Sarah Minkiewicz'Breunig's recommended book list

- Click on the titles to order directly from Amazon.com!

"Modelling and Sculpting Animals" by Edouard Lanteri, Dover books available from Amazon ($8.76)- Anatomy for sculpting horses & various other animals - has EXTREMELY clear diagrams of layers from the bones up (skeleton, underlying muscles, exterior muscles etc) from side views, above, below and each leg from ALL FOUR sides. Plus has plates showing sculptures of "flayed" horses at different muscle levels and completed. One of the easiest to make out diagram wise, I find it EXTREMELY useful!

"An Atlas of Animal Anatomy for Artists" by Wilhelm Ellenberger, from Amazon: ($8.76) - another excellent anatomy reference

"The Anatomy of the Horse" by George Stubbs, paperback available from Amazon ($13.56), The classic reference (but keep in mind he was working from dead ones hanging from the rafters so there is some distortion!)

"International Encyclopedia of Horse Breeds" by Bonnie L. Hendricks, $46.97 at Amazon. Entries describe some 394 horse breeds, with information on natural history, areas of origin, and each breed's uses, as well as gaits, markings, and styles of training. Includes information on little-known breeds from China, Turkey, the former Soviet Union, and the US. Contains b&w and color photos, listings of horse breed organizations, and a glossary.

"Horse Gaits, Balance and Movement " by Susan Harris, Hardcover from Amazon: $22.00 - FANTASTIC book diagramming all the gaits, indispensable for pose selection

"Animals in Motion" by Eadweard Muybridge, hardcover $23.96 from Amazon. The classic from the first photographer to document motion, showing a variety of breeds and types of horses at every phase of every gait! There is also a paperback listed "Horses and Other Animals in Motion" at $8.76 but have not seen that one in person

"Equine Color Genetics " by Phillip Sponenberg $44.95 at Amazon
and
"Horse Color " by Sponenberg & Beaver $23.98 at Amazon. Both highly recommended books on the genetics of horse color with many color plates illustrating every color variant you can think of and then some! Equine Color Genetics is the more recent one & corrects some information in the earlier work that there has been more recent scientific study on.

Rio Rondo Color Formulas & Techniques Book & Color Reference photos
Available from http://www.riorondo.com/
(click on "Books" on menu bar)
This is the ultimate book on repainting model horses chock full of information and formulas for mixing the right colors. Archived on the web site are color photos illustrating all the colors referenced in the book. I highly recommend this for anyone seriously interested in painting model horses. You can order it from Rio Rondo

Some others highly recommended but sadly out of print - try & find 'em -at http://www.abebooks.com (searchable index of used book dealers)

"Principles of Conformation Analysis" by Dr. Deb Bennett, 3 volume set from the woman who writes the conformation clinic in EQUUS magazine.

"the Empire of Equus: The Horse, Past, Present, and Future" by David P. Willoughby (1974) one of my overall favorite books on horses and other equines - has the BEST overall info I have found on exotics (zebras, quaggas, wild asses etc) plus very helpful diagrams of each major breed showing the proportional differences.

"Anatomy and Conformation of the Horse" by Gladys Brown Edwards

Sarah Minkiewicz also did a booklet a few years ago (1995) collecting her early "In The Studio" columns that ran in another 'zine before it moved to the Hobby Horse News. The ones collected in the booklet are very informative including a series that "dissects" Breyer models and explains EXACTLY what needs to be corrected on each one and also diagrams of outlines of some Breyer molds & how they'd look when they are fixed.

I also highly recommend her ongoing column in the Hobby Horse News! Would be great if they could be collected into a BIG book! I try & xerox 'em and keep 'em in a folder for reference. Tina Ferro sells lots of back issues cheap - you can contact her at THHN@aol.com

Western Horseman (www.westernhorseman.com) publishes a whole line of books on various events - they are heavily illustrated with photos & diagrams that are extremely useful to the performance shower to help you set up an entry to give you the winning edge. Especially useful to the shower are their books on Cutting, Calf Roping, Barrel Racing, Reining etc

Threshold Picture Guides - a series of small (24 page) booklets published in England for about $5 each over there. Some very useful ones on mounted games, cross country, show jumping, driving etc. Listing here: http://www.books-4-sale.co.uk/thrshld.htm

http://www.equinebookshelf.com/frames_bookshelf_threshold.htm - This store carries them in the USA but a little costly ($12 each), you can also try Amazon UK (http://amazon.co.uk ) but you need to search by the exact title

Well regarded books on specific events -

"Hunter Seat Equitation " by George H. Morris

Saddleseat Equitation by Helen Crabtree

festival of Dressage by Jane Kidd (out of print) I LOVE this one, it has pix of each movement for each level, you can pretty much find a photo like your model & determine what level & movement he is doing from this…

I also find Jeanne Mellin's "the Morgan Horse" and "Morgan Horse Handbook" to have tons of very useful information for performance including good illustrations of framesets & head positioning for various classes that is easily adaprted to other light horse breeds. ((excellent books overall)

Tack in general.

"Saddles" by Russel H., Beatie ($55 at Amazon); unbelievable encyclopedic volume on tack from the common to exotic costumes

Supplies: