Martouf is done!

And just in time. I’m heading over to Caryn’s house today for a customizing day. I’ll also be dropping off a horse I repaired for her and the newly finished Martouf. He’s going with her to the Swap & Shop Live Show while I’m in Hawaii later this month. Generally I’m not into proxy showing, since the best part of a live show is being there, but I’m really pleased with how Martouf came out and I’d be tickled to get him in the ring before, oh… September? That may be the next time I get to a live show.

I finished Martouf up last night with a few last minute details, layers of matte coat, and then his final eye gloss. And I took some quite glamor shots, although they’re a bit washed out and don’t catch all the detail. I’ll be adding him to my grey gallery page shortly, and I’ve made him a page in the Equine Resin Directory. I also added some updated pictures to my site’s other pages.

Bookcase the cat helps me take pictures of Kaylee

I hope one of these days I can take the time to update my photo show photos- they really need some work, and I have a number of horses who don’t have a picture at all.

Anyway, here’s Martouf!

Martouf’s rose gray color is a combination of pastels, acrylic hairing, and white charcoal pencil. His mane and tail are acrylics. Big thanks to Caryn for gifting me this lovely resin!

Playing with Pedigrees

I’m still chugging along on Martouf. He might not look terribly different from the last time I posted pictures, but he’s had detail added on his hooves, legs, tail, forelock, and ears. I’ve also done a few more back and forths between pastel and acrylics on his body.

There is a show coming up in March that I will be missing, but Caryn volunteered to proxy show Martouf if I can finish him in time. I should be able to finish him up, which means I also need to make him a breed reference for the show. I was originally going to show him as a Warlander (Andualusian x Friesian) but because of his relatively short head I’m going to try him as a Moriesian (Morgan x Friesian) instead.

Since Martouf is a chestnut-based grey, he’d need a rather specific set of parents. It’s a possible color, but a doubly rare one- the recessive red gene for chestnut is rare in Friesians and grey is rare in Morgans (and none existent in Friesians). Since I am a little obsessive, I not only wanted to make a breed reference card but do a bit of research on parentage. No judge will see this, it’s just a personal project for me to see how my pretty rose grey guy could come to be that color. There are hobbyists who are very into pedigree assignment, and I am a casual and infrequent partaker of that aspect.

Genetically, what I need is a chestnut (ee) or heterozygous black (Ee) Friesian stallion and a grey Morgan mare also carrying at least one red gene. The red/chestnut gene is recessive, and this helpful site gives a quick explanation of how it works, as well a list of registered Friesian stallions that carry it. The Freisian studbook no longer allows horses carrying chestnut to be registered, although a number of these horses still exist and are used in Freisian Heritage or Freisian Sporthorse breeding.

Tinus PM

I researched a number of Friesian stallions who carry the red gene, including the stunning chestnut, Renoir. For Martouf’s sire I chose the lovely and accomplished Tinus PM. This dressage champion is son of Jillis 301, one of the last chestnut-carrying stallions in the Freisian studbook.

Finding a mare was somewhat more complicated. Grays are rare in the Morgan breed, and I not only needed a gray but one carrying a certain base color genes. I can’t see that from the pictures, so it required researching the mare’s pedigrees.

I started with the indispensible Morgan Colors website, which gave me a list of known grays in the breed. I coupled that with the All Breed Pedigree site and some googling, and went from there.

I found two mares that I knew fulfilled the requirements (I found a number of mares who might very well be carrying a red gene, but since I wasn’t positive I scratched them off the list). FPS Frosted Creme Brulee is a 2006 gray mare with a palomino base coat. Palominos are genetically chestnuts with one cream gene, so I know she has two red genes (ee).

Winter Moon Light Kiss

The other mare I found is Winter Moon Light Kiss, owned by Winter Moon Morgans. She is a 2001 grey mare, and although I don’t know her base color for sure, I know she is carrying at least one red gene- and that’s all I need. I know she’s a carrier for two reasons. For one, her dam was a chestnut so she must have a least one red gene. Also, “Kisses” had a 2006 chestnut-going-gray colt, so she clearly has a red gene to pass on. Looking back in this mare’s pedigree, it wouldn’t at all surprise me if she is herself a chestnut base gray. She even has a chestnut sabino full sister.

I decided to use Winter Moon Light Kiss as Martouf’s dam. I always prefer horses that have proven themselves in performance as well as having great pedigrees and nice foals. Kisses’ wins at Class A shows in western, huntseat, and in-hand sealed the deal for me.

Hurrah hurrah! My stallion Martouf (ee aa Gg, Tinus PM x Winter Moon Light Kiss) is coming to life. If you stuck with me through my color genetics rambling, I highly recommend you check out Leslie Kathman’s Equine Tapestry blog and also go play with this super fun visual color calculator.

Back to Finishwork!

Hurrah hurrah! I am finally working with color again. It seemed like forever prepping these guys… I’m not sure if that’s because I’m a cruddy prepper, a perfectionist, they were really rough, or some combination of those. I haven’t had much time for models but all of it has been prep, prep, and prep some more. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’ve put 15 hours of prepping in on these two.

But yesterday, with primer smooth, pin holes filled, and veins applied, they were ready to go. I got about 2-3 layers on each through the afternoon and evening.

My Hale resin is going to be a blue roan. Right now he’s what I think of as an “Impressionist roan”- he looks more or less like a roan, but the body is an approximation of the hair mix instead of actually hair detail. Since I’m going to do hair-by-hair roaning on him, I think I’ll do a bit darker with the pastels.

I added some brown to his coat too, which I think really makes the roan even richer. Some black roans are very black and white, while others have a lot of brown tons, even though they are clearly not bay roans. I assume it’s something like sun-fading on the black hairs mixing with the roaning to make a brown-highlighted black roan.

My Fritz resin is also getting clothes! He was a beautiful and generous gift from Caryn and I’m super excited to see him come to life. I was eager to find him a name too, since Fritz is the name of one of my other horses. His new name is Martouf, and he’s a Warlander (Friesian x Andalusian).

Martouf is going to be a dapple rose grey. I’ve only sketched in his mane and tail in acrylics here- there will be a lot more grey and variation in there eventually, but I like to have an approximation as I go to help me get the body color where I want it. I’m using a sharpened eraser to do the dapples, which is pretty tedious, but I do like the effect so far. The hardest thing on him might be knowing when to stop adding color, since he is supposed to be nearly grayed out.

The fun continues today! I was thinking about leaving the house, but while writing this post it started to downpour furiously. Sounds like a perfect afternoon to stay indoors :)