Rebel in the Making - Part 8

The acrylic rods came today, so I was able to move forward on Rebel - hooray! These are 1/8" in diameter that I ordered from Amazon. First, I used a smaller grinding bit to carve out the heel bulbs and frogs. 

I think it's nice to add a little detail and refinement to the area. 

Then I used a heat gun to both stretch his pastern to lengthen it and to position it so that the hoof rested flat on the table. Lucky for me, my Prospek tool props him up perfectly in the gait I wanted. 

I used a 1/8" drill bit to drill holes into the bottom of the 2 hooves. I used a cutting wheel to cut the acrylic rods to length and then tried them out. Happy me, they were just right on the first try! And he is even more stable than he was without them, so there shouldn't be a repeat of that one incident. This is important since he will be a performance showing horse and is likely to get bumped and jostled. 

I used epoxy to reshape his heel bulbs and frogs. 

They'll need a touch of sanding. 

But, I think it is a nice touch. 

His pastern was also filled in. 

I'm opting to glue in the acrylic rods later so they don't get messy and poke me while I'm working on him. So he's back on his temporary stand while he cures.