Karen S. Garvin (C)
Through the Looking Glass
A horse of a different color
| Base color and markings | Getting fancy | The language of color | Magical markings | Conclusion |
| Dungeons & Dragons | Advanced Dungeons & Dragons | Monsters | Dragon magazine | Dragon #141 |
You're deep into a painting session.
Choosing your palette with great purpose,
you create, from a horde of leaden clones,
a unique persona ? the highwayman.
Astride his horse with sword raised in
salute, the highwayman is a dashing fig
ure. He is dressed in soft deerskin breeches
and a tan tunic, belted at the waist by a
wide red belt. His knee-high, black leather
boots are dulled by road dust. A black
velvet cape wraps about his waist, draping
stylishly over the saddle?s cantle. On his
head, set at a rakish angle, is a widebrimmed
gray hat surmounted by a scarlet
plume.
You paint his horse brown.
Brown -- not cinnamon or copper or
chestnut or chocolate ? just plain old,
boring brown, the brown of a hundred
other miniatures. Somehow, it doesn?t
seem to fit in with the bon vivant image
you?ve just created for the highwayman.
What can you do? How can you change
the horse to give it some pizzazz without
going to unreal lengths? How can you
match the horse to its rider by choosing
an appropriate color or marking for the
mount?
Basic color and markings
Horsemen have studied the coloration of
horses for so long that it is practically a
science in itself. Horse coloration is
divided into five basic groups: black,
brown, chestnut, bay, and gray. An enormous
range of variations exists within
each group, and the difference between
two colors may sometimes be so subtle
that horsemen often find themselves arguing
about what color a horse actually is.
When preparing a horse miniature for
painting, white primer is recommended
over red primer; it is harder to cover up
the red primer with a light color such as
white, and it is easy to mistake the red for
an actual color, especially when you?re
painting the horse a reddish brown. If you
are going to give your horse white markings,
paint them so that you are not trying
to cover up a dark color with white.
The five basic colors for horses are
described below.
Black: Coal black and raven black are
two variations of this color. A coal-black
horse has a dull coat that reflects little
light. To accomplish this effect, use a matte
sealer on the horse after painting. Raven
black, on the other hand, is very shiny and
often shows green or purple highlights. To
get this effect, wash the horse with a deep
blue-purple after painting, and finish with
a gloss sealer. Black horses almost always
have some white
markings.
Brown: Brown may range from a light
reddish brown to a deep, nearly black
brown. Brown horses have muzzles that
are either the same color as their bodies
or somewhat lighter. Use almost any earth
color for this type of horse. Matte sealer is
recommended.
Bay: The body of a bay horse ranges
from a yellowish brown to a reddish
brown. Bay horses always have black
points ? meaning the muzzle, mane, tail,
legs, and tips of the ears. White markings
are also common. Matte or gloss sealer
may be used.
Chestnut: The redhead of the horse
world, a chestnut horse has a flashy color
that is rare in its appearance. It may be
light yellow, red, or mahogany. Sorrel is a
diluted variety of chestnut; add white to
the color you would use for the chestnut
to obtain sorrel. Chestnut and sorrel
horses have manes and tails that match
their body colors or are lighter. They
frequently have extensive white markings.
Gloss sealer is recommended for the chestnut
and matte sealer for the sorrel.
Gray: Steel gray is a medium gray with
dark legs, mane, and tail, Flea-bitten gray
is a light gray (almost white) with dark
reddish-brown speckles (?flea bites?) scattered
over the entire body; the mane and
tail are light gray or white. Gray is not
usually a very shiny color, so use matte
sealer to finish this type of miniature.
When choosing paints for any of the
above colors, remember that yellow and
red refer to earth tones of these colors,
not the bright primary colors. Almost any
earth tone makes a good horse color. Some
of the grays on the market, though, are
too flat and machinelike in appearance
and may need to be washed with a black
to give depth to the color.
Most horses have solid-colored coats
with white markings on the face or one or
more legs. Facial markings range from
snips (small patches of white on the nose)
to baldface, where the entire front of the
face is white. Paint these markings with a
crisp white, not an off-white or ivory. Leg
markings can be small white patches near
the hoof, or they can extend above the
knee, hock, or somewhere between. Markings
tend to be very irregular in shape and
size, so give your imagination free rein.
Getting fancy
Now that you know about the colors of
everyday horses, here are some fancy
colors to further tempt your imagination:
Buckskin: A buckskin horse?s body is
yellowish brown with black points. Usually,
a dorsal stripe (a black stripe running
the length of the spine from mane to tail)
is apparent. Faint zebralike stripes occasionally
appear on the lower legs. Buckskin
is a dull, dusty color, so use matte
sealer.
Palomino: Palominos can range from a
very light yellow to a bright copper. Their
manes and tails are always lighter than
their bodies and are often flaxen in color.
Use a color such as Poly S Frost Giant
Ivory, or use white with a dash of yellow
added to it. Roy Roger's famous horse
Trigger is an example of a palomino.
Pinto: Also known as a paint, the pinto
has large irregular patches of white and
another color (usually black or brown).
Piebald is the term that describes a blackand-
white pinto; a brown-and-white pinto
is referred to as snowbald. Within these
two divisions, a pinto may be primarily
white or primarily colored. Tobiano is a
white pinto with large, dark patches on
the body; the white of this horse extends
downward towards the belly. Overo is a
pinto whose coloring consists of jagged
white markings that extend upwards from
the belly against a dark body. In both
patterns, facial markings are common.
Gloss sealer is recommended for dark
pintos and matte for those mostly white.
(White hair does shine, but the shine is
usually not visible to the extent that dark
hair is.)
Appaloosa: This is a breed of horse as
well as a marking. Appaloosa coat patterns
are divided into a variety of their own
categories. Blanket is a mostly solidcolored
body with a white ?blanket? covering
the rump. Snowflake is almost the
reverse of the flea-bitten gray, with white
speckles covering a dark coat. Drybrushing
with white will help achieve the snowflake
appearance. Leopard Appaloosas are
white with egg-sized dark spots covering
their bodies (not unlike the spots of dalmatians).
In addition to their fancy markings,
Appaloosas usually have pink and black
vertical stripes. Use a coral pink and a
very dark gray for coloring hooves. Gloss
sealer for dark-colored horses and matte
sealer for light-colored horses are recommended.
The language of color
"A horse is a horse, of course, of
course,"
or so goes the song, but the fact remains
that color plays an important role in
choosing a horse, both in the real world
and in the world of miniatures. Some
choices are nothing more than personal
preferences, but more than one horseman
seems to think that the color of a horse's
coat plays an important part in determining
its psychological makeup. Theories
abound as to why this may be, so color
does seem to make a difference.
For example, chestnuts are considered
high-spirited and temperamental creatures
? true to the fiery redhead maxim. Bay is
considered the toughest color; likewise,
bay horses are sturdy and reliable mounts.
Brown and black horses are more sensitive
than bays, but not as fiery as chestnuts.
Finally, gray horses are considered
kind, gentle, and not easily upset.
So how can you use this information to
match the perfect mount to your character?
First establish what kind of horse
your character needs for the purpose at
hand. Soldiers need tough horses, horses
that are easy to care for on long campaigns.
Based on this, soldiers would prefer
bays and browns. Practically speaking,
gray horses get too dirty. They are also
highly visible ? not something a soldier in
battle would appreciate. However, a general
might prefer a gray horse because it
does stand out in a crowd.
Black has long been a symbol of power,
and a black horse, especially a stallion,
embodies this power. Since Western culture
associates white with good and black
with evil, a black horse is probably the
only choice for an evil paladin.
White is a color associated with purity,
thus, a lady would likely ride a white or
gray horse. A princess, on the other hand,
might well ride a chestnut or a fancycolored
horse, such as a palomino or
Appaloosa. Female adventurers would be
well suited for a bay or steel-gray horse.
A flamboyant character, such as the
highwayman mentioned at the start of this
article, would go for the showiest horse he
could find. A pinto or an Appaloosa would
be a good choice, or a chestnut with a lot
of white markings. These are only general
guidelines, so feel free to experiment.
Magical markings
Certain markings have been ascribed to
have magical importance. These various
markings and their purported qualities are
listed below. Note that medicine hat and
bloody shoulder are both real-world markings;
magic saddle is a fantasy invention.
Medicine hat: This is a marking worn by
some pintos. The ears are covered with a
dark ?bonnet? and the chest by a dark
?shield.? The Cheyenne Indians thoughtthat
these horses had mystical powers.
Shielded by these markings, a horse with
medicine-hat markings was believed to be
impervious in battle. The rider of such a
horse was likewise protected as long as he
was mounted. Because it is a shield, the
medicine hat marking is considered a form
of magical armor, awarding variable protection
to horse and rider without weighing
the horse down. Add + 1 to +4 to the
armor-class rating of the horse and of the
character when he is mounted. Movement
is not affected by this change.
Bloody shoulder: This is a marking characterized
by a red coloration over the
horse?s shoulder. Bedouin legend tells of a
devoted mare who carried her wounded
master over her shoulder to safety. This
marking is extremely rare. Any horse
exhibiting it proves loyal to one person
only and may not be ridden by anyone
else. If a horse with this type of marking is
stolen, it runs away from its captor at the
first opportunity and seeks its true master.
The horse does not panic or run away
from melee as long as its master is alive. If
the master dies, the horse then runs wild
until it is captured and tamed by another
person. In order to tame a horse with the
bloody shoulder marking, a character
must have a charisma of 15 or greater;
even then, there is only a 20% chance of
taming the horse.
Magic saddle: This is another pintolike
marking in which a dark saddle-shaped
patch covers the horse's back. Any rider
mounted on this horse will not fall off or
be knocked off in battle. The rider may
dismount only when it is his wish to do so.
Because of this, the rider may even sleep
in the saddle, since falling off is virtually
impossible (the key word is ?virtually?).
Conclusion
What does this all mean for the modeler?
Well, a basic understanding of horse
coloration can provide a useful set of
guidelines when realistically painted horse
miniatures are desired. Of course, you can
always paint your figures lavender or
green if you so desire; this is, after all,
fantasy. But when you want realism, this
article can be invaluable in providing
horses with individuality and authenticity.
Above all, it makes painting them a lot
more fun!