And I'm back to doing another drawing of the superficial muscles but this time from the front.

The horse has much deeper muscles too but I've made the decision not to go any further than the muscles nearest the surface of the skin. I think having basic knowledge of anatomy is extremely helpful to my art but going into any greater depth will be getting into veterinary territory.

Talking of vets, I was chatting to a fellow artist just the other day and it occurred to me that the reason I'm enjoying researching and depicting the horse's anatomy, is perhaps due to my childhood. When I was about 6 or 7 I was absolutely adamant I was going to be a vet, I had always adored animals. I soon found out that Maths and Science weren't my strongest points and opted to move towards my love of Art instead. Funny how things turn out in the end isn't it? 😎

So, the reference I used for today's piece was, again from the award-winning organisation, Horses Inside Out by founder Gillian Higgins. All the information about Gillian and the fabulous work she does can be found on her website here and on Day 68 of my blog. 

I've used graphite pencil and coloured pencil here and have numbered each of the muscles. The names on the list below coincide with those on the drawing.