FAMILY : Videos Children Can Horse Around With

From Power Rangers to Lion Kings, media-propelled fads come and go, but horses are forever, as far as many children, especially little girls, are concerned. If equine madness reigns at your house and those birthday wish lists invariably include something horsy, two enjoyable new videos can fill in for the real thing.

From Blackboard Entertainment’s new live-action “You Can Video Series for Children,” comes “You Can Ride a Horse,” a 30-minute up-close, child’s-eye look at horses. In the well-filmed show, sections on grooming basics, blacksmithing, riding how-to’s, gaits, vaulting and children’s observations are nicely integrated into a tour of stables, a horse farm and a riding ring as an experienced preteen girl rider shows a couple of preschoolers the ropes.

With very young viewers in mind, the video shows what riders wear, how grooming tools such as hoof picks and curry combs are used, and how to saddle up. Two song segments, “You Can Ride a Horse,” and “Parts of a Horse”--from rump to muzzle--are an appealing, sing-along bonus.

* “You Can Ride a Horse,” Blackboard Entertainment. $12.95. (800) YOU CAN 1.

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A Birthday Wish: “Dream Horse,” although targeted to the same young age group, takes a different path to horse heaven, focusing more on visual aesthetics than practicalities.

In this 40-minute film, a little girl with a birthday coming up, yearns for a horse of her own. Before her dream comes true, she accompanies her mother to a merry-go-round and to various ranches, and she goes on a wagon ride. Viewers see stately Arabians, hard-working quarter-horses and Morgans, and shaggy miniatures go through their graceful paces, running and trotting in the corral, in sprawling meadows, on country lanes and on the beach.

A spindly-legged foal kicks up its hoofs, a young girl helps her rancher dad train a horse in cattle cutting and the child-narration is interwoven with brief adult narrated segments giving the history and mythology of various breeds.

* “Dream Horse,” a Shaffer Travis Production, $19.95, (800) 386-9474.

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Creative Play: On Tuesday, “Creativity: The Visual Word,” for ages 13 to 17, kicks off the Arroyo Seco Art in the Park arts series, free bilingual classes for ages 7 to 17, running through May 6. The creativity class, to be held Tuesdays and Fridays from 5 to 8 p.m., will be led by artist Andy Ledesma and will help participants create cartoons and write essays, short stories and poetry for a publication called “LALA Land.” Guest artists and writers will discuss their work.

The series’ Saturday classes, for children ages 7 and up, begin March 11 at 11 a.m. and include “Papel Picado,” “The Art of Murals,” “Clay Play” and “Found Art.” For information, call (213) 485-8665 or (213) 847-3368 TDD.