I Wonder Why Horses Wear Shoes: And Other Questions About Horses

by Jackie Gaff

I Wonder Why books have proven to be wonderful resources to have at hand to answer kids' everyday questions. This new addition to the series reins in a herd of questions children like to ask about one of their favorite animals, including; How high can horses jump? What kind of horses do knights ride? and Why do horses need grooming? With a stable full of clever horse facts and figures, this is a terrific way to stimulate curiosity and develop a child's reading skills.

Genres: Horses, Childrens, Nonfiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published April 19, 2002

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Indeed, Jackie Gaff with her 2002 I Wonder Why Horses Wear Shoes absolutely provides factually solid and correct answers to thirty-one general questions children from the age of six to twelve or so might have about horses (from basic details on equine conformation and the various colours of a horse’s coat, mane and tail to informational nuggets on some of the famous horses of mythology such as the Greek winged steed Pegasus, the half man half equine Centaurs and the Norse God Odin’s eight legged stallion Sleipnir).

And while the author presents quite a lot of equine based information in I Wonder Why Horses Wear Shoes thankfully, all of this is penned by Jackie Gaff in a chattily uncomplicated and thankfully also never silly and artificially humorous manner, textually providing information on horses that is sufficiently detailed to give young readers (or listeners) an extensive although still rather general and non intensive introduction to everything horse (accompanied by artwork that is aesthetically realistic with regard to how horses look, how they move, but is for my own visual tastes sometimes just a bit too cartoon like and deliberately silly, not a huge issue, of course, but personally, I would much rather have Jackie Gaff’s text in I Wonder Why Horses Wear Shoes be mirrored by photographs and not by drawings).

But albeit that I definitely applaud Jackie Gaff for providing a generally decent and very much educational general and child friendly introduction to horses with I Wonder Why Horses Wear Shoes, I still kind of think that for a few of her provided answers, Gaff should really be a bit more expansive and provide additional details. For example, while I do appreciate Jackie Gaff showing that horses need to be fed small amounts of oats, grass, hay etc. often during the day and also at night (and why), I think it is also absolutely essential to point out that feeding horses and ponies in the wrong manner (and in particular too much at once) can easily result in serious health issues such as colic and laminitis (and that both of these can in fact be fatal). Furthermore in the section on tack, why does Jackie Gaff show depictions of both an English and a Western saddle but then does not explain the differences between the two and why English Saddles are used for dressage and show jumping and Western saddles for rodeos, for herding cattle, long trail rides and the like?

So yes indeed, for some of the thirty-one answered questions, Jackie Gaff is in my humble opinion not being quite sufficiently informative (and is missing or ignoring things that I for one do find quite necessary to know about horses and about owning, riding horses) and these informational gaps and holes combined with the very much personally frustrating and infuriating fact that there is also no no no bibliography with suggestions for further study and reading to be found in I Wonder Why Horses Wear Shoes, this does make my rating for I Wonder Why Horses Wear Shoes be only three stars maximum.

[Emily Mote · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary:
Not only does this book provide readers with basic knowledge about horses, but it provides fun and interesting facts about horses that even many horse-lovers won't know. This book provides children with all the information they would ever want to know about horses.

Evaluation:
I love this book because it offers so much information about horses. The format of this book is amazing. It contains 3-4 small illustration on each page, along with 3-4 sections of words. This format is so unique. I also love the variety of illustrations, ranging from cartoon-style to very realistic paintings.

Teaching Ideas:
Recently during my student teaching, my students learned about vertebrates. I think a fun project would be to allow each student to choose a vertebrate to research, and then present a poster of information to the class. This book would be an amazing resource for a student doing their project on horses. I also plan to have this book in my classroom library for my students who love animals to enjoy.

[Joanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

It had a good mix of questions, some of which I would’ve never thought to ask, and others that kids definitely would ask. The illustrations were nice and the smaller fun facts and illustrations that accompanied them were cute too.

[Joanna Reitmeyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing little book full of (accurate) information. I'm hoping to buy many copies and give them to younger riders as part of their intro lesson package! It will compliment the horsemanship lessons that I do.

[Little Champs]

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[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to read, great introduction to the history and the world of horses. Includes lots of interesting and informative details about riding, events, and temperament of horses.

[Jasmine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book taught children why different animals do different things.