Horsestack

My kingdom for someone to teach me how to draw a horse

It’s pretty common knowledge that people have a hard time drawing horses. Supposedly Leonardo dissected a few to figure out how they work. Less commonly known is that horses also have a hard time drawing horses. This may be due to their unique and unexpected proportions. But more likely it is because it is much harder to hold a paintbrush with hooves.

Thankfully, it is much easier to make jokes about horses. For example, my four year old told me this zinger this morning:

Why did the horse clip clop across the road?

To lift the butt.

Pretty good, right? Just don’t ask her to draw a horse.

- Navied

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Ellis Rosen

A Horse Poem:

A horse is strong,

A horse is large,

But I would not put a horse in charge

of the nation or my state

for horses cannot arbitrate

If disagreements should arise

A horse would merely deputize

A cow, or hog or even sheep

(While the horse just stands there half-asleep)

And now those in charge have run amok!

With a 'baa' and 'moo' and a 'cluck cluck cluck'

And each day we live in fear

as barnyard creatures domineer

No, life under hoof would be no fun

so hold your horses from a mayoral run

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Hilary Campbell

Horses do not get enough credit for their part in history!!!! Also when I  look at this drawing now… I’m wondering why I made everyone’s legs so chunky?

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Sofia Warren

This is maybe my most optimistic love cartoon— the only in which my twue feewings on wuv are not wrapped in layers of cynicism. Those twue feewlings are that wuv can only occur in the belly of a horse.

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Amy Kurzweil

Why yes, I befriended a horse once. I am a gentle soul, and we all know horses are magical creatures that take to only the most kind and calm human souls and I am of course one of these types of souls – the calm ones – nope no anxiety here. It was early-pandemic, and I chanced to spend time in the country, where calm people enjoy themselves and sync their spirits with the wind and trees and birds and all that, and I was taking my little daily walk, a jaunt, you might call it, a skip, because I was worry free, not a care in the world after I bleached my groceries before bringing them in the house! and there down the road, in this country setting, there dwelled a horse – a friend! I beckoned to this mystical being and she joined me by the little (too little? could she jump?) fence and I, with one not-at-all-shaking finger, petted her long soft nose and thought about how lucky I was to be such a safe person in this difficult time, and such a calm and collected enough person to really enjoy my time on earth, to really seize each day with such activities as lightly grazing the nose of a horse with one finger. What liberation! This daily horse-petting jaunt became my new routine for three days, three days of bird song and horse friendship, until on the fourth day, the horse spied me, froze, and *started* itself with such ferocity that I concluded I am certainly haunted with horse-ghost now, so I haven’t petted a horse since. The point of this story is that I am not afraid of horses, or anything, but I can’t help it if horses are afraid of me.

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Toonstack Newstack!

Amy Kurzweil’s new book, Artificial: A Love Story, is out now. Listen to her on NPR, and join her on tour!

Navied Mahdavian’s graphic memoir, This Country: Searching for Home in (Very) Rural America is out, and it’s getting rave reviews!

Ellis Rosen’s DINK! is the perfect gift for the pickleball enthusiast in your life!

Check out Jason Katzenstein’s Patreon!

Amy Kurzweil teaches cartoon classes on Patreon! Sign up now to get the recording of every past class!

Check out Sofia Warren’s advice newsletter, You’re Doing Great!

See more cartoons from Ellis Rosen’s weekly Junk Drawer!

Also! Hilary started a film club on Substack!