understanding carousel horses

a popular comment in and out of the carousel community is that “ carousel horses look like they are in pain. “

i’ve always felt this statement villainized the actual intentions behind the carousel horse itself and dismisses the artistic effort that is put into these beautiful carvings

now, to dive into the anatomy of a carousel horse, we have to look at our target audience; children

while traveling carnivals visited all kinds of locations and people of various backgrounds, carousels were always created for enjoyment and so people who never had a horse could experience a horse

often, these were children who dreamt of riding horses but could not afford or care for one, a carousel to them was the closest chance they had to that dream

because of this, carousel carvers wanted to display animals with life, energy, & character to them! not only were real life horses used as inspiration but historical statues of horses were too

remember that carousels became very popular during the late 1800s, horse statues were the perfect reference for artists who needed a horse in motion

carousel horses commonly have their mouths open to show them whinnying/neighing, speaking to the rider, telling them to “ hang on! “ and enjoy the thrill of the ride

another note is that carousel horses ears were commonly designed facing back due to transportation

these are carvings that were packed up & unloaded constantly, it was easier for the horses ears to break off if they were standing straight up

when a horse's ears are pointed back, it doesn’t always mean fear or aggression, it can also mean they are listening to their rider or surroundings behind them

this minor detail invites the rider into the carousel horses world, not only are they neighing/talking but they are listening to you as well

a horse displaying signs of pain should never be ignored but carousels are not romanticized horses in pain

they were carved to give us joy, memories, and a stronger love for our equine friends

i think anyone whos ever contributed to the sexualization of schoolgirl uniforms should be killed

carrd.co was originally created for strictly professional use like business cards but online but now even the creator knows that kinn*es use it and they’re totally chill with it

the floating head of wisdom

Also the fact that autistic barbie is a POC is also very important because we rarely if ever get autistic representation that isn’t a white person

typical after sex scene where one of the characters is smoking and staring at the ceiling contemplating their relation to the other character while the other character has put on a nightgown and cap and blew out a candle while sleeping loudly like honk shoe honk shoe

hey hi! I made a lil advert for my patreon and stuff! I’m also gonna drop the link to my ko-fi if you don’t like the idea of subscription payments, but still wanna tip my artwork :}

theres a lot of content on my Patreon, nearly 4 yrs of exclusive stuff! Any support rly helps 🩵

Patreon:

http://patreon.com/regal_bones

Ko-Fi:

http://ko-fi.com/regal_bones

and a look at some stuff my patrons have had access to for a while now :D

tumblr update where instead of seeing how many followers someone has it instead shows you a counter where it shows how long they've spent actively using the platform and then a percentile number showing what % they are in terms of viewed posts among all tumblr users.

I'm so proud of you, Black intersex people. I know you may be thinking you didn't do anything to be proud of, but you have. Your mere existence is something that I am proud of in an inherently internoirist society- especially in the west and US. I am so proud that you continue to exist in spite of those who want to bring us down. It's okay to be scared, to mourn what could've been for different reasons, to wish you were in a different world. But you continuing to have a presence and taking up space takes courage.

I'm proud of you, okay?

why can rockstar games institutionalise you for life like nikita kruschev for being autistic