horse/war pony

Originally i thought i was going to make an armored pony as that's how they are described in the book but i did some research into that time and the horse breed they rode in Genghis khan era, and seems there actually horse but because there short there often refereed to as pony's almost donkey like. But the horse im going for is the domesticated mongol horse bread from all over but is closest to the przewalski wild horse but the domesticated mongol horse are slightly less bulky and bread for spread and strength but still look very similar.

 przewalski wild horse

So i built a base mesh around some reference images not to complicated because i find it quicker to get proportion in zbrush so made some sub tools and built up layers on the horse to help with the armored look.

http://www.mongolianmumbles.com/2011/07/nadaam-horse-racing-speical-event.html

http://www.theadventurists.com/mongol-derby/#whats-the-mongol-derby

I found this blog with some really interesting pictures of people racing the horse and it gave me a really good sense of scale which will help alot with the characters.

basemesh

Looking at the reference they look a fierce horse breed and i like the idea of the aggressive Mohawk i think brings alot of character to the horse.

Trying to get some good anatomy structure nothing to defined as it will be covered in Armour but just to make sure i have good foundation and looks realistic.

breaking down muscle groups

all the subtools