A Horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!

As simple as the peg infantry is to make I do have a bit of a conundrum...How do I make peg cavalry and artillery?

Today I'm trying to work out the cavalry part of the puzzle, by tinkering with some ideas on how to make a peg horses and riders. What's tricky is that it's quite easy to make a 'toy soldier' horse, but I don't want these horses to turn out looking like a children's storybook or toy horse...

I want something simple and stylised which suits the peg soldier look. So I had a look around and found a nice example of what could be achieved...

Credit: Wooden Warriors

I love this stylised horse and it really suits the peg soldier aesthetic. Of course, I don't want to copy this design but come up with something that fits in with my peg soldiers. I'm looking for that 'Goldilocks' zone halfway between realism and toy

Suck it and See!!!
OK, best way (I thought to myself) to find out how to make peg horses is to just start gluing some bits of pegs to gather and hope that I come across a 'right way' to do this. So, here's some pics of the results...

Peg Horse Prototype Number 1.

Well, my first attempt was a little ham-fisted and chunky. I really wasn't pleased with the shape of the head nor the length of the body. The whole thing was a little too big really.

Peg Horse Prototype Number 2.

One of the things that worried me about my first attempt was how I was going to portray the rider's legs. Obviously, I intended the first prototype to have the rider's legs painted on, but was there a more elegant way to perhaps include the legs as a part of the model?

Also, could I simplify (stylistically) the horse even further? Prototype number 2 was my attempt to see how stylised I could make the model.

Peg Horse Prototype 3.

Well, version 2 looked a bit skinny to me (it looked like the rider was sat on a donkey), so I thought I'd work on the version 1 format and see if I could refine it.

I shortened and narrowed the body (using a smaller diameter piece of dowel rod) and worked on a better head design. Yes, this meant I was back to the idea of painting the rider's legs onto the body of the 'horse' but it seemed a quicker and easier solution.

I'm still having problems with the shape of my horse's head - I had to resort to using extra putty to get the shape I wanted - but, in general, version 3 seems to be getting there.

I'm tempted to do one more version as I like the tilted back legs of version 2 - they make the model look a little more dynamic, as if the horse is about to charge - and I just had another idea about how I could do the rider's legs. We shall see.