Good morning. How are you doing, Christina? Good? How are you
doing? Arrow? Absolutely fantastic. I gotta tell you, I've had so
many conversations with with those that are associated with National Geographic Kids. This book
right here, I gotta tell you, I think it's the most fun I've
ever had. I love this book. That is music to my ears.
I absolutely love this book too. It is just it's fun. Every page,
You're like, oh, I learned something new, or I have funny
books and I can tell me it's so true. But who doesn't love a
great horse story. I mean, it's just they're just a major part of
our lives. It's true. I mean, I don't know about you,
but I was definitely the horse kid. I was a horse girl growing up.
I got lucky enough to have horses when I was a kid, but
even before then, I couldn't read enough about horses. There's just this bond
between horses and humans, but I think we only see pretty much maybe with
casts and dogs for the most part, but it is inexplicable. I'm so
wonderful now. I'm not a professional horse whisperer, but I am known for
going up to talk with a horse, and I would love really love to
stand there and read this book to a horse, because I would love to
see what their reaction is to not only my voice and the sound of it,
but to see the pictures, because I think they get us. Oh
absolutely. We talked a little bit about how horses have seventeen different expressions,
and you find all of them within the pages of this book. And most
of the photos are pretty funny, whether it's a horse nickering or telling a
joke of a little speech bubble next to it, or even just simply someone
that are just so sick and cute. We have a Marwari horse that has
these curved ears that touch each other, and oh my goodness, I can't
It's just the cutest thing I've ever seen. How did it the making of
the book come into play, because I mean, there's so much information here,
so much that that's just I mean, it's such a wealth of knowledge
that I put it on my coffee table so that I can sit there and
pick it up and read little bits at a time and then digest it.
Oh I love hearing that. So this book, honestly the conceit was.
It's part of the series it's called Can't Get Enough and we wanted to talk
on subjects that especially at the seven to ten year old range, where I
feel like that's when those obsessions start, where they want to know everything about
a certain subject. And for us, especially at National Geographic, we love
talking about science and animals, and so horses was just the natural next subject.
Who doesn't want to learn more about a horse and really grasp it but
also just have fun while doing it. So we made sure that we had
some personality quizes, which, funny enough when the kids do it, they
learned so much about themselves but also about horses. So you'll learn what temperament
you have and which horse that relates to. You'll figure out, oh,
you know, it is an aspirational what jobs do you want? You know,
you might be like, oh, I just love horses, especially you
have that like budding veterinarian or horse trainer. They can take a quiz and
find out how they could work with horses in the future. So that's kind
of the idea behind it was, how do we have lots of fun,
lots of activities and do some experimental experiential learning while reading a fun book about
a subject they love. Oh my god, just just thumbing through this book.
I mean, it brings back so many memories of my childhood riding along
the Tongue River Reservoir in Wyoming and being out there with Tiny that was the
horse's name, and just being one with nature. That's what I love about
riding horses is that in reality, you're being carried through everything natural. Oh
it's so true. I actually had a horse named Blondie who was a Belgian
draft horse as a kid. And Blondie was so funny because she was raised
by people who spoke Germans and not English, so I had to learn some
Germans because she only spoke Germans. Would would you say that fools are just
as cute as a baby bunny and a kitten? Oh, my goodness,
the cutest. The best story about us is that it's little legs are like
so long. They're already like we talked about, they're only already eighty to
ninety percent of their adult length. So they are just these gangly little legs.
They're just got the sweet little face and then they grow into something beautiful
and majestic later in life. So now one of the things that's pretty cool
about this and listeners need to understand this, This is a conversation starter book,
and one of the conversations that I brought up to not only adults but
children was the fact that horses don't have fur. They've got hair, and
you should see people's eyes go what I guess it is? Yeah, and
it's even funny. We talk about the fact that like, it's not like
what you see with cats and dogs, it isn't definitely sometimes a little bit
coarser, and that even it's important when you have its mane, which is
they're basically like the hair on our heads, but on their heads, it's
important to actually braid it because it keeps the hair healthy and out of their
eyes and free from dirt. A little leary about how we braid our own
hair and put it in a pony really really, now, my wife brought
up a very interesting question in the way of you know, because horsehair will
keep growing back, is it used in medicine as a way of creating wigs
for those that are going through cancer. You know, I'd have to look
into that, but that's a fascinating idea because, I mean, our hair
keeps growing back and we donate hair all the time. Yeah, I think
that's a great I mean she may be onto something, she may look into
that Arabian horses, My goodness, boy, you give us a list of
names of the greatest leaders of all time. What is it about the Arabian?
Oh, Arabians are just one of the most beautiful, stunning horses.
And you'll see you when you watch them do their pramping and walking about,
their tails are straight up in the air, and you wonder, what about
this horse makes them so cool? And actually the ability to do that,
that tail up is not actually normal in most horses. It's just the Arabian
and that's because they have too less vertebrae in their spines. But they can
lift their tails when they're excited. Now when we're horses domesticating. The reason
why I bring that up is because so many times, even when you look
in the Big Bible and things that it was always about the donkey that people
were riding. When was the horse really kind of you put into the human
life. Yeah, So we estimated that it's about six thousand years ago that
we began actually breeding horses for different tasks. And we see this happening all
around the world, and we have this amazing map that kind of points out
where some of the horses that you would see in areas like the Western US,
which would be the mustang. Or in Mongolia you have the really tough
horse named pronounce, which is the Volski. But you would have never thought
that the tight We we have some amazing ones and understand like why did we
start domesticating horses? And trust be told because with enough cars back back,
you needed some form of transportation. Yeah, and somebody had to work that
field as well. I mean, I mean my grandfather used the horses in
Wyoming when when it came to making sure that the fields were plowed. Yeah,
and we still see people do that today because they just have this strength
and calmness to them that you couldn't do that with a tiger or you know,
you were talking about horses with with a kind of hard to pronounce names.
How about the American bash Kur? Did I say that right? And
with its curly hair? Oh? Yes, there are so many horses and
we natchio. Fortunately, we make sure to put those pronunciations in there so
that every kid knows exactly how to pronounce it. But yeah, we have
some curly haired horses. We have horses that hairspinch to rate up. We
even have horses that have record linked hair or like grows really really long and
you can see that or which is so fun. Well, yeah, because
I mean a Shetland pony. Come on, I mean, that's what it
is. That's a walking, movable, stuffed animal that you can call your
best friend. Oh, it's so true, And honestly, I didn't know
this before I came to this book. Did you know that horses and ponies
or miniature horses too, they're all the same species. It's just how tall
they are that differentiates their names. So you're over fifty eight inches, you're
a horse. If you're at or under fifty eight, you're a pony.
And if you're a mini he who only reads up to baby thirty eight and
oh my god, with with with the web and all that kind of stuff.
That's the first time I've ever heard that. That's interesting. I know
the conversation. The conversation starter is this book. Well, and this book
is definitely one of those that empowers kids when kids don't like the kids love
more than anything to come up to a pair and be like, I know
something you don't know. One of the things that I've I've lived with throughout
my life are the wild horses because in Montana they are out there at the
Prior mountains, the mustangs are wild. And then even here in the Carolinas
we've got wild horses. Were they naturally wild or did they break free from
farms? We actually talk about there is a variety. So some animals did
end up being domestic. So they all originally weren't wild. Okay, some
were domesticated and then some actually returned to the wild and same wild. And
depending on where you're from around the world or in the country, you see
differences and some of them can be domesticated again. But you're right, in
the western US we see about eighty six thousand muths thangs that live on public
land right now. Yeah, my father his job before I was born.
He was the guy that broke horses. And what that means is that so
that you could ride the horse and so, and they showed me how we
did that where nobody got injured and it was in water, and so I
was I've always been fascinated with horses, and that's why I love this book.
Oh I love that. Yes, Wow, you got to come back
to this show anytime in the future. The door is always going to be
open for you. Christina. Well, thank you so much, Arrow,
and I love your enthusiasm for our books. Kids are gonna we can't wait
to get this in the hands of kids. It's gonna appeal to any child.
Are they they're really into sports, We've got the ek line athletes,
or they love the fantasy and we have our mystical horses, whether they want
to be a veterinarian or they just want to make some treats and be a
baker and make some sense some horses. We have it all in this book.
I'm just jealous that kids get this book today because I just had the
regular National geographics when I was a kid. So I mean, I just
love the way that you were tapped into people. Oh, we're so glad
too, because there's nothing better than to make sure that kids feel like they
can understand the world around them. And also you only get into the subject
that they find fascinating and feel like they can learn more of and tell other
people about it too. Wow, will you be brilliant today? Okay,
Christina, thank you so much. Arrow. You have a fantastic day.