""Borse"" by Elizabeth Lortie

Have you ever wondered what birds would look like if they evolved on all fours to fill the "large hoofed animal" niche? No? Its just me? Ok. Well anyway heres what I came up with. I have a whole, very large, page full of studies of horse and bird structure that I went through to make this convincing.

Physical adaptations, starting at the head (all of these are listed on the aforementioned page but I wasnt sure if it would qualify for upload, so Ill try to explain my thinking):

Large, cockatoo-like crest that can be raised or lowered to display bright colors for communication. The beak, eyes, and ears are rimmed with skin, which may or may not also be brightly colored.  Feathers around the ears form a slight "dish" shape which helps focus sound into the eardrums, like owls. Bones are solid. They retained a pronounced keel, giving the chest a slight V shape instead of the round U shape of a normal equine. The forelimbs have long feathers along the outer edge of the leg, with smaller ones on the inner leg. Front leg has two toes, back legs have three. With the exception of the dew claws, the innermost toe is always larger than the outermost toe, and toenails grow out from the front and bottom of the toe to form a hooflike sole. Hind legs are exposed from the joint down, exposing the legs scaley texture. Tail is long and, when flared, diamond shaped like a dove or macaw, and may or may not possess additional color.