Autumn 2010 OHC #3: Horses

Autumn Series #3
Mammal Study: Horse

Inside Preparation Work:
1. Read pages 274-280 in the Handbook of Nature Study (Lesson 67). Please note that this section has references to evolution and preview for appropriateness for your family. (Alternate book selection: Album of Horses by Marguerite Henry.) Choose a few of the suggestions from Lesson 67 to focus on when you have your Outdoor Hour time observing horses.
2. Anna Botsford Comstock suggests reading an introductory story about wild horses. She lists The Pacing Mustang from Wild Animals I Have Known. I found this online for you: The Pacing Mustang

Ideas for Comparing a Horse and a Dog (or other mammal)
Please see Autumn Challenge #2 for more explanation about comparing and contrasting as part of the Outdoor Hour Challenge. 
• Compare the head and neck.
• Compare the length of the legs and how they walk. How many toes are there?
• Compare the coats.
• Compare the teeth if you are able to see the horse’s teeth.
• Compare the placement and the shape of the ears.
• Compare the tails and how they are used.

Outdoor Hour Time:
Use you Outdoor Hour time to observe a horse or other mammal. This time of year many families visit farms to pick apples or pumpkins and the farm may also have a horse to observe. Look for horses as you drive your normal route through your local area. You may be surprised to spy a horse to observe, even from a fence line. You will be successful with this challenge if you do the preparation work and then use your time to observe any mammal up close. Keep in mind the suggestions from the lesson for observation as well as the comparison ideas above.

If you do not find a horse to observe, you can by all means observe another mammal and look it up in the Handbook of Nature Study. Try to compare whatever mammal you observe to another mammal, gaining some practice at your observation skills.

Follow-Up Activity:
Discuss your mammal observations and then make a journal entry. You can use the horse notebook page that accompanies the Autumn ebook or a blank page in your nature journal. If you observed another mammal, you can use this free mammal notebook page from a previous challenge.

Links for horse related information:

Horse Anatomy Printable

Horse Coloring Pages to Print

Don't forget to enter the special Backyard Birds DVD giveaway! See this entry for more details.

Pazyryk Horsemen and Elks

Illustration: Pazyryk saddlecloth depicting an elk.

It is now assumed by many archaeologists that the people, who were initially entitled as Pazyryk, are in fact either Scythian or at least a branch of that culture and people. The Scythians were a nomadic people who used the great plains of central Asia and southern Russia as their extensive homeland. Many different cultures have used the vast steppes of Europe and Asia for past millennia, but they have all shared a particularly common bond, seeing textiles as an important element of their lifestyles, even being seen as one of the main domestic ingredients of their mobile cultures.

Illustration: Pazyryk felt carpet.

Although the artistic and creative element could be somewhat limiting within a constantly mobile culture, this did not stop nomadic people like the Scythians, perfecting an indigenous decorative style that reflected their own interests and that of their culture. Much of the art and design work produced was animal based, with those commonly found on the plains being particularly represented. Horses were the lifeblood and mainstay of the culture and played a vast role in the mobility of various communities. They were represented with and without riders, in ceremonial stances and in the ever-popular hunting scenes. Hunted animals, such as the elk, were also very popular, though the hunted animal itself was never portrayed as an insignificant member of the composition or even as a victim, but as a vital part of the story. These animals had a dignity of their own and were portrayed as a vital and integral part of the Scythian culture, one that was needed as part of the finely tuned structure that allowed that culture to survive. Although the animals are recognisable, there is a relatively free and independent stylised interpretation and appearance. Long gracious curves, movement and detailed borders are particularly popular motifs, which give the animals a decidedly individual appearance rather than that of a standardised motif.

Much of the work was felt-based with a certain amount of embroidery embellishment. Felt was an invaluable textile base that was used throughout the region. It was both insulating and largely waterproof and could be used in a number of colour and texture ranges for anything from heavy domestic use such as tents, flooring and bedding, to various items of clothing, footwear and baby carriers. It was also used for various horse riding equipment such as saddle cloths and bags.

Illustration: Pazyryk carpet detail showing a horseman.

We are extremely lucky to have any felt and other textile pieces remaining from Pazyryk and other areas of the plains of central Asia. They give us an insight into the daily lives, interests and creative ability of a culture that naturally, within their mobile lifestyle, have left little behind them. These images allow us to see these nomadic people as the highly sophisticated cultures that they were, but perhaps more importantly it allows them to show us how comfortable and balanced they were with both their immediate landscape and their place within that landscape.

Further reading links: 
Frozen Tombs of Siberia: The Pazyryk Burials of Iron-Age Horsemen
Pazyryk Burials
The Pazyryk: A 2500 Years Old Knotted Rug Found in an Icegrave in the Altai. Its Use and Origin
In Search of the Immortals: Mummies, Death and the Afterlife
Ancient Horsemen Of Siberia (Time Travelers)
Kurgans: Pazyryk Burials, Kurgan, Noin-Ula Kurgans, Mamayev Kurgan, Merheleva Ridge, Kul-Oba, Thracian Tomb of Aleksandrovo Kurgan, Black Grave
Archaeology of Kazakhstan: Archaeological Sites in Kazakhstan, Kurgans, Pazyryk Burials, Noin-Ula Kurgans, Otrar, Turkestan, Mamayev Kurgan
Costume and Textiles Pazyryks Altai. / Kostyum i textil pazyryktsev Altaya.
The Pazyryk Felt Screen and the Barbarian Captivity of Ts'ai Wen Chi
Warrior Women: An Archaeologist's Search for History's Hidden Heroines
Felt (Textiles That Changed the World)
Spiritual Tattoo: A Cultural History of Tattooing, Piercing, Scarification, Branding, and Implants
The Golden Deer of Eurasia
The Mummies of Urumchi

Winter Nature Walk-Boy's View

I was sick with the flu this weekend so my boys decided yesterday afternoon to talk a walk without me....the afternoon was bright and sunny in between a cloudy morning and a snowy evening.

Here are some photos they took on their walk to share with me when they returned home.

Love the sky in this one!

Here is a view coming down the walking trail with a beautiful perspective of someone's house with a horse in the yard. (click to make the photo larger and you will see the black horse by the house)

That fits our mammal study. We haven't ever really learned about horses but we can now in the Handbook of Nature Study on pages 274-280.

Anna Botsford Comstock says:
"Begin this study of the horse with stories of wild horses."

I have the whole collection of Marguerite Henry books on my shelf and I don't think my boys have ever read them. I know we read Brighty of the Grand Canyon on a road trip to the Grand Canyon but other than that, they have not tasted the delights of King of the Wind, Misty-Stormy's Foal, Justin Morgan Had a Horse, or any of the other wonderful books about horses that I read as a child. I need to dust those off and encourage the boys to read them. You can see my sidebar to find some of these wonderful horse stories that you can use along with your nature study with your children.

One last photo from their walk. Here is the llama that I have shared before but this time he was way down by the fence so the boys could take a photo of his head peeking out from the bushes.

Even though I didn't get to go with boys on their walk, I did get to enjoy the stories and the photos.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom