These wonderful coloring books from Dover have been around for a while; Dover knows how to do them right. I remember what a treat it was to get my hands on one of these as a kid, so am diving into them again a half-century later, hoping to recapture some of that wonderful childhood enthusiasm.

I invite you to do the same. I hand picked a fun variety to choose from - covering all subjects horsey - anatomy, art, trivia and more. Below is my own first effort; a page from the Horse Anatomy Coloring Book. At first, I started to get all up tight - worrying about what color I should make each bone...

Duh - I don't think that's how it's supposed to work! I was a more than a little embarrassed that this 'relaxing' new hobby was stressing me out already. So,  I regrouped and looked at it in a different way."

I looked at all the beautiful colors in my pencil set that I had not used since college. The browns and greys were all worn down to nubs, but many of the bright colors had never been touched to paper. I made good use of them on the background, channeling my inner hippie, I guess.

Lucy snuggled up beside me in her blanket on the recliner, and as I colored, I couldn't help but read some of the informational text that was printed along with the picture. Did you know that a normal adult horse skeleton contains 205 bones? But that variations are possible; hocks can contain six or seven bones? And tails can vary from fifteen to twenty-one vertebrae? Forelimbs and hind limbs each contain twenty. The Horse Anatomy Coloring book examines both the internal and external structures, with all clearly labeled. It's only $4.95 here.

The complete selection of coloring books is here