Harecroft Carrapicho, a WIA 'Erren' Criollo custom

Today's custom introduction is WIA's criollo mould, sculpted by Morgen Kilbourn. You can see my original finish Erren in this post.

As soon as I saw these new models, I had the thought of how good the mould would look in the breed's famous wild pinto colouration, known as 'manchado' - you can see a few examples of how spectacular the colour is, here, here, and here : aren't they gorgeous!

It's a colour which is a little bit scary to tackle, but not too difficult once I actually get going. With co-operative paintbrushes of the right size (used a few times before, so the bristles are a little clumpy!) and just the right dampness of paint, I find I can block in the mottled colour with careful jagged strokes and stipples. Then I go over the colour again with a finer brush to refine it and add more detailing, both white for the roany speckling, and colour for spots of dark within it. 

I've done a couple of manchado pintos at Stablemate scale before, but this was my first time trying it on a larger 'canvas', so it was a case of being brave and hoping for the best!

I'm really pleased with how he turned out!

I used a deep dark shade of bay for his base cos I find my more chestnut colour paints mix badly with the white and the models end up with an unrealistic yellowed-out ginger tone in the overlapping, where the redder browns look more natural.

His markings weren't copied from any one horse, cos it's far easier to play it by ear and just see what happens, so I just look at a lot of photos beforehand then try to make up something which looks possible, rather than attempting to fiddle in every speck of white and colour from a single reference.

The big difference between my custom and the original is the haircut!

If you look again at the reference photos I linked, you'll see the criollo's traditional trim is a short neat clipped cut along the crest of the neck, with the forelock left on as protection against flies, and the tuft at the withers to provide a hand-hold grip for a rider. Criollo saddles don't have a rigid tree with a horn like most stock saddles, they're fleece and skin over a pad, so the mane can be held on the way up when mounting, and as an anchor when working cattle or tackling steep terrain.

The practical working mane trim has carried on as the correct turnout into the rodeo and show ring world, so the majority of ridden Criollo horses will have this short, upright mane left long at either end.

I didn't do any resculpting with putty for this change of style - first I cut the mane off with a mini hacksaw, carefully avoiding the parts I wanted to leave on, then filed it into an even arch along the line of the neck. Finally, I used the sharp corner edge of my file to pull in some of the grooves and creases at the tips, just to give it that textured edge rather than looking too bluntly plastic.

I also took the trailing tip off his tail - although the usual cut is much higher, not far below the hocks, the Erren scupt uses the tail for stability and to support his weight better, so I could only shorten it a little.

A fun but unrealistic headshot, I was going to do one anyway to show the detailing on his face, but it amused me to line him up with one of the sunflowers in my garden!

Criollo halters are made with braided rawhide or cord, with knots rather than buckles to fasten, so they're fairly easy to make in miniature with braided thread. His big forelock makes it very hard to get on and off, though, there's a big bow holding it together on the other side!

I've named him Carrapicho, a name picked from the pedigree of a real stallion. A lot of them are given names to do with nature and plants, and this one translates as a kind of spiky burr found growing on their native pampas home.

And a surprising post-script - in the few days since I finished this custom, I entered him in two online photo shows : he came first in his class in one, and in the other he progressed from winning his class, to section champion, to division champion!