Introduction
Sculpting or painting a foal is simply artistic play time! They are just so fun to create! Their novel build and foalish coloration simply lend themselves to some fresh creative shenanigans. But foals can be tricky because we can't simply shrink down an adult body to foal-size or paint them like an adult and expect our finished piece to be convincing. Foals aren’t miniaturized versions of their parents. Just like we can’t scale down a human adult to look like a baby, we can’t scale up a human baby look like an adult. Foals have their own infant morphology and coloration. Their skeletons are immature, their bulk underdeveloped, and their proportions, their hooves, and sometimes their alignments are different as well. Their coat textures can be different as can their pigmentation. So while a foal sculpture may be cute, if it’s not foal-ish, it’s not as effective as it could have been in the realism department. So in this exploration, let’s discuss some of the qualities we can infuse into our clay or pigment to make a more convincing foal.
Bag o’ Bones
Newborn foals are basically skin and bone until they gain significant muscle mass and fat, which is generally around as late as three months. That's why photos of newborns are so valuable as anatomy references since all their boniness, muscle groups, and sinewy structures are rather more clear not being so masked by fat or fleshiness yet. Indeed, some foals can look so boney as to appear starved but they’re actually just fine. Really, a young foal usually isn’t chubby or rounded like a human baby, but relatively angular and gawky like a little Jack Skellington.
Note in particular the protruding points of shoulder paired with a concave, narrow chest, the angularity and narrowness of the pelvic girdle plus the boney and sinewy overall appearance of the body, legs, and joint structures. In this way, a youngster can be an interesting study of underdevelopment and inherent structure which can be a fascinating challenge for sculpture.
Jumbo Joints
Foals also possess legs they “have to grow into” and so often have large joints compared to their size. In particular, their knees, hocks, and fetlocks can be comparatively large and can even give the impression of being knock-kneed or wobbly. They just have to grow into their skeletons, so as they age, this proportional relationship will even out.
Wibbly Wobbly
Sometimes foals will have a slight "over at the knee" foreleg or bit too-sloping pasterns or appear to be "splayed" behind, "stand under" in the rear or have slight "sickle hocks.” This is all perfectly natural in the under one month crowd and especially in newborns since the tendons and ligaments haven't stretched or strengthened quite up to par yet and the bones and joints are still immature. As long as the conditions aren’t extreme, it's okay in those really young ones. So just keep in mind that youngsters aren't always picture perfect when it comes to conformational alignments. They have plenty of growing to do!
Stilts
Foals are born with the cannon length they’ll more or less have as an adult, so foal leg proportions are different from that of an adult. This means a foal will often appear to have relatively shorter forearms and gaskins with long cannons and often long pasterns, which is perfectly normal. Indeed, foals often look rather leggy and “tall,” don’t they? Using good reference photos of the age you’re depicting is a great way to stay on target with proportions.
Gawky Gaits
Between their immature skeleton with undeveloped joints and muscle strength, and having to learn coordination and balance over time, a foal’s gaits can appear a bit wobbly and uncoordinated. A little bit out of control. This is perfectly normal and a fun touch to add to your sculptures depicting motion.
Teensy Feets
Foals have comparatively smaller, daintier hooves and often with more upright lateral walls. Also lateral cartilages aren't quite so developed or distinct as with adults. In foals younger that three days, all four feet will be about the same shape, but after that, physical forces start to reshape the feet into the characteristic round forefoot and the pointed hindfoot structure. In newborns to about five days, foal hooves also have what’s called “slippers,” or fleshy tendrils protruding from the bottom of the sole that protect the mare during pregnancy and birth. They dry up and fall off eventually.
Bitty Back
Proportionally, a foal has a shorter back than an adult, heightening the look of their legginess, often making them look “all leg.” This is because the length of the spine has the last growth plates to close, taking up to six years to mature. Also note that breed-ideal topline often isn't developed yet in the very young, only starting to become apparent as the spine ages and as their muscles fill in.
But this, combined with the long legs, gives a foal a tall appearance, or a more upright rectangular body "box" rather than a square or length-wise rectangular body “box" of an adult. As such, it's adorable to watch a foal gallop because their legs are all over the place, over-reaching each other like a greyhound.
No Neck
Foals often have comparatively shorter necks in relation to their body, which is to be expected since their spine is immature. So there’s no reason to panic if a foal has a really “short” neck…just wait for that spinal growth to happen later in life.
Softened Features
Foal heads aren't simply shrunken adult heads or adult heads made daintier or more boney, but have an infant structure all their own. For starters, the boney structures of the head aren't so developed and so aren’t so protruding or pronounced as an adult, but are more rounded, softened, and subdued. Likewise, the overall head shape is typically more rectangular rather than wedged-shaped or large jowled, when seen from the side, and with a broader, rounded forehead. In addition, the muzzle is smaller, daintier, more rounded and "gooshier" than on the adult, often with a nonexistent chin, leaving just a pouty lower lip (or the chin is a little knob instead). However, a breed-specific profile is usually present such as on an Arabian or an Iberian or Kladruber foal.
Use lots of reference photos when creating a foal head since their structure is so different from that of an adult. You simply can't adapt one from the other. Foal heads are their own “thing.”
Dumbo
Ears on foals are usually proportionally larger because they have to “grow into them” for the most part. But keep in mind this doesn't always apply. For instance, many pony foals can have small ears from the get go like with Shetlands.
Fuzzballs
Foals tend to be fuzzy, often being quite so, only appearing slick and show-coated from clipping or from shedding their foal coat. A foal's fuzzy coat is also often downy and soft, not usually like an adult’s more wiry winter coat.
Foal Coloration
Foal colors are a realm all of their own, sometimes quite unlike their future adult color. Waiting to determine the foal’s adult color is best done then after the foal coat has shed because as a general tendency, a foal coat is paler than or even skewed from their adult color. The exception to this is "champagne" which is often born darker to lighten with age or a grey color which is usually born dark to grey out with age. Other colors such as dilutes, silver dapples, duns, grullas and the like may not become fully apparent until after the foal has matured a bit more. Indeed, it can be easy to confuse some of these colors with each other with a foal since they can share some similarities. As for black, it’s typically a soft charcoal or a silvery grey rather than jet black. Nevertheless, the pangaré pattern often shows up a lot in foal colors, especially in bays and chestnuts.
In addition, the appearance of the coat color is often more “pastel,” or softened by fluff, so not as clear or brightly hued as the adult coat. So think about adding a dab of Titanium White, French Grey, Unbleached Titanium, or similar tinting agent to your foal colors to soften and buff them. Plus, the points are often pale with the darkest points usually appearing on the bony parts of the joints.
Occasionally white foals are born for various reasons and, obviously, double-dilutes exist, but dapple grey is a progressive pattern and so foals don’t tend to be born dapple grey. Instead, a foal destined to grey out will often have white or grey hairs around the eyes (“goggles”), muzzle, within the ears and at the dock of the tail or even grey hairs ticked throughout their coat. Also, a dark-headed roan usually progressively develops to become more pronounced with age rather than being blatantly roan from birth. In other words, a dark-headed roan isn't often seen on foals (though sometimes it can be) and may not be so obvious until the foal coat is shed. The same can be said for many appaloosa patterns which develop over time in adulthood. For instance, varnish roan is a progressive pattern and takes some years to show up.
Depending on the oddities of the color itself and the individual, a foal may also have a high degree of coat contrast (example: pangaré bay or pangaré chestnut) or a more monochromatic coat color (example: cremello, isabella, palomino). So whether a foal model is very shaded or not is certainly okay since real foals have a vast degree of coat color peculiarities. Point is, as the foal ages, the coat color progressively blooms in clarity and tone into the adult coat so keep in mind the age of the foal model when considering coat color. That being the case, be sure to use good references photos of a foal of the correct age and color you intend to paint before assuming anything.
Also, dappling on natural foal coats is rather rare as dapples pop-up on seasonal coats, or slicked-out coats, or are characteristics of a progressive pattern. Even so, older yearlings may sometimes have a bit of dappling if their coats are show-clipped and sheened up.
The eyes of some foals can have a grayish cast to them that disappears within six months or so to become their adult brown. But their blueish-greyish eyes aren’t like those of adult blue eyes. It’s more like a light blue with a grey tint.
Mona Lisa
Foals often don’t have down-turned corners to their mouths like an adult might. It can happen, but as a generality, they tend to be straight or even turned slightly upward into a subtle smile. It’s a nice touch to add to your foal sculpture.
Outties
The newborn still retains a knob of the umbilical cord for about ten days to two weeks after birth until it dries up and falls off. Be sure to place it correctly on the belly, roughly about two-thirds back from the elbow along the "seam" of the belly. It's a neat realistic touch to add to newborns.
Caveats
Always keep in mind that foals vary in structure and appearance according to their breed or body type. Really, there’s a huge difference between a Clydesdale foal and a Saddlebred foal, a Cob foal and a Hackney foal, a Warmblood foal and a Marwari foal, and a QH foal and an Arabian foal. So even though they're all foals, breed type or body type factor into their structure pretty early on. So always use good reference photos of the breed of foal you're intending in order to create an accurate sculpture.
Furthermore, foals go through a huge degree of change as they grow, like human babies to adults. As such, they grow in spurts with different parts developing at different rates, thus, foals grow into and out of “balance” many times before reaching adulthood. And as the foal ages into weanlinghood and beyond, special peculiarities often crop up, perfect examples being "rump-high" in those one year-olds with two and three-year olds commonly being longer than tall in the body. But by the time the critter has matured, these imbalances should have evened out into their adult proportions and angles. Also remember that a young growing horse should look a bit gawky and immature. Really, it’s typically the weedy two or three-year old that matures nicely while the mature-looking two or three-year old that can coarsen with age. So not only focus on the breed or body type and color of the foal you desire to produce, but the specific age you decide to depict. A two month old foal is radically different from a seven month old foal from a two year old colt or filly, for instance.
Keep in mind, too, that the gonads on colts drop over time, generally starting around the fifth month. It may be gradual or...whomp...they're they are! And they're usually small, not large and dangling like the stallion. So up until that general five month point, the area behind the sheath is usually a gooey patch of skin that may be flat or slightly rounded. The point is there are typically no obvious gonads on a young foal.
Conclusion
Foals don’t often get enough street credit in our art form, and it’s hard to explain why. I’ve never understood it myself. Often overlooked or not given the fame their adult counterparts enjoy, foals have to work a little harder just to get noticed. Which is strange, I think. Really, a great foal sculpture or foal paint job is a true wonder of equine art! Foals are by no means easy to portray in form or pigment and as such, stand as a true test of an artist’s skills. Indeed, if an artist can pull off a convincing, accurate foal, you know they’re paying attention. Why? Because they clearly understand their anatomy and biomechanics as well as giving foal morphology and infant peculiarities their due care. They understand the assignment.
Yet perhaps the biggest takeaway is to always work from a series of good reference photos of the age, breed or body type, and foal color you wish to portray to stay on track. When we become adept enough though, we can better gauge such things for ourselves with a bit more freedom. Nevertheless, a pile of great references is always a great go-to to ferret out details and esoteric options that keep our body of work engaging and our foals truly believable.
Above all, however, have fun! Foals are such a thrill to create given you create them on their own terms. You can also have a lot of expressive fun with them as foals are often curious, rambunctious, and full of the zest of life. In short, have fun expressing their "kid-ness"! It's a refreshing, creative experience that I thoroughly recommend for any equine artist. So until next time....get immature!
"So, like a forgotten fire, a childhood can always flare up again within us."
~ Gaston Bachelard
