Recently I stumbled upon a set of coloring books my mother still refuses to throw away. Between the pages you’ll see pink ponies, bright green grass and blue skies—all neatly colored between the lines of course.
I haven’t seen these books in years, and it’s been just as long since I’ve actually drawn in one.
So when I found out about this coloring book for adults, I was intrigued! We know about the three main methods of learning: hearing, seeing, and doing. For me, I’m very much a visual and do-it-yourself type of learner. And this got me thinking….maybe using a coloring book to learn horse anatomy isn’t so strange after all?
Check out this review on Horse Anatomy: A Coloring Atlas, from Margaret Freeman of Horse Journal magazine:
This textbook takes the concept of a coloring book a big leap forward from preschool to vet school. With your choice of colored markers in hand, you can trace the details of horse anatomy rather than just gaze at them on the page. This is no book for hobbyists. It’s for serious horsemen.
The book contains 81 line drawings with anatomy structures numbered and labeled. Each plate has a list of the structures on the facing page, many with further details concerning function. You’re supposed to color in the structures listed by bold-face type on the facing page. It’s a clever and effective way to learn these structures. The details are at a sophisticated level. They’re aimed more for adults with a pretty complete understanding of equine anatomy. This book can also function as a reference work for horse anatomy, but there are better choices out there (already in color!), including several works by Susan Harris.
Bottom Line: A useful, well-organized interactive book that facilitates learning very detailed information.
Best Suited For: Serious students of horse anatomy.
You’ll be disappointed if: You’re looking for a basic reference with lots of pretty colored pictures.
