On Epona

In regards to my Zelda fan fiction, there's the topic of what breed of horse Epona is.

For much of my youth and time spent as a Zelda fan, I always thought Epona was an Arabian. This is due to the appearance of her in-game in Ocarina of Time especially:

 She has a slim build and most importantly a slim neck. Additionally, I presumed the white on her legs was just normal stocking coloration. However, this isn't the case in the official art:

She still has the curved neck, and even appropriate ears, but she's too stocky for a pure-blood Arabian, and there's also the issue of her white marks being the "feathers" found on draft horses.

At this point, it became clear that Nintendo was aiming not for an Arabian (which made sense to me as a kid; the only other horse we saw outside of Lon Lon Ranch was Ganondorf's and another Gerudro's, so I
presumed that all of the horses came from the desert and where Arabian) but rather, they sought more the Medieval destrier, the Great War Horse. This became painfully clear in Twilight Princess:

This Epona was much taller and was much more obviously modeled after a draft horse (though she is not NEARLY big enough to be, for example, a Shire. Her feathers were defined, her ears and gigantic head were certainly not appropriate for an Arabian; in short, my childhood dreams of Link riding on a dashing, gallant, petite Arabian with it's tail stuck up like a flag in that weird way they sometimes do (though that might just be a personal thing) were shattered.

It's worth noting at this point that Epona's combination of coat and mane/tail colors are unusual, especially the deep chestnut shade of her coat and the apparently pure white mane and tail; usually the coat would be a lighter, more subtle and creamy shade. Anyways, due to this fact of coloration, in my definition of what breed I'll give her in my fan fiction, I'm throwing the coloration to the winds, because if I stuck with what limited she gives me as she is this way, I'll probably end up with a breed that doesn't suit her.

Anyways, there are a lot of different ideas of what the destrier actually was. Again, the Shire was one idea, and that would suit her feathers, but she is not big enough, nor is her build appropriate.

She does not have the fine ears, nor the show-horse qualities of a Frisian.

The best comparison, overall build wise, would be the Irish Draught Horse:

The ears do not significantly have the curve that Epona in Twilight Princess lacks, and in fact they look a lot like Ocarina of Time Epona's ears:

The general height and build of the Irish Draught are both appropriate for Epona, and again, I'm just winging it with the coat. Also, these horses have been cross-bred for strong jumpers, reinforcing the powerful jumping that Epona displays. Of course, now we have the problem of the feathers.

Now I'm going to face it. Unless Nintendo knows of some obscure horse breed I'm totally in the dark about, it's most likely impossible to pin Epona down. So, I'm going to be exercising my creative liberties here.

In my fan fiction, Deluge, Epona will be a basic Irish Draught build and posses the warm-blooded temperament. However, I'm going to give her both the improbable coat coloration AND just add the feathers on there. Though they'll be short:

Yep, she'll be a "half-legger", but that'll be something that's actually on demand for her breed. I'm sure that will gain me the well-deserved scorn of those who breed real feathered horses and all, but ah well. Making Link maintain fancy, huge proper hoof feathers is something I don't want to do.

So, may this post both give some clarity on Epona as I'll be presenting her and also give a fair warning; my mum grew up in a family that trained and bred horses, she grew up riding, I've ridden myself good enough to have a few stories of different times where I could have fallen off and broke my head open if I was a green rider. There will be plenty (though not too much) detail when it comes to Lon Lon Ranch, Epona, Link really learning how to ride and handle Epona and TAKE CARE of Epona, etc. But I swear I won't let it be boring! But this is a big deal, and it's a big part of this story, so I'm not going to let the reader think that taking care of/riding/just being around horses is EASY. Heh.