Girls and Horses

Summer vacation was a great time to tackle a horse unit study.  The future veterinarian (Olivia) was in heaven working through all these things.  Lindsey seemed to enjoy it as well.
First I wanted all of us to get a better understanding of horses in general. So we read, A LOT!

Books we used:
Horse Breeds; by Daniel & Samantha Johnson
Arabian Horses; by Julie Murray
Pinto Horses; by Julie Murray
Ponies and Horses; by  Fiona Lock
The Essential Guide for Young Equestrians; by Libby Hamilton
Horse Crazy; by Jessie Haas
The Usborne Book of Horses and Ponies; by Lucy Smith
All About Drawing Horses and Pets; by Walter Foster
Complete Horse Care; by Judith Draper
A Field Full of Horses; by Peter Hansard, Illustrated by Kenneth Lilly
Hammond Undercover Horses; by Fran Hodgkins
Fold Our Horse and Pony; by Paul Calver

Then I went to the 4-H site and found great resources for those of us who don’t own a horse (yet).  These helped Olivia and Lindsey to really reinforce what we’ve read and learned.

4-H Publications we used:Horseless Horse Project 1
Horseless Horse Project 2
Horseless Horse Project 3
Horseless Horse Project 4

Crafts:Melissa & Doug Decorate Your Own Horse Figurine
Horse Acetate Sun catcher from Oriental Trading (discontinued I assume since I can’t find them on their site now).

Olivia loved the All About Drawing Horses and Pets book!


Olivia organized the 50 breeds of horses in order of her preference (since it was her gift).   Then Lindsey added the 1-50 stickers as she practiced her counting.


To wrap it all us we went to a horse show to get some up close info on horses.  The girls LOVED it (105 degree temperature, not so much).  We spent time identifying  equipment, different breeds, markings and gaits.  




This is one of my favorite photos of the day!  Love my tie-dye wearing cowgirl as she watches the riders through the fence.