[doris]

these paintings were propaganda paintings, napoleon (as well as his brother jerome) ordered several copies from the same painter, yet the painter was free to make minor changes...
as to the gender of horses, it is differntiate in face as is in humans, the male have more bony structure to see usually, the female more softer shapes...one has to get used to see it, but once you can, you always do...is similar to that many people cannot tell chinese people from japanese people, and yet there are strong differences, once you learned them your judgement is pretty sure...

very interesting to see those closeups, thanks for showing !

[Merle Rice]

Hi ASH, I think The progress that you have made so far is tremondous. Keep up the way you are going and you will have a great piece of ART. mERLE

[Ashbys]

Doris,

I think I am going to have to disagree with you, there is no bone structure difference between a female and a male horse that I can find except the canine teeth to which Lynn spoke about. And those teeth do not start to grow until the later 4 to the 5th year . If the horse was a 3 year old the teeth would not exist. Perhaps there is muscle differences , in wild hores I will have to find out, but under a normal training there should be no differeces in structure.

As to the face , I will have do some considering of that , since I have been know to mistake a mare for my gleding on a picket line before , A trooper took him to picket as I had an officers meeting to attend and relocated him on the picket line, same breed , same color , same markings , same temperment , if he hadn't snorted at me for petting the other horse... well lets just say he paid me back.

LOL
Ash

[Ashbys]

Merle Thanks ,

I will do the best I will do the best I can.

Ash

[Ashbys]

A lot is changing , Lynn really made me step back and look at the horses head. There is still a lot to work on the left side , but I wanted it to give up more , and remember there is usally a lot more wood then things look

Lynn is the shape more to the correct size for the nose.

The carving is still in relief but it is starting to shift into more 3d.

Ash

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Looks good to me. It really shows where you narrowed the nose. About the only other suggestion I might offer would be to flare the nostrils a little more. When a horse gets excited and this one clearly is by the white of the eye in the painting they really suck air. The painting also shows this.

[Ashbys]

Thanks Lynn .

When I step to the heavy detail I will open it up. Thanks for pointing it out, after your posting I went to my two , a saddlebred and a reg. quarter. And checked their bits, the wolf teeth doesn't get pressed on either.

Did you ever think about having them pulled , I know a few people that have done that. Since they have never caused a bit issue , I don't think about them and only notice them when I float their teeth . I guess that was why I never thought of them right away.

But now we can discuss the horses age .

Lol
Ash

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Boomer had his teeth floated in April. He does not like it at all and last year it took two shots and we still had to fight him. This year I suggested that we just drop him off so he could be put under to really have a good job done but the vet assured me he had some new stuff that would work. Remember the horse leaning against the wall with Lee Marvin in Cat Ballou? Well thats what poor old Boomer looked like after the shot. I had to prop his head up on my shoulder while the vet did his work and Boomer just slept through the entire process.

I have a chart in my shop that shows the various stages of a horses teeth as they age. Interesting. And as his teeth have never caused any problems he can keep what he came with.

Here's a real interesting article on the sex of horses for cavalry purposes.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive...CF&oref=slogin

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Interesting article!

[Mottles]

Hi Ash, just checking-in to let you know what a super job you are doing on this carving. Lot's of things to think about to pull both horse and rider together as one. I love the action and feeling of this powerful horse.
Watching and learning lot's,
Kathy