"hoof color" Topic

I actually went to a stable to check out the color of horses hooves but as they were standing fetlock deep in….stuff, it was hard to tell. What color are horses hooves?

Try this website; I'm not sure it actually describes the hoof for every type of horse colour, but there are plenty of pics:

link

Mostly a very dark grey/brown, unless the horse has white socks. Then you get the odd streak of pink due to the lack of pigment.

link

picture

When painting them as a rule black hoofs never appear on white or grey horses and white hoofs never appear on black or bay horses, however stripped hooves can appear on both.

Also games workshop have a article about painting horses i found useful.

Also checkout pictures of horses on google images.

cheers

matt

Horse colors vary a lot. A lot.

With hooves, you basically can't go wrong with any grayish shade from white to black, possibly with a touch of brown.

If you're really dead set on painting up a particular breed, check the references but for general horsey look, almost anything goes.

Austrian 1769 cavalry regs required that the hooves were treated regualrly with "hoof blacking", which I suppose is a form of nail varnish.

See the link in my first post for an example of "hoof blacking"
We always used to use "Neatsfoot oil" on our horses which was the traditional way of treating them. It brings out the colour and gives a shiny appearance, but soon picks up dust and goes dull again.

If you're doing a showy look, I'd use a nice glossy black. Otherwise, a greyish brown will work very well. My horse (an appaloosa) has white legs, and his hooves are mostly grey with a pinkish stripe on the forelegs. My mom's saddlebred is a nice chestnut with the aforementioned grey/brown colour.

Being a trained farrier my experience has been that Hoof blackening is actually a tar or pitch based treatment and it's use ws two fold, firstly as a waterproofer of the hoof against the damp (My wife is German and her family have been into horses for centuries and she agrees), it also helps to cure/prevent greasy heel and other foot related ailments. And secondly as a presentation aid, just like pipe clay and blanco. We still use it at shows and I've noticed the Royal Horse Gaurds amd the Kings Troop Royal Artillery still use it as well.

Matt, White horses can and do have black hooves, and bays can have white – I've got a bay with a white hoof in the paddock. Hoof colour can be linked to breed as well, for example apaloosa horses will almost always have stripped hooves.

But to stop too much confusion about what white actually is for painting hooves, the white is a more yellowy-white colour like you would paint an old cows horn, not the same white as say an elephant tusk.

Cheers

Martyn

Ah, thanks Raducci. That's the best laugh I've had on here for months.
Steve.

>"What color are horses hooves?"<

As you discovered, it depends on what they have been walking/standing in!

I usually paint them either gray (but not blue-gray) or khaki.

Hey Steve lay off. Im a city boy and barely know which end of a horse is the front.
Ask me about skateboards why don'cha?

The general rule is light leg – light hoof, dark leg – dark hoof.

A darkish grey or khaki will cover most options and look right with out drawing too much attention.

I treat hoof color much like gun barrels when painting figures.

As a painter you are making a miniature look good with allusion. When painting I always paint the hoofs black and gun barrels silver.

Why? Because it looks better to the veiwer. Standing back from a table full of miniatures its very easy for your eye to see color, details etc… On the same subject thick of eyes. Could you really see eyes on a person far enough away to be 25mm tall???

Jay Wirth
Renaissance Ink

I've noticed some figure painters make the mistake of putting "white" in the eyes of their horses.

I've often wondered if Buford's bunch got trampled on at Waxhaws because some eejit said "don't fire till you see the whites of their eyes"…….

"make the mistake of putting 'white' in the eyes of horses".

It's more of an artistic license or convention, not a mistake,it's the only way that I know of to show that the horse has eyes. If you use grey or brown, you wouldn't be able to see the eye. If you don't put in some representation of the eye, then the horse appears to be blind. IMHO of course.

I paint the horse's eyes black.