I actually took photos of some horses and tried to make some horse beads myself a while ago using the pictures as a guide..... they were a bit ugly but at least horse-like.
First Effort
about 5th effort I tried a 2 hole button
I found that mine were sort of half way between a realistic horse and a cartoonish one so I have been trying to improve and this is the latest one (with HUGE scary eyes....aaarrrgh)
I hope my mistakes help with some ideas, they are done completely on mandrel but I have seen some lovely ones using off mandrel techniques if you prefer that.
It is still feeling like a long process to get those beautiful horses like some of the ladies make............sigh!
Nat