Now I'm at the point of building the saddle on the horse and making sure it fits the rider. The rider is nowhere near perfect yet, but she's about as thick as she's going to be front to back (this is a petite middle-aged rider). I may need to adjust the length of her legs once I get back to work on her, but for now, I'm just getting the saddle assembled and placed where it should be. I know I need to get her body more proportionate and to get her sitting on her seat bones. I'll get there eventually.
At first, I had the saddle a bit long for this rider - If you look carefully, you should be able to see I've just cut the clay at the back of the cantle so it fits the rider better. I've just turned a bit of clay over to fill in some of the seat behind her, actually, and then put a cut behind the cantle as a marker for when I get back to work on it.
You can also see I've put feathers on three of the legs now, and those legs have also developed muscles, bones and tendons. I've put a bit of clay on the neck as well, starting to plan out the movement of the mane. The strips of clay ahead of where the saddle's knee rolls should be in the picture below are just extra pieces I haven't trimmed off yet. I've only developed the saddle on the left side and a bit on top. The right side will be done tomorrow.
Here are some detail shots of the horse and rider.
Don't worry, her ankles and feet will be straight with no wire sticking out of them when I get finished. For now, this is very much a work in progress. The knee rolls are just being developed and will be shaped better before I declare a victory over them.
I'm pretty pleased with how it's coming along. Hope you enjoy seeing its progress!
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