Posts by Blake Smith

A Writer’s Guide to Horses VI

“Keep a leg on either side and your mind in the middle.” Read more

A Writer’s Guide to Horses V

In which I pontificate about brushing and tacking up horses, and you learn something (hopefully): Read more

A Writer’s Guide to Horses Part IV

Safety and Basic Handling

Hold on to your hats, ladies and gentlemen; this is a monster of a post and it only covers a few bits of the subject. Later installments will talk about saddling and riding horses. Read more

A Writer’s Guide to Horses Part III

In which I explain the basics of equine behavior.

Horses are herd animals, and prey animals. This explains most of their behavior. But that’s kind of a short blog post, so allow me to elaborate. Read more

A Writer’s Guide to Horses Part II

The first installment talked a little about basic terminology that you, the writer, might use to describe a horse. This time around, let’s chat about some more specific means of identifying them. You may find a search engine helpful, because I’ll try to describe the parameters of colors, markings, and breeds, but you’ll find it easier to look at more pictures than I have space for in the post.

All images are from Wikipedia. The horse in the featured image is brindle with a dark bay base coat. I have no idea what breed he is, probably some kind of Thoroughbred cross (he’s a little larger and heavier boned than a registered Thoroughbred).
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Launch Day!

This isn’t my usual week to post, but today is a slightly unusual day- I’ve published another book! In Pursuit of Justice is the second part of The Garia Cycle, a YA fantasy series. Read more

A Writer’s Guide to Horses Part I

I’ve held off for the last couple months, but the time has come for: A Writer’s Guide to Horses. It’s obligatory, you see; I’ll lose my reputation as a horse person in good standing if I don’t periodically pontificate about them.

And since many writers mention horses in their work, usually in passing, I foresee an audience for horse-related information, and common pitfalls of writing about them.

(This will be a multi-part post, because I kept going off on tangents about genetics, weird caveats, and personal experiences. It also contains pictures/diagrams, so let me know in the comments if you’re having trouble viewing it on your phone.) Read more