Horses!

I've now had two homeschool consulting clients decide they'd like to do a block on Horses with their children, and I think it's a great MLB topic. It is always fun to create a block based on your child's interests! Getting into a stable and learning hands-on how to properly take care of a horse is the best. But I'm also working on a booklist of horse resources I like. Of course, suggestions are always welcome!

The Human Being and the Animal World
by Charles Kovacs
The Horse, chapter 11

Horse Care -

Seasons of the Horse: A Practical Guide to Year-Round Equine Care
by Jackie Budd
the best book if you want Horse Care to be the heart of your block!

horse diagram (Wikipedia)

Understanding Basic Equine Gaits
introductory -- this is fun to do with four teacups turned upside down



Gaits of a Horse (PDF)
more detailed information

How to Draw a Horse -

Live Education! Drawing Simple Animal Forms (grade 2)


Drawing from the Book of Nature
by Dennis Klocek
extensive Horse section, pp.83-87

Painting -

Painting and Drawing in Waldorf Schools: Classes 1 to 8
by Thomas Wildgruber
Horse p.210

Clay -

Learning About the World Through Modeling: Sculptural Ideas for School and Home
by Arthur Auer
Horse p.101, Relief: Horse and Rider p. 104 (grade 6)

Knitting -

A First Book of Knitting for Children: 2nd Edition
by Bonnie Gosse and Jill Allerton
Horse, pp.79-82
(in the first edition, this pattern is on pages 64-69)

Horse & Buggy -

Amish Home
by Raymond Bial

Horse-head Fiddle (Morin Khuur) -

Airag - Fermented Mare's Milk - Mongolian Beverage


Play Me a Story: Nine Tales About Musical Instruments
retold by Naomi Adler and Greta Cencetti
Mongolia, pp.14-21

Native American Legends -

Turquoise Boy: A Navajo Legend
retold by Terri Cohlene


Knots on a Counting Rope
by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault

Famous Horses in History -

House
by Albert Lorenz
Trojan Horse
Siege of Troy, 1250 BCE

chapters 10 "Fairy-Tale Gods" and 11 "A Fairy-Tale War"
from A Child's History of the World by V.M. Hillyer (1951)


Ice! The Amazing History of the Ice Business
by Laurence Pringle
1800s


Goliath: Hero of the Great Baltimore Fire
by Claudia Friddell
The Great Baltimore Fire, 1904


Sergeant Reckless: The True Story of the Little Horse Who Became a Hero
by Patricia McCormick
Korean War, 1950

Favorite Horses in Literature -

King of the Wind: The Story of the Godolphin Arabian
by Marguerite Henry (Newbery winner)



Misty of Chincoteague / Stormy, Misty's Foal
by Marguerite Henry
movie - 1961 - rated G

Following in the Wake of a Storybook Pony
The New York Times - July 8, 2019

Pony Swim Guide
chincoteague.com
2025 will be the 100th Pony Swim!

100th ANNUAL CHINCOTEAGUE PONY SWIM & AUCTION
JULY 30 & 31, 2025


Brighty of the Grand Canyon
by Marguerite Henry



My Friend Flicka / Thunderhead
by Mary O'Hara



National Velvet
by Enid Bagnold
movie - 1944 - rated G

photo #1
photo #2
photo #3



Black Beauty
by Anna Sewell



The Black Stallion
by Walter Farley
movie - 1979 - rated G

additional books in the Black Stallion series



The Little White Horse
by Elizabeth Gouge
(fantasy... and it's a unicorn... but I absolutely LOVE this book!)

Horse Poems -

"Horses in the Rain" by Dorothy Harrer, p.16
from Verses and Poems and Stories to Tell
link is to FREE downloadable PDF from the Online Waldorf Library



The Waldorf Book of Poetry
edited by David Kennedy

"The Horse" by Roy Wilkinson, p.149
"The Leap of Roushan Beg" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, p.161



The Random House Book of Poetry for Children
edited by Jack Prelutsky

"The Wild, the Free" by Lord Byron, p.63
"The Horseman" by Walter de la Mare, p.200



Talking Like the Rain: A Read-to-Me Book of Poems
edited by X.J. and Dorothy M. Kennedy

"The Four Horses" by James Reeves, p.55



Eric Carle's Animals Animals
edited by Laura Whipple

excerpt from Shakespeare, p.74
haiku by Kyorai, p.75





haiku by Issa, p.178



Favorite Poems Old and New
edited by Helen Ferris

excerpt from The Bible, p.163



Bone Poems
by Jeff Moss

"An Ancient Horse," p.46

Ancestors of the Horse -

Grandmother Fish: A Child's First Book of Evolution
by Jonathan Tweet
your cousin, Cousin Horse



Amazing Evolution: The Journey of Life
by Anna Claybourne

Horse Family Tree, page 50
includes Hyracotherium, Orohippus, Mesohippus, Miohippus, Parahippus, Merychippus, Pliohippus, Equus


note the similarity between these scientific names and Hippopotamus ("water horse")



The Story of Life: Evolution
by Katie Scott

Paleogene Period, 65 MYA - 23 MYA
Chalicotherium, Hyracotherium (pp.60-61)



Life on Earth: The Story of Evolution
by Steve Jenkins

New Species (Hyracotherium, Equus)



When the Whales Walked and Other Incredible Evolutionary Journeys by Dougal Dixon

Odd Toes, p.45 (Hyracotheirum, Equus)



by Hélène Rajcak and Damien Laverdunt

Paleogene Period
Propalaeotherium (pp.58-59), lived 50 MYA - 41 MYA

although they are close together in time, Hyracotherium is older and considered the earliest horse on the Tree of Life
(it lived 55 MYA - 45 MYA)



Life Story
by Virginia Lee Burton

Paleogene Period, 65 MYA - 23 MYA
Eocene Epoch - Hyracotherium - four toes (p.33)
Oligocene Epoch - Mesohippus - three toes (p.35)

Neogene Period, 23 MYA - 2.58 MYA
Miocene Epoch - Merychippus (p.37)
Pliocene Epoch - Pliohippus - one toe (p.39)

Quaternary Period, 2.58 MYA - present
Pleistocene Epoch - Ice Age horse (p.41)


(predator to these smaller Neogene horses: the Terror Bird!)




Now You Know About Animals of the Ice Age
by Anne Neigoff

map with migration of Ice Age horse (pp.8-11, 25)

Scientific Names -

a horse is Equus ferus caballus

How Two of the Rarest Horses on Earth Got Lost
The New York Times - Oct 23, 2024
Przewalski’s (Mongolian wild horse)


Waiting for the Biblioburro
by Monica Brown
burro is the Spanish word for donkey, Equus africanus asinus

a zebra is
Grévy's zebra (Equus grevyi)
Plains zebra (Equus quagga)
Mountain zebra (Equus zebra)


Creature Camouflage: Hidden Endangered Animals
Grevy's zebra


Match a Track: Match 25 Animals to Their Paw Prints
compare zebra tracks to horse tracks

an onager is Equus hemionus

a quagga is Equus quagga quagga but became extinct in 1883


Belle, The Last Mule at Gee's Bend: A Civil Rights Story
by Calvin Alexander Ramsey and Bettye Stroud
A mule is the offspring of a male donkey (jack) and a female horse (mare). It does not have a scientific name but is refered to as E. africanus asinus♂ × E. ferus caballus♀.

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