In the photo above, it is resting on a black wooden stand.  When used, the puppeteers enter from below and strap into hiker backpack frames that are attached to the overall horse frame.  These are adjustable within 4-5 inches to allow for varying heights of puppeteers.  

I’m not a welder, so we used a wood frame with PVC electrical conduit for the exterior.  (I’m betting if an aluminum frame was used, it would save some weight.)  I used a large torch (typically used for weed removal or tar repair) to soften the conduit.  This allowed the tubes to be shaped as needed.  The ears and tail move using levers the rider pulls (bicycle break levers).  

The legs articulate similar to the design Kraig displayed.  We added red LED’s in the eye sockets to create a sinister style.  

I have added several pictures of my attempt during construction to a google drive (https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WHCmViCfZDCt-Jh3VAKzumEvjn7aE_9P?usp=drive_link hoping this might also help others.

The site includes several pictures of build, a video of it in use druing construction https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pXlHBUaV6Gu76YbLR1RDYGMvbNy2T638/view?usp=drive_link (although the mane and front puppet leg articulation were not completed - leg handles were changed), and a pdf user manual created for the kids https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QLNWi4-bMs--kP3pp21XaiSATXAVNqtT/view?usp=drive_link

The puppet is right around 100 pounds itself.  We had a rider on top, so this was very heavy for the puppeters.  (They did an excellent job.) I would estimate this took about 150 hours of work.

I don’t have a picture of the performance, but we heavily low fogged the stage during this scene and had the horse emerge from the back stage right.

This was my first time doing something like this and Kraig’s pictures were incredibly helpful.  (Kraig's is better!)  Thank you Kraig.

Our final performance was last night… now what do we do with this thing! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu6j3HOpeVo

Many different processes are used to bring the character to life, and I had to make sure it could all pack up for a trip from Australia to Canada and back. The body is an EVA foam balloon shape with foam clay details, whilst the tentacles, sacs and the head are upholstery foam. Using this material I could cut and sand the parts to shape, colour them, while being soft and flexible, and easy to pack for an overseas trip. The courses by BJ Guyer were invaluable, as it was my first time using upholstery foam in a fashion that was sculpted, or wouldn't be covered. Having insight to his mechanics also helped.

The sacs work via a cable mechanism hooked up to a glove inside the body. With my left fingers, I can flex and relax them to control the inflation and deflation of most of the sacs.

For the eyes, another nylon line mechanism is used to pull the eyelids down, with springs pulling them back open. Gears inside of the eyeball also drive the bottom eyelids open. This is all controlled with a trigger mechanism held by the right hand, which doubles as the rod to control the movement of the head. I'm currently re-working this mechanism to make it more reliable, quieter, and require less tuning/strings.

For some extra motion, the tentacles are weighed with fishing ball bearings to add mass and momentum, allowing them to swing much more. The dyed ostrich feathers on the tentacles, as well as for the antennae, move with motion and the breeze to add some more animation.

The puppet’s armour was all 3D modelled in Blender, then 3D printed individually and attached to each other and the body with screws (except the neck armour, which uses strapping and Velcro). To paint the armour, layers of spray paints (including black, metallics, clear coats then the final coat) were stacked up and then stripped back down using a brick, files and sandpaper for more natural-appearing weathering - as shown below, on a different project:


I like to call it the "Buttercup" method, because you build it up just to let it down.

There's still a lot of detail that I left out because of how many different methodologies went into this, but you can read just about everything here on the 405th Forums.

I look forward to learning more from the Stan Winston school and forums, and continuing to update the puppet!