[YES] Peetie the Horse Partial by Hobby Horse Creations The item being reviewed is 6 years old and may not reflect the makers current style, or work. General Information Please note that this review is from an older version of the site. The page layout differs slightly from the current version because of this. Reviewer Information Reviewer Peetie Pterid Furaffinity: pterid Relationship With Maker The maker is NOT a friend Prior Experience None Informed Maker of Issues Yes, I had to do some minor internal repairs (re-glue balaclava) and the maker guided me through the process Wear Time 5 hours Maker & Project Information Maker Hobby Horse Creations Commission Information Type: Fursuit > Partial Style: Toony Shipped From: USA Species Horse Found in Euungulata (?) Made in Year 2020 Transaction Information 1200 USD paid in installments Filed under $1000 - $2999 as a Payment Plan. Estimated Completion Time (ETA) Accuracy YES - the ETA was accurate Date of Review 4 May 2021 Project Timeline Contact Date October 2019 Completion/Ship Date May 2020 Item Completion Time (?) 7 - 12 Months Item Being Reviewed Peetie the horse partial with digitigrade padding in a toony style as a commission. Photos of Completed Product Head Wear Satisfaction The head is easy to put on. I wear an optional inner balaclava, then slide it into an outer balaclava that is glued to the foam inside the head. There is velcro at the back of the head that I can open completely before putting the head on, then close to tighten everything up. It’s a very good fit, as it was tailored to measurements of my head size. The ventilation is very good, because of the head design – there is no foam on the back at all, just the fur and mane, and there are hidden ventilation holes in the ears too. I can wear the head and potter around my home indefinitely without breaking a sweat. Overall, the design is modern and quite ingenious. Visual Satisfaction I look adorable. đ It is a very cute cartoon style, matches my character’s reference sheet excellently, and having taken a lot of photos, I find that by catching the head at slightly different angles I can achieve different expressions. From the side it has a “Mona Lisa smile” that I think is magnificent. There is a slight asymmetry in the lower jaw, that is only visible when I raise the head up, and in any case real horses look kind of dorky when you look straight up their snouts. (In subsequent projects, I believe the maker has taken more measurements to make the mouth more symmetrical.) I chose to have the fur shaved only on the muzzle and as far back as the eyes. That region is very even, and still feels soft and natural. In general, the fur is good quality all over, very soft, silky and “pettable”. The mane is stuffed, irregularly-shaped (intentionally) and quite long at the back, so it falls over my sweater and moves around in a delayed way if I shake my head. At the front, the maker took pains to capture the “three bangs” that fall around the eyes, because I told them that this was an important distinguishing feature of the character. I’m one of those deep-cringe furries who identifies with their fursona as part of themselves, and this head just looks like… me. I’m overjoyed every time I wear it. I couldn’t be happier. Hands and Feet Wear Satisfaction I opted for two alternative pairs of hands: gloves and soft hooves. The hooves are the more sophisticated design – they are stuffed with a soft internal lining. Amazingly, the hooves feel cooler to wear than the gloves – the air just wafts straight through them. They have a hidden internal strap that I make a fist around and hold onto to prevent them coming off. All the stuffing is above my hand, with none below, so if I need to I can feel through the bottom surface to open doors etc. The gloves are a simpler design, just a single layer of felt (tailored to a tracing of my hand), and while they don’t breathe quite as easily as the hooves they are comfy and easy to slip on and off. As with the head, the maker’s craftmanship is great, and the hands feel the same now as they did when I first received the suit. The legs are particularly unusual and ambitious – they are digitigrade (really unguligrade) sculpted half-legs, built with extensive foam around a pair of slip-on sneakers that I bought and posted to the maker. The legs come up to my knee. and I put them on by sliding my foot into the sneaker, attaching some velcro at the side, and threading and tightening a hidden strap sewn into the fur that stops them sagging. They are a real piece of engineering that I haven’t seen elsewhere. The legs contain the only rigid part of the suit – the hooves are polymer barrier boots that are used on real horses – and after a couple of hours of walking, the fur above the hooves began to come away from the rigid structure. However this did not compromise the integrity of the legs as a whole, which I now consider “worn in” – I have not tried to re-fix the section of fur and foam above the hoof which now moves with respect to the barrier boots, because they have stabilised and seem to work as they are. Visual Satisfaction The hand materials are similar to the head – all high quality, robust, well sewn, soft and pretty. They are a good match for my character’s design, though in the case of the glove hands I agreed to make the hands black (my old reference art had grey hands with black hoof-tipped fingers) as we thought it would look better to make the fingers stand out less. The glove hands fit quite nicely into the gaps between my fingers and feel like heavy winter gloves. The hoof hands are a particular joy to wear – they match the cartoon proportions of the head, and allow me to be very expressive. Similarly, the legs match well the original unguligrade reference of the character, and are quite convincing in giving the impression of an extra joint between my knee and foot. The fur is long/unshaved and of the same colour and type as the hands and parts of the head – it is silky to the touch and looks very neat, if brushed regularly! Tails Wear Satisfaction The tail is threaded onto the belt on my jeans. Most jeans have a ring at the back to thread through, so the tail’s two rings go either side of that and keep it centred. I’m used to the process, having previously bought a ponyplay-type tail that is worn in a similar way, and it is easy to put on. While the tail is a big pillow-like padded object, it is surprisingly light and doesn’t pull down on my jeans. It gently falls into the back of my legs by design, which means when I walk or run it tends to bounce a little, giving the impression of a swishing movement. The threads/straps are made of elastic material and are well capable of stretching and taking the loads I put on them in normal use. Visual Satisfaction The tail looks like your typical “S”-shaped cartoon horse tail. It’s stylized, symmetrical, and very much in keeping with the rest of the character (it’s the same fur colour as the mane, obviously). My original reference sheet art had quite a scruffy and voluminous tail, so this is a very good match for that. Overall Product Satisfaction How well does everything fit together and match up? The proportions of this partial meet up very nicely with the shapes of the exposed (clothed) parts of my human body, and complement them well – the effect is exactly what I’d hoped for, it makes me look thin! I find the overall effect very natural and convincing. The style is recognisably similar to the maker’s own suit, their previous equine pre-mades, and the projects that they have done since – so I get the feeling of being a “brother” in a small “family”. (Due to the pandemic, I haven’t yet been able to suit at a con or meet up with other clients of the maker, so the family reunion photos will come later!) Overall Project Quality The project exceeded my expectations – wildly! The costume is a beautiful, charming and robustly constructed realization of my character, and I fully expect it will last for years to come. Purchase Process Initial Contact I found the maker by clicking around randomly on furry Twitter. Then I found their website, and was impressed by their previous projects. I made contact first via Twitter, and thereafter we spoke on Telegram. As part of the process I sent various measurements and a tracing of my hand. The maker was chatty and approachable, so the communication was very clear ad easy throughout. Maker Response Time The maker was always very responsive (response times were a day at most). We spoke over Telegram throughout the transaction, except for the written contract which was sent by email, and I digitally signed it. Maker Professionalism The maker is a consummate professional, and was very adept at formalising my requirements in writing before we began the project. They were also quite friendly, and at times we would small-talk, but when we were talking about details of the project their professionalism would always reassert itself. I was particularly happy with the feedback opportunities I was given – I was consulted on the shape of the head and mane, the details of the fur shaving, the size of the tail… All this left me with the feeling of having contributed creatively to the eventual result. Project Completion Time The project was completed in less than 6 months from the initial agreement – well within the initial agreed timescale, and in my opinion a very fast turnaround. The time flew by as I was contacted regularly with photo updates and asked for regular feedback. Shipping was via DHL from USA to UK, the shipping cost was a little more than either of us expected because it was at the peak of a global pandemic, but the shipping speed was astonishing – it took 2 days!! I was given the customs bill much later (3 months or so after delivery), which I paid promptly. Rating FursuitReview rates by asking the question: Would you recommend this maker? YES This review has been marked with a positive rating. This means the reviewer would recommend Hobby Horse Creations. Final Comments I would recommend Grace to anyone, as she was a great pleasure to work with, and in particular anyone who wants an equine character made – this is her specialism. There are a lot of fursuit makers out there who do great foxes, but if you want to be a horse, there are not many better options than Hobby Horse Creations. Are you the maker of this item? Would you like to leave an official response? Click here. In case the button above doesn't work, you can click here to launch the maker response form.
