"Levade" is the piece I started while sitting in my booth at Equine Affaire. He'll be a very small bronze.
A levade is one of the hardest maneuvers for a horse to do, part of the "haute ecole" ("high school") riding like they do at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna Austria. It requires the horse to hold his body at a 45 degree angle for a while - that's why he has such big abs, from doing upper level dressage work and this kind of stuff, which depends on super-strong abs. This horse is the Andalusian stallion Alborozo.
This relief (following) is of a horse I saw on Facebook. She belongs to a FB friend of mine in Australia. When I saw it, I was really taken with the mare herself and with the photo. Doing a relief at this angle is REALLY HARD!!!! but I''m learning a lot from it. This mare is actually a pony, half-Arab/half-Welsh Pony.
She still has a long way to go too (just like "Levade") Should be interesting to get her done. I won't go to bronze with her - I may do a papercasting or a resin relief - or both, who knows? She sure is pretty - sure hope I can do her justice!