Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s first works were caricatures and drawings of horses and riders. Toulouse-Lautrec made this particular drawing when he was just 15 years old. Horse and rider, in this example and others of the period 1878–80, are set down in a continuous rhythmic web of lines. The studies of frogs on the verso are typical of the humorous sketches of animals made by Lautrec during this period.