Chapter 1 | THE HORSE JUMP

Exercise 1: Here you can see a proportional model of a horse, viewed from the side. The horse’s form is determined by its skeleton and muscles. You can download one of the images, print it out, and then trace or copy it. When copying, use the square as a guide, with a horizontal line running through the middle. You may, of course, leave out the skeleton. Color the horse if you like, decorate it, and maybe add a rider.

Exercise 2: In the next image a horse jump is shown. The skeleton is still visible in the take-off. The three red lines indicate the height of the breast during the jump. Try drawing one of the poses. And now comes the part: make the horse jump over something else: a wall, houses, cars, ditches, chasms and so on. Of course you can give your horse a rider!

Some of us like to draw dangerous things, in this case very unpleasant for the horse. Fortunately, the horse is very strong and can still just say “AUCH!”. So he will be fine. The rider shouts all kinds of things, but of course he is not capable to ride at all. The wall is starting to give way due to the shock; there are already cracks in it and pieces of stone are loosening on the other side. The horse’s posture is very well drawn.

The horse Pegasus from Greek mythology had no trouble jumping because he had wings.Learn more about mythical creatures in the lesson Animals, chapter 1, level 3.