Brightly colored pintos and paints were the favorites of many of the Native Americans. In addition to their natural spots, a favorite war pony was often painted with special protective markings.
Pintos and Paints are come in all of the regular horse colors. Bay, chestnut, buckskin and black. The white markings overlay the top of the base coat color.

Medicine Hat A color phase of the Spanish Mustang, once sacred and a valuable part of Plain Indian horse culture, rarely seen today. The horse's body is light colored with dark ears and a "shield" on the chest. He is dark at the flank, eye and above the tail. Another color phase has the "War Bonnet" (a distinctive dark area around the eyes and ears) and a shield on the chest. The dark color of the bonnets and shields ranges in red, brown, black, blue, purplish or tan, but they are always roanish. His eyes are usually dark with a white sclera, and his hooves are black or vertically striped. A fully marked and perfect Medicine Hat horse has dark coloring on his eyes, chest, flanks, and tail. Spanish horses which only had the bonnet and one or two of the shields were also considered to be Medicine Hat horses, even though they were not fully marked. The Medicine Hat horse was selected as a sacred and ceremonial horse, a buffalo horse, and a war horse (later against invading white peoples) by the Sioux, Cheyenne, Blackfoot and Commanche Indians. He was something special to each of these tribes. To the Commanche warrior, he would be invulnerable if he was mounted on a medicine hat horse during battle. This horse was big medicine to the Blackfoot, and the Kiowas believed themselves untouched by arrow or rifle ball when mounted on such a horse.

Material Required The basic steps that follow can be used on any of the large hollows plastic horses manufactured by Mattel, Disney, Formative or Marx. These are all made out of a hard plastic like styrene or a related plastic. These will not work on the cellulose acetate used to create Breyer & Stone horses. Materials Needed: Model horse Spray Primer, black, white & brown Spray Paint, black, white & brown Spray Acrylic sealer Bondo (optional) Epoxy putty Sandpaper Black model paint like Testors Paint thinner Duct Tape or Florist tape 6080 Craft Glue Black and white hair from a wig If you have trouble finding materials Firebird has used model horses and epoxy putty for sale.

This project is starts with a old battered Dallas model. Dallas was the the most realistic model horse Mattel ever created. Dallas can be found lurking in thrift shops across the nation and makes a great Indian Pony. Here's a Dallas model straight from the thrift store complete with chipped hooves, ratty mane & tail, and seams that gap.

Here's the finished product, a Bay pinto Medicine Hat Indian Pony with sky eyes.

Body Basics
Step 1: Fill in leg hollows
Step 2: Mane & Tail
Step 3: Neck Groove
Step 4: Sanding
Step 5: Head Sculpting: Dallas
Step 5: Head Sculpting: Khan
Step 6: Head Detail
Step 7: Eyes

Gray Samurai Horse
Step 0: Shades of Gray Horses
Step 5: Primer
Step 6: Top coat of Paint
Step 7: Final details
Step 8: Mane & Tail Hair

Appaloosa Horses
Step 0: Appaloosa Coat Patterns
Step 5: Primer
Step 6: Top coat of Paint
Step 7: Final details
Step 8: Mane & Tail Hair

Pintos & Paint Horses
Step 0: Pinto & Paint Coat Patterns
Step 5: Primer
Step 6: Top coat of Paint
Step 7: Final details
Step 8: Mane & Tail Hair

Bay & Brown Horses
Step 0: Bay & Brown Horses
Step 5: Primer
Step 6: Top coat of Paint
Step 7: Final details
Step 8: Mane & Tail Hair

If you would like to be added to any of our electronic newsletter mailing lists? Just contact Firebird at our e-mail address: e-mail: firebird@firebirdarts.com.
Please mention which mailing list you would like to join, as we have Fantasy and SF, Celtic, Filk, Native American, Mercedes Lackey and Guy & Dolls lists.