Horse Activity Books
The Art of Animal Drawing: Construction, Action Analysis, Caricature by Ken Hultgren.
Want to draw more than horses? This is a wonderful book that provides a LOT of drawing material and instruction. He uses horses in most of the instructional sections, and includes the skeletal and muscular structure of the horses. Horses are shown in a variety of poses and angles. And, he shows horses' legs in different positions (that's the part I find the most challenging to draw accurately).
A former Disney animator, Hultgren provides instruction and examples for drawing animals both realistically and as caricatures. Use of line, brush technique, establishing mood, conveying action, much more. Construction drawings reveal development process in creating animal figures. Many chapters on drawing individual animal forms — dogs, cats, horses, deer, cows, foxes, kangaroos. 53 halftones, 706 line illustrations.
Originally published in 1950.
Retail $10.95
Paperback: 144
8 3/8 x 11 inches
This is technically a watercolor book, but I think it is useful for anyone interested in drawing horses. It could be easily adapted for those who use colored pencils.
There are some good technical pages on the horse's skeletal and muscular structure, drawing the eyes from different positions, some info on photographing horses, creating photo composites from different poses, and a useful color palette.
I'm a little partial to this book as it is the work of Janet Griffin-Scott, the illustrator of my Sonrise Stable series. :)
* One Amazon review criticism is that the sample projects consist of similar-colored horses. That is true. Other than one gray pony, the other horses in the book are all bays or chestnuts. A little more variety in color would have made it even better, but I still think it's a useful book.
Also, the photos make the book look huge. It's 6.5" x 9.5" as noted below.
Paperback: 64 pages
Publisher: Walter Foster
ISBN: 978-1600582097
Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 0.2 x 9.5 inches
John Green has created some incredibly realistic and detailed horse coloring books for Dover. The Big Book of Horses to Color combines 4 of those into one thick,158 page coloring book to give your horse-crazy child, teen, or yourself plenty of opportunities to color! The pictures are detailed enough for adults to enjoy, and especially well suited for colored pencils.
The individual Dover books included in BBH are:
Favorite Horses
Horses of the World
Wonderful World of Horses
Ponies of the World
Brief information about the horse or pony breed may be found at the bottom of each page.
30 adorable and fun coloring pages for younger horse lovers depict ponies with their animal and people friends. Comes with 24 horse stickers. A breed guide is included for the stickers. There aren't particular locations on the pages to place the stickers. Children can place the stickers in the coloring book or on other items. Stickers are not reuseable.
30 coloring pages with brief captions
24 horse stickers
Breed guide to numbered stickers.
32 pages
8.25 x 11 inches
This Dover coloring book contains 30 detailed drawings featuring a variety of horses and scenic backgrounds. Each picture also contains a horse-themed quote, such as "To ride on a horse is to fly without wings."
Crayons or colored pencils can be used to color these images.
32 pages
8.25 x 11 inches
There's a surprising amount of information packed into this Dover coloring book aimed at slightly older children who are interested in learning about horses. This would be a good supplement to a study of the horse. (brief mention of evolution on the intro page)
Factual information includes:
Parts of the horse
Horse Skeleton
Muscles
Determining approximate age from changes in the teeth
Facial and leg markings
Several typical breeds
English and Western tack, saddles, bridles, bits
Care and feeding
Hoof parts and farrier care
Grooming and clipping
Basic riding tips and exercises
Gaits of the horse
Horse shows, jumping, rodeo
Grade level : 3 - 8
Paperback : 48 pages
This book features 31 horse illustrations by John Green. The back of each page is blank, and the pages are perforated so they may easily be removed from the book to display the artwork or send to a relative or friend.
A sample image in color is included on the inside front and back covers.
A variety of horses and settings are included, however the pages do not have captions.
The pictures are detailed enough for adults to enjoy as well as children, and are especially well suited for colored pencils.
Dover's horse coloring books are not what you typically imagine when you think of a coloring book.
Horses of the World presents a pictorial history of the horse including fascinating facts about horses-history, breeds, types and more. Each page depicts realistic scenes of horses - in the fields, racing, at shows and in battle. Included are an exotic Arabian steed shown mounted by one of Napoleon's soldiers, and mustangs roaming free on the western range. Informative captions provide accurate background and information for each breed.
42 detailed line drawings of horses from around the world including breeds from Europe, Asia, North and South America
Brief description of each image including details about the breed and color
Glossary of horse colors
The Dover Horse Coloring Books include beautiful, detailed drawings. Crayons or colored pencils can be used to color these images.
48 pages
8.25 x 11 inches
Ponies of the World presents 42 beautifully drawn images of pony breeds including the American Shetland, Welsh mountain pony, a Sable Island mare with her foal, as well as a Chincoteague, Camargue, Fjord, Highland, Palomino, and other ponies. The ponies are portrayed with both young and adult riders.
42 detailed line drawings of ponies from around the world
Brief description of each image including details about the breed and color
Glossary of horse colors
The Dover Horse Coloring Books include beautiful, detailed drawings. Crayons or colored pencils can be used to color these images.
48 pages
8.25 x 11 inches
The wonderful grace and beauty of horses is featured in this collection of 30 illustrations. Handsome equines — from Clydesdales to show horses — are depicted in the wild and at work.
30 detailed line drawings of horses
Brief captions below each image
The Dover Horse Coloring Books include beautiful, detailed drawings. Crayons or colored pencils can be used to color these images.
32 pages
8.25 x 11 inches
Ignore the "Adult Coloring Book" in the title. This is perfectly suitable for kids as well. :)
Probably best with colored pencils. The coloring book contains 36 beautiful grayscale horses - thumbnails of each are shown in the sample images. The back of each page is blank. They are not perforated, but could be cut out of the book if desired.
Ruth Sanderson is the illustrator of the Horse Diaries books and many other horse books. The drawings included in this coloring book are amazing. Some of them are illustrations used in those books.
Each of these images would serve as good sketching practice as well.
80 Pages
Dimensions: 8 1/4 x 11
You can find a tutorial for one of the horses from this coloring book on Youtube.
Bright and colorful, this sticker and activity book will appeal to young horse lovers. Stickers relate to horse/pony breeds, colors, parts, communication, tack, gaits, foals, horses at work, and horse shows.
In addition to applying stickers to the appropriate pages, other activities include:
mazes
dot to dots
pair matching
find what's different
coloring
drawing
There are plenty of photo horse stickers and stickers of horse-related items such as tack. The "over 1,000 stickers!" on the cover is an exaggeration. To reach that number, they include a lot of small stickers, some not even related to horses - stars, butterflies, flowers, etc.
Suggested age range: 4 - 8 years
Paperback: 40 pages
On the sticker pages, some of the stickers have associated questions. Remove the sticker to reveal the answer to the question. The book has many horse-themed pages for children to place related stickers on and to draw on as well. Lots of horse stickers and stickers of horse-related items!
Horse crazy kids will love this colorful horse sticker book from DK. It's colorful. Even when the stickers are completed, the book still contains useful text - breed descriptions, etc. and colorful illustrations.
Note that the riding horses and tack in the book are all English, not Western.
This sticker activity book begins with outlined shapes representing different breeds of horses and ponies. Each has a brief description as well. Find the full-color sticker that matches that outline/description.
Parts of the horse - eight stickers representing parts of the horse are placed onto a horse in the proper location. Most of these are pretty obvious - tail, mane, head, hoof, then inexplicably something more specific: croup. :)
Stickers of horses (7) used for various types of work are placed into the appropriate settings.
Additional activities:
Facial marking stickers (3)
Coat colors/patterns (4)
English tack stickers (8)
Cross country jumpers (6)
Sticker quiz (10)
Various additional stickers for unspecified use
The book claims that you can re-use the stickers, but I wouldn't count on that.
The indicated age range is 5 to 7 years. I think it could extend a year or two beyond that.
Paperback: 32 pages, 8.5 x 11
Fun book from Walter Foster, full of information and activities for horse-crazy girls. Includes horse breeds, drawing lessons, fun facts, crafts, baking horse treats, horse trivia, maze, word search, crossword puzzle, diary/writing pages, punch out doorknob hanger, bookmarks, postcards, punch out cardstock horses, and horse stickers.
Format: Paperback , 112 Pages
Size: 8.5 in x 11 in / 216 mm x 279 mm
Suggested Age Range: 6-8 years (I think it could go a little below and above these ages)
When my youngest daughter was about 10, she had an entire wall of her room covered in horse posters (sticky tack works great). She would have loved this book of posters.
It contains 30 beautiful, full-color images of a variety of horse breeds. Some are at work, with rider or in harness, others are "free."
The back of each poster contains information about where the horse comes from, what it’s good at, and other interesting facts about the breed.
Check out the Wild About Horses poster book also!
Which book is better? Wild For Horses or Horse Breeds Poster Book?
I'd say most horse-crazy kids would appreciate both! One for Christmas, another for birthday? :)
The Horse Breeds Poster Book has 30 posters, where Wild for Horses has 26 (2 of those are larger).
Wild For Horses is super colorful and has some very interesting and unique photos.
WFH also has text/slogans on some of the posters. For example, a barrel racing photo says "Don't be afraid to chase your dreams." The HBPB has only the breed name on each poster.
The WFH flash cards would be good for kids wanting to learn to recognize horse breeds from a photo. They could quiz themselves or have a parent quiz them.
Paperback: 64 pages
Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 9.3 inches
Horses are happiest when they have a friend. The Horses and Friends Poster Book offers 30 poster-size photos of some of the happiest friendships in the animal kingdom. Horses with ponies. Horses with miniature donkeys. Horses with goats. Horses with dogs. Horses with cats. Even horses with chickens and ducks.
All 30 candid photos are in full-color. They capture horses and their animal companions in one-of-a-kind moments that are sweet, funny, and tender. These are pictures even the casual horse lover will find impossible to resist.
Kids can pull out the posters and cover an entire wall of their bedroom with these cute and colorful horse posters.
Paperback: 64 pages
Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 9.3 inches
In Drawing Horses by equine artist and illustrator Ruth Sanderson, you'll practice drawing realistic horses in 25 step-by-step lessons. Each lesson includes a starting photo reference depicting different breeds and types of horses.
Sanderson includes specific details about horse anatomy and drawing ears, eyes, muzzle, nostrils, and legs. Some lessons focus on the the horse's heads, while others include the full body with different poses and gaits. Some of the lessons include using colored pencils on toned paper.
Ruth Sanderson's horse illustrations include the Horse Diaries, the Black Stallion covers, Hush Little Horsie, Summer Pony, and Winter Pony!
Paperback: 80 pages
Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 11 inches