Mesh Horse Avatars in Second Life: A Brief Review
I've been meaning to get around to this for a while, after a friend of mine expressed an interest in getting one of these avatars and asked my opinion. What you see above are the Water Horse Mesh Avatar (left, after some mods) and the Breeder's Choice Avatar on the right.
It's a pretty good question to ask, because neither of them runs cheap. The Water Horse clocks in at L$2899 and the Breeder's Choice at L$3000; when you're making a decision you want to be sure you can find the add-ons you want to go with them, because that's not a puny starting price-point.
This isn't an attempt to rate one over the other; rather, it's a rundown of what will suit your choices.
If you just want a straight out-of-the-box setup without having to purchase extras like tack, and you don't really care much to modify your colouring, the Breeder's Choice Quarter Horse avatar is the go-to. It comes with a basic Western tack set seen in the picture and an easy to use HUD to adjust basic markings. Texture changing is a breeze with both, though I give slightly better marks to the Breeder's Choice HUD layout, as well as to the thoughtfulness of the creator in allowing you to more precisely position your head for photography, something I wish the Water Horse had.
Unfortunately, as of this typing, I don't know of any additional AO's that can be used with this avatar, so if you are looking for a 'lifestyle' avatar, specifically doing dressage or for authentic Western riding, you're out of luck, at least for the time being. The Water Horse's creator on the other hand sells a Dressage and a Western AO (the former being another large chunk of change at around L$1200).
A quick note about the riding systems: They do differ; the Water Horse riding system actually animates the rider, so they will 'post' with you at trot and canter, and lean forward when you move into a gallop. I haven't seen this with the Breeder's Choice version. It's a nice little touch, and I appreciate the thoughtfulness given to that.
Aftermarket items are where it matters, and you need to be careful to be sure that what you get will fit your horse as attachment points vary and even if you change the attachment point - especially for manes - there's no guarantee your item will fit. Manes will NOT fit very well at all (I speak from experience), as the neck shape is different.
Other items like carts can also be a minefield; a cart designed for a mesh Water Horse avatar will not necessarily be good for the Breeder's Choice version. Read the product descriptions carefully and if you're not sure, send the creator a message/notecard.
Shapes are also another common modification item, and those vary in price. The horse on the left sports a Morgan Horse modded shape from Cougar Spawns Designs (L$150). Be aware, however, that if you modify your horse's shape, regardless of if you buy tack labeled for it, it may not fit as well as if you went with the default shape; but I'm sure the modding enthusiasts out there are familiar with this and accept that as a risk.
The relative market for mesh horse items is not terribly large at present, but I only expect that to grow over the coming months. Some recommended merchants include Carriage Trade (tack, harnesses and other lifestyle accessories), Abaddon Arts (for those really incredible fantasy mods), Flying Horse Head Studios, The Texture Barn (for additional horse skin textures that are amazingly realistic), Ladies' Pleasure (for the dressage tack seen on the left) and Scraggy Cat.
Both avatars give us an excellent look at how mesh can be used to its best potential for Second Life, and it's clear that their creators spent hours upon hours finetuning these amazingly realistic horses, which for me justifies the price point. They've earned it. It's been a joy so far to experience both of them, but be prepared to open your wallet if you want something more than what's in the box.