Horse Coloring Pages

Horses are hard to draw and easy to color, which is a good trade for anyone holding a pencil. The anatomy is already handled on these 15 horse coloring pages, so the only decisions left are coat, mane and background. Every design downloads as a free printable PDF sized for US Letter paper, free, instant, and with no account needed.

The line art splits into simple and detailed. Simple sheets use bold outlines and open shapes suited to ages 3 to 7. Horse Galloping Through an Open Meadow and Pony Wearing a Flower Crown are the friendliest starting points. Detailed sheets carry braid work, muscle definition and dense backgrounds. Horse With Elaborate Braided Mane and Mustang Running Free in the Desert Canyon will hold an adult for the better part of an hour.

The set covers the situations horse lovers actually care about. Horse Jumping Over a Fence in Competition is the show jumping page, Foal Standing Beside Its Grazing Mother is the one that gets picked in spring, and Draft Horse With Decorated Harness shows the heavy build and feathered legs that separate a Clydesdale from a riding horse.

A tip for coats: horse hair lies flat and reflects light in long bands, so color in long strokes that follow the body rather than short scribbles. Leave a pale strip along the barrel and the top of the rump where the light lands. That single highlight band is what makes a colored horse look glossy instead of matte.

Beyond the single-horse portraits there are several pages with more than one animal in them, which are harder and more satisfying. Two Horses Nuzzling Each Other Affectionately and Two Horses Drinking From a Stream both ask you to give the two coats different base colors so the shapes stay separate, and a bay next to a gray is the easiest pairing to pull off. Wild Horses Running Along a Beach puts a whole group in motion. Horse Rearing Up Dramatically With Flowing Mane and Horse Silhouette Against a Sunset Sky are the two most dramatic sheets, and the silhouette is the only one where the horse stays dark and the sky takes all of the color.

More line art in this direction: Unicorns, Farm Animals and Tractors.