This is gorgeous - my daughter also loves horses! I might pinch your idea :) this would be a great Christmas present! Luckily I have that Bernina`s circural embroidery attachment to sew decorative stitching and I haven`t tried it yet!
I love it. May I borrow you idea. One of my sons is into horses big time. He would love this. What is the design around the horse before you did the crochet part.
It is from a coaster design from www.embhome.com I deleted all the rest of the design except the outside borders. It also gives you a line to follow for the crochet.