blamethewizard | Obviously you are not a golfer

Horses of Merlin Picspam!!!
and some horse-related geekiness from me

Some beautiful jousting greys. The horse on the lower right is an Andalusian type, while the dapple grey to its left appears to be a draft cross of some kind.

This is "Arthur" jousting (hooray for stunt doubles!). I don't think this is Torrento, either, but with action shots it is hard to tell.

Two pics of this horse because I love it's stirrup-shaped brand.

Horses at night preparing to do battle with the dragon. They don't seem too concerned.

On the way to...somewhere, Morgana & retinue are accosted by bandits. The attack begins in the second frame, as you can see the horses begin to "startle". They appear to be spooking but they're actually responding to their rider's cues! As you can see from the two lead horses their postures have changed and ears have shifted back, usually meaning they're paying close attention to their rider.

I love Morgause's horse, a beautiful probably-Andalusian grey. Someone told me that Arthur's horse in this scene is, in fact, Torrento, so there you go. Someone needs to fix his mane, though...it's on the "wrong" side (a horse's mane should fall to the right), although maybe that's just an American thing? Maybe someone can fill me in.

Unicorns are horsey creatures so I'm including it. I love the horse who plays one here. Unicorns are often played by Andalusians (as I think is the case on Merlin) as they have the required "majestic" look. I have to say, I stared at that first shot for a long time, because as a former owner of a grey horse I have to admire just how white the horse is. That's no easy feat!

On the left, Merlin prepares to ride out to the Isle of the Blessed on his trusty bay. On the right, we're on the same quest with a different horse. Hmm, maybe he stopped to change horses? :P

Morgana rides out to meet Alvarr, with Merlin following. I think it's interesting how Morgana and Arthur both (I think) ride with two hands (English style) on the reins, while Merlin uses one (Western style). I wonder if it is because Merlin is from the "country"? Don't know.

I love Merlin's horse in the left frame..it's hard to see but he (she?) has a very nice profile. Merlin's horse seems to change quite a bit! In the second shot he is leading a cob-like dark bay. It seems they try to make sure Arthur is always on his bay (it's not always the same horse, but they all look very similar) while Merlin's changes, possibly to infer that he rides whatever horse is available?

And that's all I've got. I hope you enjoyed the horsey-picspam and tolerated my horse geekiness. Thanks!

Screencaps by Emma-Jane, found here

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

There are a couple of ways to train a mane. We always start by just combing over all the mane to the right side. Then, you can braid it to make it stay over to get it started going in the direction you want. At some point you have to pull the mane anyway (a.k.a. trimming when a horse's mane gets too long/thick) which is basically just wrapping small sections of mane around a comb and pulling it out. It sounds painful but is absolutely not. So that helps to "train" the mane to the side you pull from. Also, some show horses have their mane's braided very tightly on the right side, and after that happens once or twice the mane usually stays put. When I say tight braids I mean tight braids.

Of course, it is traditional for some breeds to have very long manes (Andalusians included) but they can get very tangled at that length!

I thought they may have colored in the stirrup shape to cover up a breed-brand, but I can't think of any particular breed that would have a shape like that so...I don't know. Cute horse though. I think they might have chosen him/her because it is big enough to only just see Colin's head over the top, making for an interesting shot. This would make the horse pretty tall as these things go..about 17hh maybe, if I were to ballpark it.

There I go again!!

Obviously you are not a golfer

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