# 4 Horsemen



## halloweeny78 (Aug 15, 2011)

Greetings all!

Has anybody done a "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" theme? I'm still working out my Headless Horseman prop, but the mind wandered one morning and drifted to other horsemen. I could use Headless as the main fiend and the other four as his minions. I wonder how many people would actually get the Four Horsemen theme if it were done in a somewhat subtle way? That is to say if you didn't outright smack them in the face with it. Hmmm ......


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## hallorenescene (Dec 28, 2007)

i would have been one you would need to smack in the head. sounds like one i would like to see if you get it going


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## JustJimAZ (Jul 26, 2010)

So what's wrong with smacking them in the head with it?


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## halloweeny78 (Aug 15, 2011)

Don't get me wrong, there's absolutely nothing wrong with smacking anybody in the head with it!  I'm just weighing my options. This had nothing to do with this year's haunt theme, but it may just have taken over! I can work it into the current theme (sort of a harvest kind of thing) and really play up the Famine Horseman, or just work it in more subtly. Or, I could quarter off the yard and do a "display" for each horseman. Or, I could really go nuts and run amok with flaming horses (which I've worked out for Headless anyways) and _really_ go apocalyptic. Or ...........

Lots of ideas swirling around my addled brain right now. What does everybody else think? Any suggestions?


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## Terra (Sep 23, 2007)

There is a video game that you've got to check out that could give you many ideas for your theme. In fact, based much of last year's theme _(Force of Darkness) o_o it. It's called Darksiders and was based on War and his horse. This summer they are coming out the sequel which is Death and his horse. Here's a clip from the first game:


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## halloweeny78 (Aug 15, 2011)

oboy oboy oboy!!  Sound like it's right up my alley! Also reminds me of the God of War games. Thanks for the info Terra. As always you are the consumate enthusiast whose heights we all aspire to. Keep up the fantastic work!


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## JustJimAZ (Jul 26, 2010)

It would be interesting to see how you distinguish "victory" or "conquest" from "War" in a haunt. Of course, you could substitute "Pestilence" for "Victory", as some have in the past.

The whole project sounds cool. As I recall, the horsemen arrive one by one, right? So a progressive story where each horseman has it's own tableau would work pretty well. Could be scary!


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## Terra (Sep 23, 2007)

JustJimAZ said:


> It would be interesting to see how you distinguish "victory" or "conquest" from "War" in a haunt. Of course, you could substitute "Pestilence" for "Victory", as some have in the past.
> ...


That game I was talking about changed the other horseman to Strife and Fury which was a cool way to do that.


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## Guest (Jan 27, 2012)

If you want to do it- just do it! (Thanks, Nike!) Probably most kids won't get it, but hopefully adults will. And maybe the kids will ask what it is, and you can say- 4 Horseman. Google it!
You'd be educating them. PLUS I want to see your finished 4 Horseman scene!


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## halloweeny78 (Aug 15, 2011)

JustJimAZ said:


> It would be interesting to see how you distinguish "victory" or "conquest" from "War" in a haunt. Of course, you could substitute "Pestilence" for "Victory", as some have in the past.
> 
> The whole project sounds cool. As I recall, the horsemen arrive one by one, right? So a progressive story where each horseman has it's own tableau would work pretty well. Could be scary!



I was thinking of going with Pestilence. Not only would it be easier to differentiate but it would be kind of fun making up a diseased body complete with boils, etc. 
I had thought of the progressive story but my yard is rather small so they'd all just be there in the yard display. I could set it up in order so that the nearest would be the first to arrive, on down to the last being furthest away. Mind you, simple physics makes that last sentence redundant as the furthest would indeed be the last to arrive!


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## halloweeny78 (Aug 15, 2011)

hollow said:


> If you want to do it- just do it! (Thanks, Nike!) Probably most kids won't get it, but hopefully adults will. And maybe the kids will ask what it is, and you can say- 4 Horseman. Google it!
> You'd be educating them. PLUS I want to see your finished 4 Horseman scene!


I must admit, the kids no knowing wouldn't stop me from doing this scene. I would just do it anyways, damn the torpedoes! It's really more a point of curiosity than anything. It would also be nice to teach the kids something, let alone getting the chance to tell the young'uns to Google it, instead of the other way around for a change!
I kind of want to see the finished product myself! If it's anything like any number of the scenes I've had floating around in my head today it should be awesome! I've still got to work out the proportions for the horse though. I've figured out the mechanics, but it's the look I've got to nail down.


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## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

Just the work of making four horses!!
Maybe just shadow cut outs with good lighting instead?
60 miles from here at The Rock Island Arsenal in the John Browning Museum, they have a WW1 caisson being pulled by 6? 8? taxidermied horses. This impressed me! (Although the "Frankenstein" stitches,very visible, on the horses looked bad.)
So you get it all done, looking very ominous then a small child says "It's "My Little Pony!"


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## halloweeny78 (Aug 15, 2011)

Gym Whourlfeld said:


> So you get it all done, looking very ominous then a small child says "It's "My Little Pony!"


Ugh. That would give me forty fits and nightmares for weeks!

I've got this idea stuck in my head, namely from my headless horseman prop plans, to build a horse (or horses in this case) with the following features:
- Glowing Red LED eyes
- Breathing smoke (from a fogger)
- Fire coming from the nostrils. (Relatively small jets of 4"-6" flames)

My horseman prop would have an actual flaming pumpkin in his hand too, but that's not really needed for the horsemen. Unless I make Famine's head a flaming pumpkin. That has a certain ring to it.


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## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

Maybe "Famine" should be a ravenously hungry Zombie, so hungered that he's chewing on his own horse.
Sort of akin to the story I read as a kid about Ghenghis Khan sucking his horse's blood as he slowly rode through a snowstorm. A small knife cut, a cold climate, the horse never felt a thing. (We hope)


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## Gym Whourlfeld (Jan 22, 2003)

My house is right on the street and was built to be an inn, 1870. I have always thought I should someday build a skeletal horse standing there at a water trough. I looked over horse skeletal design and they look flimsey! Steel would have to be used to give such a project enough strength to stand up and survive some precious few October Idiots that would be climbing on it (Yes they would!)
Three years ago I bought my first new car since 1973, a Jeep 4 door, parked it across the parking lot facing my haunted house, it was a beautiful summer day, and the people who just went through my house had all decided my new yellow Jeep would be good bleachers for them to sit upon as they looked at the house!
I park the Jeep with the rear-end-spare tire facing the house now.
"People!"??


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

halloweeny78 said:


> Ugh. That would give me forty fits and nightmares for weeks!
> 
> I've got this idea stuck in my head, namely from my headless horseman prop plans, to build a horse (or horses in this case) with the following features:
> - Glowing Red LED eyes
> ...


A Hessian famine? Yeah, that could work


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## halloweeny78 (Aug 15, 2011)

Gym Whourlfeld said:


> Maybe "Famine" should be a ravenously hungry Zombie, so hungered that he's chewing on his own horse.
> Sort of akin to the story I read as a kid about Ghenghis Khan sucking his horse's blood as he slowly rode through a snowstorm. A small knife cut, a cold climate, the horse never felt a thing. (We hope)


That's a great idea! Could have him chewing on his horse's brains!


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## halloweeny78 (Aug 15, 2011)

Does anybody have any good tips on making a horse? I've got some ideas but am running in to storage issues. I'd like to make them sections so that they can be dismantled for storage. I was thinking maybe a PVC frame so that I could make the legs removable. Any suggestions?


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

You might PM Terra about her hell horse, and inquire. Albeit, it's prolly only a matter of time until she see's the thread and pops in anyway


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## Terra (Sep 23, 2007)

You rang? 

Halloweeny, you are right to be concerned about storage. They have to be full size because if you make them smaller they'd look like ponies. Made my one horse into a ground breaker to cut down on the size needed. Here's a build video of the horse to give you a sense of the work involved:


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## Ghost of Spookie (Sep 28, 2008)

Things You Never Knew Existed has an adult Famine Mask you might take a look at (in fact just purchased a few for a different theme because I like the look of it). Not on sale but still a reasonable price. I noticed you're in Canada and you can buy from them in Canadian dollars, which might be convenient for you. Obviously shipping to you won't be a problem.

BTW I'm one of those who had to look up the Four Horsemen when I saw your thread. That's when I recognized the famine mask as one of the horsemen. Interesting timing there having just ordered it without any background. 

That's one ambitious project if you attempt to do all four horses unless you get creative somehow. Still a big project regardless. Have you considered doing a silloutte-type approach to the horses? I was thinking taking a 2D sillhoutte made of plywood I guess and drilling holes around the perimeter to then attach wires to that can be shaped to conform to the shape of a horse, attaching cross wires in a similar fashion and securing the horizontal and vertical wires together where they cross (we just had concrete poured so I'm thinking like they do with rebar), and then adding some mesh covering (maybe landsacpe fabric) and then top it with something like fabric, paper mache, monster mud or something like that. Essentially building at least a half of a 3D horse. Plan it so you could add your horsemen props to "ride" on them. We have a fence along our property so it wouldn't be necessary to do a full 3D model since not all sides would be seen anyway. Add fog and landscaping like tombstones and such.


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## Ghost of Spookie (Sep 28, 2008)

If you managed to get one horse done as a 3D prop which would be ulta cool, maybe you could do the remaining horses painted in sillhoutte as a background on a canvas and have the horsemen as props standing in front of the canvas. They wouldn't be on horseback but I think it would be understood that they had dismounted and were ready to wreak havoc. 

Of course you could do _all_ the horses on a background canvas as well and just have the prop horsemen in the foreground. I actually like _that_ idea the best. You can add lighting and fog in the midground and probably have a great looking scene in the end. Roll up the canvas and store afterwards. Disassemble your prop horsemen for storage. I think the "gang" of scary horsemen really should be your main focus to the ToTers anyway and target their faces and costuming with your detailing work.


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## LittleBlueBMW (Oct 9, 2010)

would love to see it, after all it is 2012 this time around


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Terra said:


> You rang?


 Yes, but softly.


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## halloweeny78 (Aug 15, 2011)

Wow *Terra*, thank you! As always you never cease to amaze me!  That's an awesome build you've done, and it gives me a great idea as to the scale and storage issues. You're so right about small horses simply looking like ponies! It would make it look like kindergarten horsemen!  Kind of like if you took the Muppet Babies and crossed them with the horsemen! Hmm .... naw, too silly ..... but .....

*Ghost of Spookie:* Thanks for the "heads" up on the Famine mask. They've done a great job. I like the idea of having some horses down as background and focus on the riders. I'd still have to have at least one horseman mounted, but your half-horse idea might just be the ticket. I could still rig up the legs with PVC joints to make them removable for storage. Seems like I'm going to have to do a major upgrade in my carving/sculpting and mural painting skills!

*Little Blue:* Oddly enough I never put the two together! While I'm up on my Mayan calendar, mythology, etc. it wasn't my intention to go apocalyptic due to the year. That being said, I really do like it! Wonder if my subconscious put the two together? Funny how the mind works, eh?


Thanks for the input gang!


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Do you have a picture of the area where you want to do this? I have an idea, but it would require a hill with a peak in sight. Think of one of the 4 horsemen charging down, while the other three are ominously glaring down from the top of the ridgeline. As such, you could use the smaller "pony" sized versions in the background to give the illusion of greater distance, when combined with like scaled surrounding details. Just a thought


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## halloweeny78 (Aug 15, 2011)

I so wish I had such a hill! I was contemplating a way to use forced perspective and this would work perfectly! No such luck however. 
My yard is fairly small (especially for such an undertaking) being only 24' long x 17' wide (display space). I do have the covered porch (7' x 7') which gets crammed full of display each year. Here's a few pics to see what I'm dealing with.

*2009*
















*2011*









As you can see there's not a lot of room to play with but I can certainly make it work. I can use (almost) full size horses and have them bunched together, with fog surrounding the bases. A more dynamic pose could allow for more rearing up, thus eliminating the need to complete the hind quarters. The following pics have elements that I have in mind, but the specifics (i.e. look of both horse & rider) are something I will change to suit. I still like the idea of a zombie Famine eating his horse's brains!


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## hallorenescene (Dec 28, 2007)

when you accomplish this, i want to see pictures. this wil be awesome. and i think you need by that red thing in your yard a skeleton dog.


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## halloweeny78 (Aug 15, 2011)

hallorenescene said:


> ... i think you need by that red thing in your yard a skeleton dog.


Too true!  I tried making one a while back but it didn't turn out too dog-like. More dog turd than dog! I've been on the look out for one ever since!


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Ahh, you have the same problem as I...not much front yard to speak of.  Thankfully, I have a good sized back yard to compensate for that.


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## halloweeny78 (Aug 15, 2011)

Unfortunately the back yard really isn't all that big either. The whole measures 60' x 90'. It just forces me to be more creative!


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## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Don't be too hard on yourself  Extremely large yards are hard to fill, my home north of Atl. had a 2 1/2 acre plot (although I was building a new one on 10 acres at the same time when the economy fell through the floor). Honestly, it was a pain. Because, everything was so spread out that it was difficult to make it look cohesive. We won't even mention trying to decorate all of that for Christmas... c)^:<


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