Harecroft Horses - Tales from the Body Box - CollectA batch two!

Wow beautiful work! They are stunning

I love thoroughbreds and you have customised these so beautifully. Not just repainted, but modified their sculpts too to make them really look like the originals. I don't know anything about horse racing, and I wondered why some horses wear a mask. Does that help them?

Ah, Dick Francis is/was a favorite author, he had Cheltenham in several of his stories, otherwise I probably wouldn't really know of it.

Both models are beautiful and I love how you individualized the sculpts!

Roger, masks/blinders restrict the horse's vision to what's in front of him- considered helpful with horses that are easily spooked or distracted from their job.

Kikimalou wrote:

Beautiful customs and beautiful pictures too 

2022 has a great dawn 

Thank you! I'm glad we had a rare sunny day just at the right point, there's been wind and rain and cloud and ice lately, but the one day I had these two ready for their pictures, out came the sun!

Joliezac wrote:

Wow beautiful work! They are stunning

Thanks! It's always nice when the horses you want to make portraits of are also very handsome ones, it'd be a lot harder getting a good match if they were plain colours with no interesting features

rogerpgvg wrote:

I love thoroughbreds and you have customised these so beautifully. Not just repainted, but modified their sculpts too to make them really look like the originals. I don't know anything about horse racing, and I wondered why some horses wear a mask. Does that help them?

pipsxlch wrote:

Ah, Dick Francis is/was a favorite author, he had Cheltenham in several of his stories, otherwise I probably wouldn't really know of it.
Both models are beautiful and I love how you individualized the sculpts!
Roger, masks/blinders restrict the horse's vision to what's in front of him- considered helpful with horses that are easily spooked or distracted from their job.

Glad you both like them! And yeah, it's always important to me for the mould to be adjusted right, rather than just putting the right colour on a body which doesn't quite match the real horse. It doesn't feel like a portrait if I haven't put in the extra effort to make the changes the mould needs - and some of them need more work than others!

Cheltenham festival is probably the most prestigious set of races over here, run over several days - there's so many different distances and obstacles there's something to suit most horses, so each race gets to be a true best-of-the-best competition, rather than any of them doing distances they're not suited for, or the wrong kind of jump to get the best from them. The Grand National is much more famous, but the Gold Cup is the highest quality race in the calendar.

And yes, the blinkers/visors are just like pipsxlch said, it's said to help them concentrate and focus. I also knew a horse who wore them cos he hated other horses being around him, and would get distracted from going forwards cos he was too busy threatening his friends!

Another year, another race.
I love the whole concept and it work as a kind of tribute you make to these famous competitors.
I also enjoyed to know that masks are actually to avoid these horses of getting distracted with the cheerleaders. I think that idea could be imported to other sports.

They both look lovely! And it's such a nice picture of them together
I like that they are portraits of real horses

Roger wrote:

I also enjoyed to know that masks are actually to avoid these horses of getting distracted with the cheerleaders. I think that idea could be imported to other sports.

 Genius! Now I look at the horse masks better I notice that they indeed have blinkers around the eyes.

I've already got on with the next batch of projects from my wishlist - to paint some breeds I've never done before.

First off, a Haflinger, a very pretty Austrian breed which I've always known about and liked, but somehow never got round to painting myself - though I did have a few original finish examples in my herd.
In real life they're quite a small breed, either a large pony or a small horse depending which side of 14.2hh they happen to be, so I chose the Highland Pony mould as the closest match for scale, build, and looks. They both have that cute, friendly, alert little face! I did carve away some of the leg feathering, and filled the profile a little, but other than that it's a pretty good resemblance already.

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And here she is! It was quite an odd colour to paint, I'm used to doing mostly darker coats with various shades of orange, red, brown, and black, so this time it was all the paint colours I usually only use for highlights and blonde hair!
Their shade of chestnut does vary, with some being quite tan-coloured while others are nearly cream - I went toward the lighter end this time thinking that if I ever paint another, I could go darker, and that would give the maximum variation, rather than if I went for the exact middle average shade first time.

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I haven't picked a name for her yet, my usual tactic with horses from countries I know little about is to look up some real pedigrees of the right breed and choose a name from there, that way I'm sure to get one which is the right language and an appropriate kind of thing people would call a horse there

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Her background is a little bit of genuine Austria, a souvenir calendar from the 1970s which my grandparents found when they were clearing out to move home about 10 years ago - I remember saving it from the bin incase the landscapey pictures ever came in handy as photo backgrounds, and now eventually have a horse to suit it!

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I gave her a little face stripe and pink nose, most Haflingers seem to have some white on the head, and it can be anything from a small star to a wide blaze.

I'm really pleased to have painted this appealing and popular breed at long last, without meaning to avoid it I somehow took a really long time to notice it was even a gap in my collection. So I scribbled a little list of the other most famous breeds I'd never done a custom of, and the next one is another horse to cross off!

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This is CollectA's mini Thoroughbred mould, but I just didn't like it as a TB, too chunky in the leg and sloping at the rump, with kind of awkward conformation, so I allocated it a breed which is known for it's rather unconventional looks, proportions and features which in any other horse would be regarded as flaws - the Nonius from Hungary.

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They only come in black, so it didn't take many seconds to decide how to paint her, and with black being easily the simplest colour to paint, it wasn't many minutes from start to finish, either.

The final breed in this tour of Europe is from Norway, the Døle Gudbrandsdal. The Døle is the commonest of the native Norwegian breeds, though you'd never know that from the model horse world, which seems intently focused on the Fjord to the exclusion of all other breeds from the country! They're a small draft-type horse, kind of the equivalent to a welsh cob or traditonal cob over here - stocky and strong, with feathered legs and a fairly high knee action, used for riding, driving, showing, and occasionally working draft duty like logging.
There's two kinds, the original Døle Gudbrandsdal, and the Døle Trotter, a flashier spin-off breed with longer slimmer legs and neck. I have my G3 Friesians in non-friesian colours as Døle Trotters instead, so in theory I could've just painted that mould unadjusted and counted it as a Døle custom to tick off the breed list. But I really wanted to go for the original heavier version of the breed, which meant thickening up the legs, and in every picture I could find for a Døle Gudbrandsdal in action, no matter how fast they trot their head seems to be held lower, on an arched neck. So it was time to get out the hacksaw as well as the filler...
Here's how the mould looks in the original black :

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(Don't worry, this perfect-condition horse is unharmed, I customised a scuffed second-hand duplicate from my body box!)

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Here he is with the thicker legs, the head removed, and the altered neck roughed in with milliput. You can see I re-used a chunk of the original neck and mane to save having to make the whole thing from scratch, that's how much I hate resculpting

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With the head glued back on, the set-hard milliput sanded and carved down to shape, and some more added to fill the throat, extend the mane, and smooth over any unwanted gaps or grooves. Now ready to paint!
Even though this was my favourite reference photo example, it's very similar to other bays I've painted recently, so I went with a slightly different shade instead, and copied this one.

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And here he is! I'm so pleased with how he turned out, especially as I really, really dislike resculpting anything more than simple tweaks like mane braids or hooves or adjusting a head shape, and would normally avoid it to the point of just not doing any custom which needed repositioning work

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I think the colour came out pretty close to the reference I was using, not how I usually paint a bay, having higher black on the legs and more variation between the darkest brown on the shoulder and the lightest creamy shading inside the elbows and thighs. I find copying a picture, either for a portrait model or just a breed example, can often push me to venture outside my usual paint palette, and abandon the mental 'pattern' for where shading goes - if I'm trying to duplicate a real horse, I'm having to paint what I see, not what I imagine is 'normal'

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This isn't going to convince me to do any more drastic customs, or even any others with this much repositioning, but I'm glad to have managed it once

Now, what breeds can I tick off that painting list next..?

They look great! I especially love Haflinger, and Døle! Fabulous work with the resculpting, I wouldn't think of changing this Friesian into this breed but you made it work perfectly! Very nice color choices for them too

For the next one, do you have a Gotland pony already? And/or maybe Jutland draft horse?

First time I heard about the Døle Gudbrandsdal, you make me learn everytime I open your topic 


Thank you for sharing the making off and congratulation you did a great job, this new horse is beautiful 

I also didn't know about the Döle and I am quite impressed with the result. Checking real ones, it doesn't look like any breed I can remember so I don't understand why such a distinctive breed is so anonymous. I love its proportions, it is like a draft wild horse existed.

Ana wrote:

They look great! I especially love Haflinger, and Døle! Fabulous work with the resculpting, I wouldn't think of changing this Friesian into this breed but you made it work perfectly! Very nice color choices for them too

For the next one, do you have a Gotland pony already? And/or maybe Jutland draft horse?

Thanks! Those are my favourites, too (I'm calling the pony Haffy as a nickname til I pick something better, cos the only one I ever met in real life was named that ), and the Døle is SO satisfying cos it actually looks like I imagined but thought I'd struggle to make.

I've done a Jutland (I used the WIA Gustav), but don't have a Gotland yet - there's no Stablemate mould which would suit, but maybe one of the CollectA ponies, they look something between Dartmoor and New Forest from the pictures I've seen?

Kikimalou wrote:

First time I heard about the Døle Gudbrandsdal, you make me learn everytime I open your topic 


Thank you for sharing the making off and congratulation you did a great job, this new horse is beautiful 

That's exactly why I wrote a little bit about the breed, it's not one which is very well-known in the wider world - most horse books have very little about them, usually just a short paragraph and picture tucked into some other breed's full page spread!
I thought the making-of pictures would be fun, seeing as it involved decapitation and remaking this time, not just a new coat of paint over the old!

Roger wrote:

I also didn't know about the Döle and I am quite impressed with the result. Checking real ones, it doesn't look like any breed I can remember so I don't understand why such a distinctive breed is so anonymous. I love its proportions, it is like a draft wild horse existed.

Yes, they're a really good, distinct breed, handsome and lots of nice colours and people do love a feathery cob type - you'd imagine they'd be popular. I know Fjords have a cool haircut and a memorable colouring, but that's no excuse to ignore their fellow Norwegians
Maybe CollectA will add a Døle to their range one day, they seem to be good at picking more obscure and less-often-made breeds to mix in with the common and famous ones.

Superb transformation!!

Pondering on breeds I've got in my collection, and ones I've painted before, and where any notable gaps might be, I looked up an alphabetical list of recognised breeds online, and have worked my way through it.

I've marked in bold the breeds I've painted.
Left normal text for the breeds I've got at least one model of in my collection, but haven't personally painted.
Struck through those breeds I don't have at all (either original finish or custom painted).

There's a lot I've never even heard of on here

Abaco Barb
Abtenauer
Abyssinian
Aegidienberger
Akhal-Teke
Albanian
Altai
Altèr Real
American Cream Draft
American Paint Horse
American Quarter Horse
American Saddlebred
American Shetland Pony
American Spotted Draft
American Walking Pony
American Warmblood
Anadolu pony
Andalusian or Pura Raza Española
Andravida
Anglo-Arabian
Anglo-Kabarda
Appaloosa
Appaloosa Sporthorse
Arabian
Ardennes
Arenberg-Nordkirchen
Argentine Criollo
Ariegeois pony
Asturcón
Augeron
Australian Draught Horse
Australian Pony
Australian Riding Pony
Australian Riding Horse
Australian Stock Horse
Austrian Warmblood
Auvergne
Auxois
Azerbaijan
Azteca
Baise
Bale
Bali Pony
Balikun
Baluchi
Banker horse
Barb
Bardigiano
Bashkir horse
Basque Mountain Horse
Basuto pony
Batak Pony
Bavarian Warmblood
Belgian Draught
Belgian Sport Horse
Belgian Trotter
Belgian Warmblood
Bhutia Horse
Black Forest Horse
Blazer horse
Boerperd
Borana
Bosnian Mountain Horse
Bosnian Pony
Boulonnais
Brabant
Brandenburger
Brazilian Sport Horse (Brasileiro de Hipismo)
Breton horse, or Trait Breton
British Riding Pony
British Spotted Pony
Brumby
Budyonny or Budenny
Burguete
Burmese Horse
Burmese Pony
Byelorussian Harness Horse
Calabrese
Camargue
Camarillo White Horse
Campeiro
Campolina
Canadian horse
Canadian Pacer
Canadian Rustic Pony
Carolina Marsh Tacky
Carthusian
Caspian
Castilian
Castillonnais
Catria horse
Cavallo Romano della Maremma Laziale
Cerbat Mustang
Chickasaw Horse, or Florida Cracker Horse
Chilean horse or Chilean Corralero
Chincoteague Pony
Chinese Guoxia
Choctaw horse
Cleveland Bay
Clydesdale
Coffin Bay Pony
Colorado Ranger
Coldblood trotter
Comtois
Connemara pony
Corsican
Costa Rican Saddle Horse
Croatian Coldblood
Cuban Criollo
Cumberland Island horse
Curly Horse
Czecho Small Riding Pony
Czech Warmblood
Dales
Danish Sport Pony
Danish Warmblood
Danube Delta horse
Dartmoor pony
Deli pony
Dole Gudbrandsdal
Dole Trotter
Dongola horse
Dülmen Pony
Dutch Harness Horse
Dutch Heavy Draft
Dutch Warmblood
East Bulgarian
Eriskay pony
Esperia Pony
Estonian Draft
Estonian Native
Exmoor pony
Falabella
Faroe pony
Fell
Finnhorse, or Finnish Horse
Flemish Horse
Fleuve
Foutanké or Fouta
Frederiksborger
Freiberger
French Saddle Pony
French Trotter
Friesian
Friesian Sporthorse (Friesian cross)
Furioso-North Star
Galiceno or Galiceño
Galician Pony (Caballo de pura raza Gallega)
Garrano
Gayoe
Gelderland
Georgian Grande Horse
German Riding Pony
Giara Horse
Gidran
Gotland pony
Groningen
Guizhou pony
Hackney horse
Hackney pony
Haflinger
Hanoverian
Heck horse
Heihe horse
Henson horse
Hequ horse
Higland pony
Hirzai
Hispano-Bretón
Hispano-Árabe or Spanish Anglo-Arab
Hokkaido Pony
Holsteiner
Horro
Hucul Pony
Hungarian Warmblood
Icelandic
Indian Country-bred
Iomud
Irish Draught
Irish Sport Horse or Irish Hunter
Italian Heavy Draft
Italian Trotter
Java pony
Jaca Navarra
Jeju
Jutland
Kabarda horse or Kabardin
Kafa
Kaimanawa
Kalmyk
Karabair
Karabakh
Karachai
Kathiawari
Kazakh Horse
Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horse
Kerry Bog Pony
Kiger Mustang
Kinsky horse
Kyrgyz Horse
Kisber Felver
Kiso Horse
Kladruber
Knabstrupper
Konik
Kundudo
Kustanair
Lac La Croix Indian Pony
Landais Pony
Latvian
Lijiang pony
Lipizzaner
Lithuanian Heavy Draught
Ljutomer Trotter
Lokai
Losino
Lundy pony
Lusitano
Luxembourg Warmblood
M'Bayar
M'Par
Malopolski
Mallorquín
Mangalarga
Mangalarga Marchador
Manipuri Pony
Maremmano
Marismeño
Marwari
Mecklenburger
Menorquín
Mérens horse
Messara horse
Miniature horse
Misaki horse
Missouri Fox Trotter
Miyako Pony
Monchino
Mongolian Horse
Monterufolino
Morab
Morgan horse
Mountain Pleasure Horse
Moyle horse
Muraközi or Murakoz
Murgese
Mustang
Namaqua Pony
Namib Desert Horse
Nangchen
Narym Pony
National Show Horse
New Forest pony
Newfoundland pony
Nez Perce Horse
Nivernais
Nokota horse
Noma horse
Nonius
Nooitgedachter
Nordlandshest/ Lyngshest
Noriker or Pinzgauer
Norman Cob
North American Single-footing Horse
North Swedish Horse
Norwegian Fjord
Novoolexandrian Draught
Novokirghiz
Oberlander Horse
Ogaden
Oldenburger
Orlov Trotter
Pampa
Paso Fino
Peneia Pony
Pentro
Percheron
Persano
Peruvian Paso
Petiso Argentino
Pindos Pony
Pintabian
Pleven
Poitevin or Mulassier
Poney Mousseye
Pony of the Americas
Posavac
Pottok
Priob
Pryor Mountain Mustang
Purosangue Orientale
Qatgani
Quarab
Racking horse
Retuerta horse
Rhenish German Coldblood or Rhineland Heavy Draft
Rhinelander horse
Riwoche horse
Rocky Mountain Horse
Romanian Sporthorse
Russian Don
Russian Heavy Draft
Russian Trotter
Sable Island Pony
Sandalwood Pony
Salernitano
Samolaco
Sanfratellano
Santa Cruz Island horse
Sarcidano
Sardinian Anglo-Arab or Sardinian Horse
Schleswig Coldblood
Selale
Sella Italiano
Selle Français
Senner
Shagya-Arabian
Shan Horse or Shan Myinn
Shetland pony
Shire
Siciliano indigeno
Silesian
Sindhi
Skyros Pony
Slovenian Cold-blood
Sorraia
Sokolsky
South German Coldblood
Soviet Heavy Draft
Spanish Barb
Spanish Jennet Horse
Spanish Mustang
Spanish-Norman
Spanish Trotter (Trotador Español)
Spiti Horse
Spotted Saddle Horse
Standardbred
Suffolk Punch
Sugarbush Draft
Sumba and Sumbawa Pony
Swedish Ardennes
Swedish Warmblood
Swiss Warmblood
Taishu horse
Tawleed
Tennessee Walking Horse
Tersk
Thoroughbred
Tibetan pony
Tiger Horse
Timor pony
Tokara
Tolfetano
Tori
Traditional Cob
Trait Du Nord
Trakehner
Ukrainian Riding Horse
Unmol Horse
Uzunyayla
Ventasso horse (Cavallo del Ventasso)
Virginia highlander
Vlaamperd
Vladimir Heavy Draft
Vyatka
Waler or Australian Waler
Walkaloosa
Warlander
Welsh Cob
Welsh Mountain Pony
Welsh Pony
Welsh Pony of Cob Type
Western Sudan pony
Westphalian
Wielkopolski
Württemberger or Württemberg
Xilingol
Yakutian
Yili
Yonaguni
Zangersheide
Zaniskari
Zweibrücker
Žemaitukas


And here's a condensed list of selected breeds I haven't painted yet, but would like to!

Abaco Barb
Altai
Barb
Black Forest Horse
Budyonny
Caspian
Chincoteague Pony
Cleveland Bay
Connemara pony
Dales
Eriskay pony
Falabella
Friesian
Furioso-North Star
Gotland pony
Hucul Pony
Iomud
Kabardin
Karabakh
Kazakh Horse
Kladruber
Konik
Landais Pony
Lokai
Malopolski
Mangalarga Marchador
Maremmano
Missouri Fox Trotter
Mongolian Horse
Muraközi
New Forest pony
Pony of the Americas
Russian Don
Sorraia
Tibetan pony
Timor pony
Yakutian

Some of these I could manage on current/upcoming Stablemate moulds, which I prefer cos they're the cheapest to get hold of, others I'd need to go up a size to CollectA bodies which I do occasionally find in bargain bundles on ebay - but a lot of those there just isn't any mould readily available at my scale/budget which would suit them, only resins or nothing at all, so they'll have to stay on the waiting list for a lot longer!

My vote has to go to Hucul, and Konik of course! Then Gotland, and Małopolski And then Black Forest Horse. And Yukatian!
There, a whole list of votes from me

Impressive the number of breeds you already portraied.
Very complete list, at least all Portuguese breeds are there: Alter Real, Lusitano, Sorraia and Garrano.

Last week I placed an order for 10 blind bag Stablemates, the Anniversary ones which are miniature versions of bigger sculpts. There's none in the selection which I really hate, and I've already got one of each to keep, so I didn't care which arrived and thought it'd be a fun way to shake things up and make myself paint whatever I happened to get by pot-luck from random packets.

They got here today, and I had to laugh - rather than a mixture of all eight moulds, I got two 'fours' that match - what're the odds of that happening!

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I haven't painted the Connemara mould at all yet, so it's great to have four in one go and not have to narrow it down to just one colour I'd like to do most. Looking back at my 'breeds I want to paint' list up there, I think this mould could do for the Gotland or New Forest as well as the Connemara it was sculpted as - and also the nicest match out of any Stablemate for my real-life pony who's a mix of two native breeds, so one may have to be set aside as her (I already painted her on a foal mould, but she grew up )

I'll always happily paint more fluffy-footed cobs, so four of those gives me plenty of options for different colour/marking combinations.

The pinto pony will be another first, and I'd been hoping to get one to customise at some point, I have my original finish example as a Choctaw horse and they come in a wide range of base colours as well as pinto patterns, so I can have fun designing something really eye-catching and detailed.

The only one I'm wary about is the rearing stallion as it's glossy, so I'm not sure how well my paint will go over the varnish - even if I scuff the surface a bit with super fine sandpaper to help it stick, the layer of gloss might mean some of the detail of the sculpt is blurred over. But we'll see, and at least there's only one, so if I do struggle to paint him in a flattering way, I haven't got to do any more afterwards!

The Haflinger and Døle Gudbrandsdal are stunning. The Haflinger has such a beautiful soft colour. The Døle Gudbrandsdal's resculpting has worked out very well, the looking-down pose is very nice. You should do more resculpting . That's a lot of horse breeds, you won't run out of ideas for a while.

Thank you! I find those subtle pale colours very hard to paint, so I'm glad you think it looks soft rather than washed out and plain! The only problem with the Dole working so nicely is that I'd like to have more of them, and I really don't enjoy the resculpting stage one bit

Unfortunately there's a lot of breeds on that list which don't have a likely Stablemate mould to use, so they might be waiting quite some time. I wish they'd re-release more of the G1s! Or some new light-to-medium riding horse moulds which aren't warmbloods or dressage poses, I'd even be happy with shrinky versions of big sculpts - how about a mini Winx or Akhal-Teke? Please?
Though I don't mind going up to CollectA size, they cost that bit more, so I only tend to paint them when I can find bulk second-hand or damaged batches cheap on Ebay, rather than paying new price just to repaint.

A very special introduction today! As I said above, I think the Mini Connemara Pony is the best match for my own horse out of all existing Stablemate moulds, so I set one aside from my recent parcel, and yesterday evening I painted her up

Here's a couple of pictures of the real one, first - her colour changes from reddish in winter, then darker brown while she sheds, and ends up quite sandy gingery in the summer, so I've had to pick out a selection of older shots which match the colour variation I painted

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This horse is my best mate, not just an animal but a great friend too. She arrived at the yard as a foal, was put in with my shetland pony for company, and I was asked to provide a bit of care and education while she grew up - the owner's intention was to sell her a couple of years later, when she was ready to start bringing on. But by then she'd clearly decided she was my horse, we'd palled up and she trusted me, played with me, and followed me everywhere like a pet, so I bought her so she could stay.
Her name is Foal, even though she's ten now and 'foal' is the term for a horse under the age of one year - it dates back to when she was new and we all just referred to her as 'The Foal', and it stuck

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From when I was training her to ride, looking actually tame and reasonably sensible for once We're both retired from that now, and I just hang out with her in the field for a couple of hours in winter, much longer in summer.

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Fluffy creature! She's a cross between two British native breeds, with a New Forest Pony father and a Welsh Cob mother - in looks and build she very much resembles her New Forest half, but her mind is very 'Welshie' : opinionated, highly strung, playful, clever, protective, and stubborn.

And here's the mini version

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Because she's such a playful, bouncy horse, this mould suits her surprisingly well. I tend to like it most as feral breeds (like the Sable Island Horse Breyer released on the large version), but I've seen her doing this sort of dramatic flailing on a regular basis, often when she's just got up from a particularly good wriggly roll

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She's the wild-type bay, which means her legs aren't fully black - her knees and hocks are chocolatey brown, her fetlocks are black, and the front legs have patches of creamy blonde between the two. She's also got gingery highlights in her mane and tail, so I didn't paint in the mane strands like I would usually on a mould where the hair's sculpted flat against the neck and shoulder, but let it fade out as if the hair's browner toward the tips.

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She's got a little thumb-smudge of white on her forehead in real life, which I added in with a tiny brush for her miniature self.

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The mould isn't strictly supposed to stand up in a half-rearing pose like this (you can tell from the awkward angle of the foot furthest from the camera), but it looks fun to vary the photos a little bit.

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This shot, hiding the wrong foot, looks more convincing!

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I really like how she turned out, not purely cos it's satisfying to finish a custom neatly and nicely and match a colour accurately, but it's just lovely to have an adult portrait of her for my Stablemates collection! Last time I painted one, I used the scratching foal mould, but she hasn't been that size for a very long time now, so she deserved a grown up model as well. I'll find the foal picture....

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There! The two models haven't 'met' yet, I'll have to take a picture of her Stablemate selves standing together. I told the real one this morning I'd been painting her again, but she was more interested in trying to get my pocket buttons in her mouth

Finally, something I noticed while setting up my pictures...

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Laying down, the mould looks like it's having a roll!

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Here's the real one - she really does love rolling on her back and both sides, one of her nicknames is 'Rolly-Foaly' (and the farmer who brings her hay bales thinks her name is actually 'Rolly' and never calls her anything else )

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Good job I painted the underneath pretty well, I admit I don't usually do much detailing or referencing with the underside of models, but because this one was a portrait I made sure I copied her shading all over, so she even looks accurate in this roll pose

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Great repaint again! I need to check whether my Connemara mare can also lie down. But the real star is Foal. Stunning pony, I love the colours and she has such elegant proportions (perhaps because she is a pony rather than horse, I don't know). Does she have a tiny bit of white hair on her face? I guess so because it is clearer in your models of her.

Yes, she's pure native pony type, the legs are shorter but so is the back, so they just look balanced and compact in general when compared to taller breeds and crosses.

The white on her forehead hides behind her mane quite often, and at a certain point in summer she sheds it out and it takes a few weeks to come back! Here's a couple of recent shots where you can see it clearly

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your best friend, like a famous star, got perfectly portraied with a multipose replica. Very nice work and I enjoyed reading about the upside downs of your friend.

She really loves her upside downs, I rarely see her more excited than when she's just finished a really good one But the very best ones are when it's snowed - the first time it was heavy enough to settle, I got there in the morning and there were at least seven different spots where she'd laid down to roll in it. Like a little child doing snow angels

George wrote:

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This horse is my best mate, not just an animal but a great friend too. She arrived at the yard as a foal, was put in with my shetland pony for company, and I was asked to provide a bit of care and education while she grew up - the owner's intention was to sell her a couple of years later, when she was ready to start bringing on. But by then she'd clearly decided she was my horse, we'd palled up and she trusted me, played with me, and followed me everywhere like a pet, so I bought her so she could stay.
Her name is Foal, even though she's ten now and 'foal' is the term for a horse under the age of one year - it dates back to when she was new and we all just referred to her as 'The Foal', and it stuck


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Here's the real one - she really does love rolling on her back and both sides, one of her nicknames is 'Rolly-Foaly' (and the farmer who brings her hay bales thinks her name is actually 'Rolly' and never calls her anything else )

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Foal is just beautiful!!! Congratulations on having such a special best friend <3 and sharing your story George!
and I love the rolling version you painted of her, it looks tremendous rolling on the ground just like her!