Critique Please!

I've always struggled drawing horses. For some reason, they're such a hard concept for me to grasp. I'll read tutorials, watch videos, and still can't get a handle on it. I've been wanting to get better at them so a couple of weeks ago I pulled out my wacom tablet and randomly drew a draft headshot (which wasn't intended to be a draft, but I drew the line from the ears to the muzzle more drafty-like so I just went with the whole draft thing... it was the best line I drew and I wasn't erasing it!:P). It's the best I've ever done, but I kinda feel like it still looks like a ten year old drew it xD. I'm hoping to get some input from you lovely people!

Here is Mister Draft.

The style I'm going for is a semi-realistic sort of style. Not completely cartoon-y, but not 100% realistic where if you looked at the picture it could pass as a real horse. I love the semi-realistic style I see of some artists on dA that do characters and things like that so that's what I'm aiming for. I'm also aiming for a simple/minimal style of shading. Not something over the top. Almost like an animation style, where they do some shading here some lighting there, but they don't go into extreme detail as if it was a background. Does that make sense? Um... I really feel like that's all I can describe about the style I'm going for. I guess to sum it up, it would be semi-realistic. I don't really know technical terms, though, so maybe I'm way off.

What I feel I need to improve on: my lines. Definitely my lines. Some will be straight and others might be a little wiggly here and there. I can definitely say that some of it is a result of my wacom tablet. I've tested it to where there's things on either side of the pen so that I have no choice but to draw a straight line and it still shimmies and shakes on the screen. It's not all of the time, but it definitely happens sometimes. Other times, I'm sure it's just my hand wanting to make the lines dance! I also feel like I need to improve my shading, especially when it comes to lighting. I feel like my shadows are ten times better than the lighter areas. Um... just make my art look better?:P

What I feel I'm already good at: um... not giving up?xD I honestly feel like I'm not good at anything yet. Okay, maybe my eyes. I feel like I shape my eyes pretty good.

What I use: a wacom tablet. I can't remember the name of it, but it's the $100 one. I think it's the starter one? Like the basic of basic models that's also the cheapest. I use Photoshop CS6.

I'm really just looking for any comments, tips, and maybe even some tricks that others would like to give me! Don't feel like you have to sugarcoat anything, either. Give it to me straight! I can take it. I already think it's pretty bad (but it's also my best work so I'm really happy with it at the same time). I also have one question... if you happened to understand the style I'm going for, is lighting something that absolutely has to be a part of a coloring that's not flat colored? I've seen some pictures before that just utilized shadows, but I wasn't sure if that's like an acceptable thing or if it was just the particular artist didn't use lighting (I'm forgetting the word for that. Shadows and... grrr).

Thanks in advance!

OK so I know nothing about drawing. The three things that stood out to me though:

- The mouth line is too high. It's at about 1/2 way... perhaps at about 1/4 or 1/3 instead.
- The cheek-bone line is really long.
- The ear is very high set and a little small, kind of seems to be stuck on top rather than part of the horse.

Thanks for your input, Almare! I really appreciate it! Now that you've mentioned it, I everything that you commented on except the mouth line. I'm not quite sure what you mean by that? Do you mean the line that comes in to make the side of the lips? That splits between the top part of the muzzle and the bottom? I'm thinking that is what you mean now because, looking at that spot, it does seem to be 1/2.

Did I make any sense at all just now?xD