Blog : Equus Education

The Sunday Horse by Marie Gibson

October 11, 2022 by Christine Meunier Leave a Comment

My daughter is an avid reader currently. It’s a joy from my end to encourage her – I have over 800 horse books on the shelves! So for those that are aimed at her age or a little higher to challenge her, I am happy to make my books available to read. And when she brings home a horse (or unicorn) novel from the school library, I am keen to read it, too! The latest book that she has brought home was The Sunday Horse. This book is written by Marie Gibson and illustrated by John Hurford.

This short chapter book explores an adventure that a young girl named Silvie has with a large draught horse. Over summer, each Sunday Silvie is rapt to find Belle, the park horse come past her home. She always has a treat for the horse and loves to see her.

The Sunday Horse by Marie Gibson | Equus Education

Belle’s owner Ezra reaches out to Silvie and in time has her helping him with the park rides. Silvie is so proud to boast to her classmates that she is helping with the beautiful draft horse. She even gets to ride up on the carriage and hold the reins!

The Sunday Horse shows a young girl’s delight with a big, beautiful draught horse. The author Marie Gibson does a great job of focusing on the horse’s size and features, describing the fit from Silvie’s perspective as bigger than her family dinner plates.

Although Belle has a lot of allure for Silvie, a cold wet morning has her not wanting to get out of bed to see the beautiful horse. The events that unfurl from this ignored visit lead poor Silvie to question if she’s ruined any further chances of visting with Belle. The Sunday Horse is an interesting read with some beautiful illustrations to go alongside the story. It’s a simple, educational read, too and sure to delight young horse fans.

Author: Marie Gibson
Fiction – children
In My Library? No but it was an enjoyable read.

Horse Syllables Activity added to TeachersPayTeachers

October 6, 2022 by Christine Meunier Leave a Comment

If you have had a good look around this site, you will have discovered that I love education. And I especially love education that is horse focused. I write horse books that are educational and entertaining. And I also write horse educational resources that others can use to teach about horses, or to teach skills with a horse focus.

Horse Related Resources by Equus Education at TeachersPayTeachers

Over the past couple of years, I have had bouts of two young children being at home and needing to do school work from home. This has made me more aware of what they’re learning at school and the kinds of activities they do. And of course, it has given me some ideas for digital products!

I am pleased to share that 100% of my votes on TeachersPayTeachers are 5 star! And I aim to continue to produce educational resources that teach, are of use in the classroom or at a riding school and that focus on horses.

My most recent resource is aimed at grade one and two students, or 6-8 year olds. In case you know of someone who may be interest – or you are! – here are the details:

Horse syllables activity – this activity is to help students to understand the number of syllables in a word. They can work through the lists on the 5 activity pages and sound out the word, clapping for each individual sound to recognise the number of syllables.
They are then to write the word into the appropriate column, or they can cut out the words and paste them into each column. The number of horse shoes matches the number of syllables.
Page 1: up to 3 syllable words activity relating to horse gaits and gender
Page 2: up to 2 syllable words activity relating to horse colours
Page 3: up to 3 syllable words activity relating to horse breeds
Page 4: up to 2 syllable words activity relating to horse foods
Page 5: up to 3 syllable words activity relating to horse riding activities
Page 7: teacher’s notes with answers
Skills encouraged in this activity: sounding out words, recognising syllables, reading, writing.
Curious? You can head on over to the product on TeachersPayTeachers.

Profile On: Teresa Spencer, EquestriSafe

October 3, 2022 by Christine Meunier 1 Comment

I reached out to EquestriSafe recently about a profile on Equus Education. Teresa was kind enough to answer some questions about what she does.

How much of your day/week is related to horses?
I am constantly aware of horses, horses being stolen, the wild horse round-ups, kill buyers and auctions as well as clinics, clinicians and equines in general. Unfortunately at the present time I do not have any horses of my own. But I make every effort to be involved with events and other opportunities that put myself and our products in front of horse enthusiasts and owners.

What is it exactly that you do?
We produce Equine Identification items along with offering other safety products by women owned businesses. Our EquestriSafe products are handmade or enhanced by us, personalized and often customized for our customers.

With equines being top of mind, we have expanded and increased our identification products so that they can be used for almost all small farm animals and dogs. Several items can be used for pet cattle, goats, sheep, camels, llamas, alpacas, possibly also for emus and Ostriches.

In this field of work, is it possible to be a full-time professional and earning a liveable income?
As an individual manufacturer entrepreneur it is up to me to make a liveable income. My income from EquestriSafe has been a hard, long fought battle of learning, advancing and getting the word out about our products.

Profile On: Teresa Spencer, EquestriSafe | Equus Education

Since we are not the only Equine Identification product company on the market, for me it is all about explaining our products, uses, and safety. We also do not mass produce our products offshore. Being focused only on safety and identification, our income is reliant on natural and man made disasters, such as wildfires, hurricanes, floods, traveling accidents and other incidents that would warrant having visible reliable identification on your equines.

My husband joined in with me in 2016 and EquestriSafe became mobile. We have traveled the US since then to horse expos, small farm and ranch events as well as being able to provide products to retailers and other outlets. Yes, EquestriSafe has afforded us the ability to do this.

Profile On: Teresa Spencer, EquestriSafe

What are the general steps taken to be employed in such a role?
Anyone can be an Entrepreneur, however it is not to be taken lightly and is not without second guessing yourself always. If you have a message, product, device or way of doing things just that much different and have gained an audience, then yes anyone can do what they want to do in the equine industry.

That is what is so wonderful about our industry, things are always changing, messages are often the same, but spoken in a different way that suddenly you might be the one to listen to. I personally look for instance to all the “Natural Horsemanship clinicians” there are many that have come and gone and there are many who are doing the same things, but in a different manner and with a different delivery.

Look at what you do, start at the bottom, define your message, help others, get lots of testimonials, referrals and be present.

Favourite horse memory?
I have several. When I was a teenager, my friends and I would spend all day every day in the summer, trail riding on a private cattle ranch, climbing hills and valleys with our horses from early morning until dusk.

As an adult my favorite memories are the friends I found who were and are very passionate about horses. As I was part of many different groups of women, I could and would often be able to ride 7 days a week, attend clinics or work privately with a trainer on things I had not learned as a young woman..

Future goals?
Continue with our current products and grow the company with other safety and identification products.

Best thing about your sport/profession?
The best part about my profession is that I continue to meet many of our customers. Many of our customers are adamant advocates of our products and mission to provide safe, reliable, visible identification for all equines. Word of mouth, customer referrals and returning customers are our biggest joys in our business.

Princess Ponies a Unicorn Adventure

September 27, 2022 by Christine Meunier Leave a Comment

Recently my daughter brought home some horsey books from school. I just had to take a look, knowing that I could read and review one of the books that she brought home as it was Princess Ponies a Unicorn Adventure.

Now I’m not familiar with this series but thought I’d check it out. My seven year old, nearly eight year old devoured it. It did not take long to get through this one and then the next one in the series for her. This story was a delightful fantasy read, focusing on a young girl named Pippa.

Pippa has ended up on a magical island where there are horses. They talk and are led by a king and queen horse. These horses are able to communicate with young Pippa. They have let her know about a mystery on the island: there are some magical horseshoes that are missing on the island.

Princess Ponies a Unicorn Adventure

Eight horseshoes in total are supposed to be on the island. If they aren’t restored to their usual location in the near future, the magical island will cease to exist. Pippa has been working with the horses to get these horseshoes back to where they belong. Four of them have been found so far. And in this new journey, she is seeking out the fifth.

As she does so, Pippa works with a couple of her close horse friends and discovers a cloud forest which the ponies think is haunted. It actually turns out to be the home of magical unicorns! Pippa goes on a journey there and soon befriends the unicorns.

She is rapt to discover one of the magical horseshoes that has been missing. However, being able to get it requires a test of courage and her really going out of her comfort zone. As she does so, Pippa displays qualities that the unicorns recognise they should be displaying themselves.

This novel is a positive, upbeat story with plenty of fantasy thrown in and a lot of adventure. It encourages good qualities, and for people – and horses – to give situations their best shot and to be able to overcome their fears.

It was definitely a good read for my young daughter and I enjoyed the story and the things Pippa overcame in the story. I also appreciated the very horsey focus aspects in regards to how horses move, communicate and what they may eat. It was spot on factual information whilst mixed in with an entertaining story. Recommended for young readers.

Author: Chloe Ryder
Fiction – juvenile fantasy
In My Library? Not this one, but it was enjoyed when it was borrowed.

Palomino and Pinto Editing

September 24, 2022 by Christine Meunier Leave a Comment

Back in 2016, I wrote about a niche area that fascinated me in regard to potential work. Still today, I believe if I wasn’t in a horse educational role that I love, I would look into editing horse books! It seems I am not alone. Enter: Palomino and Pinto Editing.

Joyce Bloemker of Palomino and Pinto recently reached out to thank me for the above post on Equus Education from back in 2016. She indicated this was also her passion and if you view her site, you will find this to be true!

I love everything about books, writing, and horses. This is a place where I combine all my passions. Check out the editorial services I offer for authors and my blog where I write about my horses.”

Palomino and Pinto Editing | Equus Education

Joyce has recently branched out into the world of editing books. Interested? Be sure to have a look at her site linked above. As I stated back in my 2016 post focusing on Equine Editors, finding a horsey editor to review your horse book can have an added bonus: they know horses.

Good editors can pick up on spelling errors, grammar inconsistencies, formatting errors, and sentence structure issues. And of course, this will be beneficial to any author. But one that knows horses can pick up on details that a non-horsey editor may not. Whether it be fiction or non-fiction, the horse information should be correct.

So if you’re in the business of writing about horses, why not check out this new editor who also happens to know horses?

“My troubles are all over, and I am at home; and often before I am quite awake, I fancy I am still in the orchard at Birtwick, standing with my old friends under the apple trees.” ― Anna Sewell, Black Beauty

The Sunday Horse by Marie Gibson

Horse Syllables Activity added to TeachersPayTeachers

Profile On: Teresa Spencer, EquestriSafe

Profile On: Teresa Spencer, EquestriSafe

Princess Ponies a Unicorn Adventure

Princess Ponies a Unicorn Adventure

Palomino and Pinto Editing

Equus Education Store at TeachersPayTeachers

About Equus Education

Want to be kept in the loop about future posts?

Privacy Policy for EE