Thanks Gordy and Silviu. Well it was a bunch of hurry up and wait. I took him to a minor care center because I wanted him to have x-rays just to be on the safe side. The good news, nothing wrong with the bone, it's a bad sprain. But I do have to make an appointment with the ortho on Monday. So he's on crutches, with a big ole brace and we're icing it. The poor kid.
Silviu, if you're able, see if you can find the book Anatomy of the Horse by George Stubbs. It's been in print forever and I just picked up a used hardback in very nice condition on Amazon.com for $4.00 It's got some fantastic pictures of the skeletal structure that I think will really help you out.
I took the liberty to snag one of your photos and do some line drawing on it.
The tiny light blue dots are the important key points that you created with your sculpture. The one on the head is the poll. This needs to be the highest point on the horse and where the neck actually flexes. As you see on your sculpture, the highest point on the neck is back farther. This is actually something artists do over and over again, but horses don't move like this naturally. You may see them doing it occasionally when they're at liberty and playing in the pasture. But they will do it only for a few seconds as it is very unnatural and can actually be painful. The only other time you'll see it is if a horse is trained to do it in the show ring. Now, it's something that is very frowned on because it hurts the horse and can cause problems over time, like arthritis and a host of issues. If you look at the horse in my signature, he has his head raised and his neck arched but the poll is still the highest point.
The second light blue point is the withers, this is where the spine and shoulders meet, it is a structural foundation point on a horse. The red lines are the ones I drew following the lines you created on your sculpture. Many times, if something isn't working - like you know something is off but you can't define it - try printing out a photo and drawing lines like I did. It will help you see where you're off and define what's bothering you.
The dark blue lines are the ones I drew trying to show some ideas for correction.
You can see the light blue on the withers and the point of the shoulder - you got so close to nailing them! You almost had those perfect! Well done!
The hip is what's throwing you off the most - but again very close! In this sort of movement, the horse is using his hindquarters for power (this is exactly what you want them to do - so again - well done!). But you want the back to slope downward just a touch, not much, just a tiny amount. Also, don't forget the tail! It's actually part of the spine too so you'll want to leave a little armature hanging out for the tailbone.
The croup, the top of the rump, is just a little short and has too much slope. The hip points, again you were very, very close! But the hip itself is too wide and the hip points don't quite line up.
So that's what I've got so far. Keep up the great work! You really have a lot of improvement, very well done!
Cheers,
Karrie
