Horse Research + Skyrim Colours

In war, horses originally trained to be war horses were used of course and sometimes horses were purchased from breeders and homes if they met high standards, but towards the end of the war (around 1917-1918) horses were simply seized from farms and working homes in order to feed the war effort. This was done on both ends and although we as the English like to think we are an ‘animal loving’ country, we took more horses and returned fewer than any other nation. Maybe more horses were sacrificed for the English at this time then in any other instance in history. 

The horses toward the end, when the conflict was debatably most horrid and bitter, were nearly all victims of soldiers simply stripping the country of its reserves to bring to the front. These horses were not the wonderful spritely thoroughbred horses we see in films but were heavy, hard working draft horses. Oddly this fit the needs of the effort as by then horses were used primarily to haul heavy equipment. Horses of high breeding were mostly confined to use by better ranking individuals.

We can see many of these truths shown in the film War Horse in fact, and I was pleased to see many draft horses being used in back ground shots; giving itself a more truthful and accurate then other films depicting horses within WW1. 

Joey the main horse of the film was shown as a extremely high quality and rare horse to be in a rural farming community; he is the only one of his kind being sold at market in the first few scenes and we can see the horse being dwarfed by Shires and Punches throughout which was likely also used for some comedic effect.
He is then purchased by a high ranking official as one would accurately do at the start of the war.

I have studied the War Horse film in great detail and taken a huge bunch of screen shots here of important factors.


The main horse featuring in our game needs to be chosen. What of its breed and its colour and the general look of it. 

Its personality would emerge through game play.

I looked through literally hundreds of breeds and weighed the options of each.
I feel a draft horse however needs to be the one chosen. Although the stylistic appeal of the film would be slightly compromised (you would not be riding a magnificent stallion with billowing mane), for accuracies sake it will work well. And it will also benefit game play in terms of being able to achieve more with the horse. 

Looking at other games we see that nearly all horses come in the standard ‘Dull Brown’ colour. Sometimes they are lucky enough to have white socks or blaze but it is rare. 

Skyrim however picked up on this and thankfully made a selection of coloured horses for the play to pick and choose from. Sadly the base of the horses is all exactly the same, only the colour mapping has been altered. It would of been nice to see some horses with thicker necks, different fetlocks, varying lengths of manes and tails etc but at least they are not all madding the same brown colour which I have come to detest. 

The Black horse, with black mane and chestnut eyes:

The Bay with white socks and blaze with black mane, chestnut eyes: 

An Exotic Palomino horse with light mottling, white socks and flaxen mane, blue eyes:

The Dapple Grey which has very fetching dapples along its body, white socks and a sleek black mane, brown eyes: 

The very handsome painted or Pinto horse as it should be referred to, with black and white patching with a flaxen mane and chestnut eyes: 

Then there are fantasy horses like Shadowmere who is the darkest black with red eyes:

And the white  (grey) horse frost here who is fighting a bear because he felt like it: 

These colours are not very explorative into horses, but then for the game they couldn’t make ‘Snowflake Peal’ or ‘Dapple Grey Pinto Star’ colours. However for our own we are taking horses of every breed and colour into consideration and our main horse can be whatever we want. 

Here are some photos collected of horse colours I feel are very effective and could inspire our own future designs. 

Hand some face

Dapple brown, lovely feet.

Magic, the gypsy vanner cross. Pinto, snowflake grey marble.

Eden, sired by Magic

This is Ebon. He is an amazing stallion- with a very distinct eye shape. I would like to replicate this in our horses design.

This is the look of our horses face we need. That angry, calculating eye.

I would like to look at more horse designs at a later point as well, however this collection is very informative.

Edwin Noble Studies Research

An artist from WW1 who did on sight studies of the horses and often the effect of war on them. Such things as the skin being burnt and damage from gas and the effects of sores were documented.

' A Conscientious Objector': All horses were galloped in the course of the strict veterinary examination to which each was subjected prior to purchase, and many 'outlaws' were thus detected and rejected on account of being insufficiently trained for active service.

Two men on horseback in front of a stable building. The foremost horse rears up, the rider struggling to stay on.

Numerous horses standing and grazing in a veterinary camp. A horse bends down to graze tethered by rope to a wooden post in the immediate right foreground. A few trees are visible in the background.

A British soldier leads a horse out of a train carriage, down a wooden gangway. Other soldiers stand near a group of horses, already taken off the train, to the left. An officer stands in the right foreground looking at a list.

A large group of horses tethered together in a veterinary camp. In the center, two horses bend down to eat from what appears to be a large spread of hay on the ground.

A rear view of a horse, highlighting the red marks of ulcers and nodules on its hindquarters, a result of contracting Glanders disease. In the lower right is a separate closeup sketch of the affected hindquarters.

Two strong horses pulling a deep cart over the brow of a hill. The bony frame of an ill horse can be seen standing in the cart. Their hooves send up clouds of dust that cover the soldier who walks alongside.

A full body view of the left side of a large white draught horse, bare backed and with no harness or bridle.

A full body view of the right side of a mange infected horse. The horse's naturally brown coat has been badly discolored across much of the animal's body.

A British officer inspects the eye of a horse being sold at an American horse ranch. There is a man on horseback to the right, the sellers of the horse to the left, and numerous other horses in the background.

 A full body view of the left side of a brown horse, with a harness and bridle on the head and reins draped over the neck.

A dying horse lying on its side with its head stretched out, clearly in distress due to sickness or infection.

All of these depict extremely well the sadness and the beauty of these animals. I must be sure to continue this into my own work.

Angus (Research) and sketches

Some more research, am yet to tidy the posts from before. Hohoho well.

So currently looking into what other things have been done with computer generated horses. Very recently the movie 'Brave' came along and has a lovely big horse in it named Angus.
I have seen Brave twice now in the cinema and have really watched Angus and how his movement and animation is presented as well as his general design which is extremely convincing and effective.

Game graphics are usually one step or two behind film visuals but in 10 years or so (maybe less) the level of detail and artistry on screen in brave will be on screen in games I think.
So looking at the rendition of 'Angus' the Clydesdale (not a shire as people think)

  is our closest bet to looking into what is expected of us in the future. I definitely feel his performance in the movie to be exemplary and you can see what I mean here which was filmed at London Expo:

 In terms of the understanding of anatomy in his build the work is amazing.
Most horses in games look toony (at best) With their stupid flip box legs and their bodies that only move up and down.
Skyrim has done better however and their mounts within the game at least run and stuff without looking like something from south park.
But then agaun the physiks for the horse in that game were so overlooked it was... shameful.

But still the horse looked pretty decent. When it wasn't flying. 

Anyway here are some more Angus things and some sketch work I have been doing;

Here are my studies

  Digital Angus, PS.

Some horse studies. YAY.

Same sort of art drawn by soldiers in the war (see older post)

Toot toot