Hypno Toad - All Hail The Hypno Toad



FRS Reckless Dan, Quarter Horse Stallion, my inspiration



  Hypno Toad started life as Carol William's Valor released from Rio Rondo,  Originally prepped and painted to resemble a Puchilingui offspring by Nikki Byler.  When I saw the horse, I could see the striped beast within and had to release the monster!

After some serious negotiations I convinced Nikki to grudgingly sell me this horse, with the full and disclosed knowledge that I had plans to repaint him.  To ease the pain of a "destroyed" paint job I agreed to save his eyes and feet.  Yes, I could have ordered a blank from Rio Rondo, but truth be known, I was completely taken in by the super penetrating eyes that Nikki had painted on this guy.  I can and do paint blue eyes, and I dare say I am good at it, but something about these particular eyes that had me at first blush.  It should be noted that Nikki did a super fabulous job on his feet as well, so I saw no need to reinvent the wheel on this horse and kept the lovely feet that were already painted. 

Moments after getting him out of the box and unmummified I was on him with the sandpaper and set about waxing off his eyes and putting plastic wrap and foil on his feet with a secure wrap of blue painters tape before I started with the primer prep.  I primed him back to white and while it pained me to wait for the primer to dry I left him for an entire week before I started working on his new coat.

Slowly building up with pastels of pinkish, sienna, dark brown, black, I set about layering the details of the areas of thin hair and his undercarriage.  As anyone who has worked on Valor knows that he's got quite a bit of equipment under there.  Additionally I worked to develop his snoot with the same colours, layer by layer to give that illusion of a soft grey-black muzzle.  The eyes were carefully worked with living black and pastels to achieve the right skin tones. To create the striped coat I used several shades of cool and warm grey pencils from my Prismacolour selection.  Q-tips, pencil, fingers, water, and spit all went into the process of blending and striping trying to capture the essence of the South Dakota born FRS Reckless Dan. 

Many hours were spent in The Lab slowly developing the depth and tone of grey and stripes on this great beast.  Between finish coats and time allowed to dry I tried to think of what to name him.  He wasn't really a candidate to be an offspring of my primary brindle stud, Chicken Ripple, so he would not be able to carry on the chicken tradition.  He would need to have a special name. 



Hypno Toad

Once he was completed and the wax peeled off his eyes and the foil and tape removed from his feet he had the finishing touches put here and there and viola!  Done!  I snapped a quick pic with my cell phone on the back porch in poor light, but it was enough to give a visual sketch and I unleased the beast upon a select but unsuspecting group of friends...  Nikki approved of the new and improved paint job, even commenting that he was amazing looking.  My friend and firm sounding board, Carra McClelland, was the person who gave me the idea for his name.  "Those eyes.  Can't. Look. Away."  Both of us being Futurama fans, it was then he was dubbed, "Hypno Toad."

The Toad made his debut in Brookings at Hitchin' Post Live in 2008 showing in halter and workmanship.  He showed to an impressive 6th place under the late Kathy McKenzie in his first show in a HUGE class of breathtaking stallions.  He has shown successfully in performance, halter, and workmanship. In 2010 he even earned a Top 10 in AR/OS Workmanship!

Those eyes...Can't. Look. Away.