Show Name: N/A
Barn Name: Cotton
Age: 11 years
Gender: Mare
Height: 13.3hh
Breed: Highland Pony (50%) x Welsh Mountain Pony Section A (25%) x Dales Pony (25%)
Colouration: Chestnut dun minimal splash
Markings: N/A
Genetics: ee/Aa/Dd/SPLspl
Personality: Cotton has two priorities in life: food and fuss! You always know when she wants feeding or petting (or both at once), as you can hear her whinny almost all the way across the Woodland Trax Stables site (which believe me, is huge!) A bright little button, she's good at using body language combined with her vocalisations (of which she has plenty) to get her own way. For example, if one of the handlers is out in the paddock and she wants feeding, she will: 1) whinny to get their attention, 2) walk to lead them to where she wants to go, checking over her shoulder every now and then to make sure they are still following, and 3) stand by the empty feeding station until something gets done about it! With the humans at her every beck and call, it's probably no surprise that (despite her size) Cotton is the matriarch of her particular herd! When the feeding stations are topped up, Cotton is always first in line and quick to put any other equines in their place who try to take her spot!
However she isn't all bite. Aside from being extremely vocal and rather demanding, Cotton is highly affectionate! It's take some time for her to warm up to strangers, but when she does she will happily engage in mutual grooming sessions with other equines and cuddle up to people. She's more than happy for people to pet her whilst she's eating too (I guess she's worked out we don't eat horse feed! XD ) And when she's not eating or being cuddled, she can be found sleeping on her side in a sunny spot, especially during summer!
Relationship with Ivy: She's been around for longer than Ivy and definitely sees herself as the boss. In fact when they first met she had little patience for the younger pony, seeing her as little more than an irritation. If Ivy came too close, Cotton would be swift to remind her with a gentle-but-firm bite on the shoulder, or even a soft kick. However as the years have gone by she seems to have mellowed towards her and is far more tolerant. She still doesn't let Ivy get too close though, so we still have some work to do!
Inspiration for design: Because she's a stripy ginger tabby it just made sense to use chestnut dun as a base! I was half-tempted to add some plain chestnut brindling to add some more 'tabby' stripes, but considering I already have several genetic oddities (including a past self-custom Rose) I decided against it. Her eye is still brown but because her eyes are golden I lightened them slightly, likening them to the eyes of the handsome Thoroughbred horse Halling (met him irl, such a friendly boy <3 ).
I spent ages trying to work out is Cotton's white markings should be sabino of splash. In the end I went for the latter, as her markings are fairly solid and not as jagged as a sabino. Also I was going to make the markings on her front legs much shorter, as they only just come up to her wrists as a cat. However upon revisiting my knowledge on skeletons I realised that the horse's 'knee' on each front leg are actually the start of the wrist! I thought she looked rather cute this way, so I kept it in!
Barn Name: Cotton
Age: 11 years
Gender: Mare
Height: 13.3hh
Breed: Highland Pony (50%) x Welsh Mountain Pony Section A (25%) x Dales Pony (25%)
Colouration: Chestnut dun minimal splash
Markings: N/A
Genetics: ee/Aa/Dd/SPLspl
Personality: Cotton has two priorities in life: food and fuss! You always know when she wants feeding or petting (or both at once), as you can hear her whinny almost all the way across the Woodland Trax Stables site (which believe me, is huge!) A bright little button, she's good at using body language combined with her vocalisations (of which she has plenty) to get her own way. For example, if one of the handlers is out in the paddock and she wants feeding, she will: 1) whinny to get their attention, 2) walk to lead them to where she wants to go, checking over her shoulder every now and then to make sure they are still following, and 3) stand by the empty feeding station until something gets done about it! With the humans at her every beck and call, it's probably no surprise that (despite her size) Cotton is the matriarch of her particular herd! When the feeding stations are topped up, Cotton is always first in line and quick to put any other equines in their place who try to take her spot!
However she isn't all bite. Aside from being extremely vocal and rather demanding, Cotton is highly affectionate! It's take some time for her to warm up to strangers, but when she does she will happily engage in mutual grooming sessions with other equines and cuddle up to people. She's more than happy for people to pet her whilst she's eating too (I guess she's worked out we don't eat horse feed! XD ) And when she's not eating or being cuddled, she can be found sleeping on her side in a sunny spot, especially during summer!
Relationship with Ivy: She's been around for longer than Ivy and definitely sees herself as the boss. In fact when they first met she had little patience for the younger pony, seeing her as little more than an irritation. If Ivy came too close, Cotton would be swift to remind her with a gentle-but-firm bite on the shoulder, or even a soft kick. However as the years have gone by she seems to have mellowed towards her and is far more tolerant. She still doesn't let Ivy get too close though, so we still have some work to do!
Inspiration for design: Because she's a stripy ginger tabby it just made sense to use chestnut dun as a base! I was half-tempted to add some plain chestnut brindling to add some more 'tabby' stripes, but considering I already have several genetic oddities (including a past self-custom Rose) I decided against it. Her eye is still brown but because her eyes are golden I lightened them slightly, likening them to the eyes of the handsome Thoroughbred horse Halling (met him irl, such a friendly boy <3 ).
I spent ages trying to work out is Cotton's white markings should be sabino of splash. In the end I went for the latter, as her markings are fairly solid and not as jagged as a sabino. Also I was going to make the markings on her front legs much shorter, as they only just come up to her wrists as a cat. However upon revisiting my knowledge on skeletons I realised that the horse's 'knee' on each front leg are actually the start of the wrist! I thought she looked rather cute this way, so I kept it in!
