Shane's Mane

Shane's Mane by Nicole Drumheller Gargus is the story about a young girl who learns it's not difficult to learn new things like reading a book and riding a horse.

Orla helps her Grandpa take care of the horses and usually she wears her favorite pair of shoes - her dirty, smelly barn boots. Grandpa rides Shane, a large grey horse that Grandpa says could hurt Orla. But she is allowed to brush him.

Grandpa lets Orla ride a pony but he leads her around slowly. Orla wants to gallop like Grandpa did on Shane.

One day, Orla has a magical experience with Shane (Children - DON'T try this at home!) that makes her confident in both her riding and reading. And she learns she should NEVER be in the barn without her boots!

The book includes colorful photographs and many details I loved: the dirt clod shaped like a hoofprint; the description of the spring flowers; and the magical trail ride.

Visit http://shanesmane.com/ for more info and to order Shane's Mane.

HORSES in Living Color

HORSES in Living Color by Barbara D. Livingston is a beautiful coffee table book for any horse lover. For me, it's the next best thing to seeing a real horse.

The photos are large and clear with action, posed and natural shots depicting a diverse color range. Not only the common Appaloosas, Paints and Palominos, but also rare breeds like the North American Curly, Knabstrupper, Assateague Ponies and Przewalski's Horse. Even Zebras.

I didn't know there were brindle colored horses, badger faces (like a bald face but opposite color) or markings such as Bend Or spots named after a Thoroughbred who had them. She even included photos of the rare markings on a zorse and zonkey!

Visit her site and store at http://www.barbaralivingston.com/

Reading this book brought to mind my friend's Windfield Morgan Farm in Litchfield, Connecticut. Lee Lyons has bred and raised Morgan Horses for decades, and now her focus is on the rare colors. From the site http://www.windfieldmorganfarm.com:
"Recently, Windfield Morgan Farm expanded into the wonderful world of colorful Morgans and now is home to an exciting array of buckskins, palominos and the rarer duns, creams, perlinos and grays that combine the exceptional quality of the Windfield Morgan breeding program with dazzling colors. Of course, the traditional blacks, bays and chestnuts are all still featured."