gallery
Below are two galleries from Central Australia and Outback Queensland, which was an opportunity to observe many aspects of horse health, bio dynamics, hoof health, herd dynamics and more in feral populations, learning from academics who have studied wild horses. While staying up to date with academic papers on horse health in domestic horses has always been an important part of our business, being able to compare that with what occurs without human intervention provides an invaluable broader perspective.
In Outback Queensland we mustered a herd of feral horses and started them under saddle, making them a useful resource for the property owner as an alternative to culling.
In Central Australia we took freshly started brumbies into remote terrain (not accessible to vehicles) to observe the herd and band dynamics during breeding season, and look at the some of the control groups of previous studies comparing domestic and feral populations.