Watch: No horsing around at Shropshire college as animal art helps students
It might look as if someone is horsing around, but in fact a splash of paint has helped a group of students to fully understand this animal's skeleton.
First year pupils studying a BTEC Extended Diploma in Horse Management at Walford and North Shropshire College's Baschurch campus have been learning all about a horse's bones and how they interlock when the animal moves.
And to help visualise the process, pupils painted the skeleton on to the horse, before putting it through a range of movement exercises.
Yard manager Jo Castree said the group had enjoyed the session, which was led by course tutor Sam Finney. She said: "When the students are here they learn about anatomy and the movement of the horse – the skeleton, all the different bones and how they work.
"To make it more visual we decided it would be a good idea to paint the skeleton on to the horse, and then when the horse moves they could actually see what happened, rather than simply learn about it.
"It showed how all the bones interlock, move and work together.
"The pupils tend to be very practical so this sort of thing really helps."
Next up for the pupils could be looking at the muscles of the horse, painting those on horse Rhosfachtaff and carrying out the same sort of project to see how the muscular system works.
Ms Castree said: "They have really enjoyed themselves.
"A lot of them said it helped them understand the skeletal system in better detail, so we are very pleased.
Diagrams
"Painting it on wasn't the easiest thing to do, I don't think, but they did a great job and had diagrams to follow."
Admission is now open for Equine courses at Level 2 and 3 via at www.wnsc.ac.uk or call the admissions team on (01691) 688080.
