DIY Clay Horse Flower Pot Tutorial
I’ve named my flower pot horse ‘Little Teddy’…he’s a representation of big “Teddy” (one of our horses). Do you see the resemblance?? 🙂
This project turned out as cute as can be, and I’m really itching to make one more that resembles our other horse!
..but I’ve got to be honest, I wasn’t always this excited about it in the beginning…
When I started, there weren’t any step by step instructions out there on how to make this, and it was a huge headache figuring out the best way to construct my flower pot horse without everything falling apart (let’s just say I wanted to throw it all out the window a time or two before I finally got it figured out!)
I’ve created a very detailed, step by step tutorial that makes it easy to put together (and you won’t have to go through all the frustrations that I did).
…LUCKY YOU!!!!! 🙂
Here’s how to build it!
DIY Clay Horse Flower Pot – Tutorial
Tools & Supplies:
Tools:
- Hand drill with 5/16 masonry bit (to drill holes into pots)
- Diamond hole saw drill bit (25mm) (to drill tail hole into pot)
- Hack saw or metal chop saw (to cut thread rod)
- Wrench or Ratchet (size 5/16) to tighten nuts onto thread rod
- Scissors
- Hot glue gun with extra strength gorilla hot glue (for gluing on the mane & rubber washers)
Supplies:
- 5/16in thread rod (you’ll need 8ft)
- Large fender washers with an inner diameter of 5/16 and outer diameter of 1 1/2in (you’ll need 13)
- Small flat washer with inner diameter of 5/16 (you’ll need 1)
- 1/2in inner diameter rubber grommets (you’ll need 4)
- Sixteen small clay pots with 4in wide top & 4in tall (Legs)
- Two large clay pots with 10in wide top & 8 1/2in tall (Body)
- Two clay pots with 8 1/4in wide top & 6in tall (Head and Neck)
- One clay pot with 8 1/2in wide top & 7 3/4in tall (Nose)
- Garden sisal rope natural light (for the mane and tail) I used about 70ft so I bought the 100ft roll (you can also use yarn, or a mop head dyed to the color you want)
- Garden sisal rope dark (for the halter)
- Two wooden spoons (for the ears)
- Outdoor spray paint (this is the base color-it’s easiest to spray all of the pots before assembling) Remember to also paint those spoons for the ears!
- Paint and paint brush (for the hooves and markings) I used some old outdoor paint that lasts forever in the elements)
- Sand or small sand bags (when I added soil to the head, my horse became ‘front heavy’…adding sand or sand bags inside the back legs fixed this problem)
Assemble supplies into groups as shown:
- Sixteen small pots with 4in wide top & 4in tall (Legs)
- Eight large washers, eight 5/16 nuts, & four 5/16 thread rods at 10 1/2in long (Connects Legs together)
- Two large pots with 10in wide top & 8 1/2in tall (Body)
- Two rubber washers, two 5/16 nuts, two large washers, one 5/16 thread rod at 17 1/4in long (Connects body together)
- Four rubber washers, four rubber grommets, four 5/16 nuts and two 5/16 thread rods at 9in long (Connects legs to body)
- Two pots with 8 1/4in wide top & 6in tall (Head and Neck)
- Two large washers, two rubber washers, two nuts, one 5/16 thread rod at 7in long (Connects Head, Neck, and Body together)
- One pot with 8 1/2in wide top & 7 3/4in tall (Nose)
- One large washer, one smaller washer, two rubber washers, two 5/16 nuts, one 5/16 thread rod at 7in long (Connects nose to head)
Pictures of supplies in groups as shown:
You’ll be drilling some holes into a few pots so make sure to soak the following pots overnight in water before getting started:
- Four #1 pots (legs)
- Two #3 pots (body)
- One #6 pot (head)
If pots don’t already have a drain hole in the bottom, you’ll need to drill one (the hole must be at least 5/16in or larger for the thread rod to fit through)
Putting it all together…
Gather your #2 supplies and assemble the thread rod, nuts and washers together as so…
Gather a #1 leg pot that has already been soaking in water and slide a thread rod through the top
Stack it on top of 3 more dry (not soaked) #1 leg pots
Slide the thread rod through all the pots and screw another nut and washer at the bottom, then tighten together. Make sure it’s snug but not too tight, or the pots will crack (Luckily, this only happened to me once)
With the 5/16 masonry bit, drill a hole in the side-top (already soaked) pot. When drilling, just go slow and don’t push too hard. Drilling holes in clay pots is actually really easy, I was a little hesitant at first, but soon got the hang of it
Make four of them…these are your legs!
Now grab both of the #3 body pots and drill two holes in both the pots with the 5/16 masonry bit (these holes will connect the legs to the body)
Take one of the #3 body pots and drill a third hole in the center of the other holes (this hole will connect the neck to the body)
Now attach the #5 supplies to the #3 body pots as shown
Now grab the other #3 body pot
Find the center between the two side holes, and drill a larger hole at the side-bottom of the pot with the 25mm diamond hole saw bit (This will be where the tail comes out) With the hole saw bits, I start out at a 45 degree angle until a groove has formed, then you can turn it straight into the pot
Gather your #9 supplies, cut the rubber washer in half and hot glue it to one side of the outer part of the large washer (I did this as I needed larger rubber washers, but they cost more…doing this fixed the problem)
Assemble the large washer with the bolt and thread rod as shown
Slide the thread rod into the bottom hole of the #8 nose pot, making sure the rubber washer comes into contact with the pot
It should look like this from the inside
Gather a #6 head pot and drill a hole in the side top with your 5/16 drill bit
Attach the #6 head pot to the #8 nose pot as shown
Secure together with the remaining #9 supplies
It all should look like this
Gather your #7 supplies, making sure to cut the rubber washers in half and glue them to the large washers. Assemble as shown
Slide the thread rod through the bottom hole of the #6 head pot
Attach the other #6 neck pot to the #6 head pot as shown
Secure together with the other large washer and nut from your #7 supplies
Gather the #3 body pot that has the smaller hole, and attach it to the #6 neck pot
Secure together with the remaining #7 supplies
Gather your #4 supplies, making sure to cut the two rubber washers in half and gluing them to the large washers. Assemble as shown
Slide the thread rod into the #3 body pot as shown
It should look like this with the thread rod sticking out
(Now, it’s time to attach the tail! If you don’t already have the tail made, skip down to the tail section first)
Push the taped end of your tail through the large hole of the other #3 body pot. Tie a knot in itself to keep it secure inside the pot
Attach both #3 body pots together
Secure and tighten with the rest of the #4 supplies
Before completely tightening the #3 body pots, make sure the hardware that will be holding the legs on are straight and aligned with each other…otherwise the back legs will be crooked from the front legs
One by one attach the legs. The easiest way to do this is to get a helper…Have one person hold up the body while the other attaches the legs to the hardware that is already sticking out of the sides of the body
The rubber grommet serves as a cushion so that the legs don’t grind against the body
I don’t tighten the legs snug to the body like I do the rest of the pots…I leave a little room for play so it doesn’t put any torque on the leg pots
Tail:
Gather your sisal rope
Cut 8 pieces of rope at approx. 2 ft long and unravel the rope
This will be your tail!
Wrap a piece of tape around the tip of the tail to hold it together
Mane:
I used a single piece of sisal rope cut to the length of the neck and tied unraveled pieces of rope to hang from it
Each piece of unraveled rope was approx. 34in long…
Find the middle…
Loop it around the rope, making a knot, and pulling tight
For a thick mane you’ll need to push the strands tightly together…
I used a line of hot glue underneath the knots to keep the strands tight
This is what it looks like when you’re done!
I made two strands of mane to hang on both sides of the neck…then I hot glued them on
Painting:
I wanted to use paint that would last through our hot Arizona summers, and luckily found some outdoor paint in my shed
Since I had already painted a base coat on my pots before assembling, all I had to do was add a few coats of white and black paint for the socks, blaze, and hooves
Halter:
Since my mane and tail were light in color, I wanted some contrast so I used a darker-colored sisal rope for the halter
Simply loop around the muzzle and tie a knot…
Wrap the rope around the back of the head to the other side…
Tie another knot…
After the second knot I cut the end off and tied a third knot at the bottom of the halter, making sure to let some rope dangle…you now have a halter and lead rope
Hitching Post:
I simply used two logs that I cut evenly on the bottom so they would stand up on their own. I then bored one hole in each log with a spade bit to fit the branch that connects them together
Now add soil and some plants (yes I made a mess all over the porch)
…and don’t forget those wooden spoon ears!
If your horse becomes ‘front heavy’:
After I added my soil and planted the plants, the head of my horse became heavier than the back end. My horse’s back legs were actually suspended in mid air an inch or two (it kinda looked like he was bucking!) Anyway, I fixed this problem by adding some sand in his back legs. I had to wet the sand before packing it into the pots so that it would stay when I turned the top pot upside down. You can always use sand bags if you don’t want to use loose sand…
After packing the sand in, I flipped the sand-filled top pot onto the upright filled one…
Then put it all back together…
Finished! Happy horsin’ around!
DIY Clay Horse Flower Pot
KC
I Loooooooove your blog and this little horse is soooooo adorable and how clever you are! I don’t think there is a cuter one on the web anywhere! I love the natural sisal rope you used for the mane, tail and halter too. I want to make one like yours this spring and put it out in the front yard! Great job!!!
Tee
Hi KC,
I’m so glad you enjoyed the tutorial! You’ll have to post pics of your new little pot horse in this comment section when you’re finished…would love to see it!
Tami
Hello Tiffany,
I just love your little clay pot horse. He is cute as a button! I’m going to have to put one in my garden. I have several horses and this would be so cute outside my home.
Tee
Glad you liked the post Tami! You’ll have to attach a photo of your flower pot horse in this comment section when you’re finished!
Vicky Miller
Love the horse and the chick feeder.. You are AWESOME!!!
Tee
Hi Vicky!
Glad you enjoyed! Thanks for stopping by!
Rhonda
I have to make at least two of these horses. One for me, and one for my friend that owns the ranch I ride at. Just wondering if you tried Dollar Tree plastic pots if filled with quick crete for strength?
Tee
Hi Rhonda! You would have to somehow add the concrete after connecting the pots together with the rods. If you could figure that part out then it would probably work. Let me know if you try it and how it turns out!
Tammie
Being we currently own 2 mini’s , 2 full size horse’s & a draft size horse, you know that I have to have one of these.
It’s soooooo adorable???? I can’t wait to start mine!!
Thanks for sharing!
Tee
Thank you for your sweet comments! I LOVE my little horse! He gets so many compliments from everyone! Feel free to post a pic of yours if you make your own!
Maria
Wow !! Thank you what a great job and thanks for the detailed info on how to drill and use screws to hold the legs and head together. My husband and I made one last year someone who had posted one but we used gorilla glue well in a few months it was falling apart so it’s been with his legs up all winter now that spring is here we’re getting ready to redo the garden and put fresh flowers and I’d like to put my horse back together so hopefully this will help going to try it this weekend thanks again for the info and your horse looks great by the way ???????????????????????? Love it !! Thanks for sharing
Tee
Thank you Maria!
I completely understand! I knew that gluing mine together would never last with our 110 degree summers, so the thread rod was the way to go! You’ll have to post a pic of your horse when you get it all together again!
May Brouhard
Here’s my horse. Not too hard to build until you get to attaching the legs. That part was hard. I broke all 4 shoulder pots the first time around. I had to get my son and grandson to help me the second time around. My horse still seemed a little unstable. You don’t want to move it around too much. Seems better now that I have the flowers in the pots. Very cute.
Tee
You’re horse turned out great May! I’ll have to agree with doing the legs…they can be a little tricky when you’re by yourself. Luckily I had the help of my hubby and once I filled my horse with soil and plants, mine was also a lot more stable. Love it!
Betsy
I’m having a hard time finding the right sized pots for the head & nose. Where did you find the ones you used?
Tee
Hi Betsy!
I found all my pots at Home Depot.
Nicole B
Hi!!! This is so cute! Typically how much does it cost to do this project ?
Tee
Hi Nicole!
From what I remember, after purchasing the pots and hardware, the cost was about $75.
sue
love this clay pot horse. so glad you posted these directions as i’m going to make one and have the pots, but was leery of just using a certain type of glue as i just questioned how well it will hold. this idea with the rods makes it so much more stable. now i just need to purchase the rods and all else to go with this and i will be set to go. also need some paint. did you paint the insides of the pots also to prevent the paint from blistering? i want to paint the horse like mt own horse “Montana”. as i work on this project i maybe popping in on some questions if i get stumped. you have such good step by step instructions. Thank you so much for your post.
Tee
Hi Sue! I did not paint the inside of my pots, but it might be a good idea to do it just in case. Your horse, Montana, is beautiful! You’ll have to post a pic of your pot horse when you’re done!
sue
Hubby made a comment to me last night that your directions are Great and that you took lots of time on the directions for the clay pot horse. need the rods and fixings before i can start to assemble mine. Thank you for your post. sue
Tee
Hi Sue! It did take me FOREVER to make step-by-step instructions with photos, but it was worth it! I wanted to make sure no one else had issues figuring it all out like I did! LOL
Mike
I followed your steps but I was able to countermeasure the top heavy issue. I used 12in all thread for the legs/hoofs and let the excess stick out down in the bottom of the hoof. I then filled the lef upside down filled the Hoof ith concrete and the all thread anchored it in. I only did this to the 2 back legs as a counter weight.
I also used Gorilla CONSTRUCTION glue and it held the pots together and is very strong and also filled the gaps in since the pots aren’t identically made.
Tee
Awesome Mike! Sounds like it worked great for you! Thank you for your comments!
Kitty
Hi Mike, I was thinking about using quick set cement in the bottom hoof pots as well. Glad to hear it works. I’m even more excited now to move forward with my clay pot horse. I plan on placing it near our water feature in our garden area. Love to make one for my brother and sister-in-law for Christmas as well. Wish me luck! Lol. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Jennifer Lucas
https://www.teediddlydee.com/diy-clay-horse_flower-pot-tutorial_/
Hello I have been making my own terra cotta pots creations but it takes me forever to drill through my pots. Idk what im doing wrong? Do you have any advice? Or where do you get your bits. I have a hammer drill so it should be strong enough? Id appreciate your response!
Tee
Hi Jennifer, I used a diamond bit for my drill and I bought them at Home Depot but you can get them anywhere. Many use masonry bits to drill through their pots but I think the diamond bits are stronger and sharper, and your hammer drill should be strong enough. I’m wondering if your pots have a baked glaze on them. Are they shiny? That might make them harder to drill through. I wish you luck!
Ursula
I love this horse project,my husband and I are retired, and this will be a good project for us this spring . Thank you
Tee
Thank you Ursula! I’m glad you like it!
Lisa
Hello, my name is Lisa!! My boyfriend John and I, made one of your projects!!
We put alittle bit of a twist to it, and converted it into a Unicorn for a big Mystical horse fan, and gave it to her for Easter 🐰Sunday…April 12th, 2020!!
We would like to Thank You for the easy instructions, and photos to go with it, which made it very simple to follow!! Thank goodness we only broke one body pot, as We were tightening up the neck to it!! 😊
Tee
Oh, my gosh! This is adorable Lisa! I love the idea of a unicorn! You both did a great job! Thank you for the pics!
Lisa
Another picture
Lisa
Hi Tee, Thank You for your compliments!!
We actually bought a kids Unicorn headband!! 😀 We then cut the ears away from the headband, and glued them to the inside of the wooden spoon ears…then We glued the headband itself, to the inside of the wooden spoon handles, to hold them in place!!
Now everyone We show Our pictures to, wants Us to make them one too!! 😂
Thanks again fot this Wonderful Idea!!
Tee
What a great idea for the unicorn horn and ears! It turned out very cute, as I’m sure lots of readers will appreciate knowing how to did that!
Lisa
Last angle
Tee
Your mane turned out great!
Lisa
The Famous Artists!! LOL
Tee
😉
Sharon
Oh my gosh this was so much fun and I absolutely love mine. You gave great directions. My only hiccup was cutting the rod and getting a nut on the end but a metal file and I was good to go. Thank you so much for the great directions!!!!!
Tee
Oh, my gosh, Sharon! That turned out great! I’m tickled that you made one too. Thank you for sharing your picture. 🙂
Theresa A
My girls wanted a unicorn, so we used your instructions, perfect by the way ,and the wet sand in the back legs works awesome, with a few changes my girls got a unicorn with bright colored yarn ,and a horn. We figure next year if they change their minds it’s a quick little repainting and changing the mane and tail. Flowers where picked by my grandson. Thank you so much, my family had fun making and picking everything out.
Tee
Oh, my goodness! That really turned out colorful and cute! I’m so glad you shared a picture with us! It is fun to see how different they all turn out to be.
Idie
I would to get your instructions please ..thank you
Tee
Hi Idie! I just emailed you the instructions. Enjoy!
Susan Branham
I have broken 3 pots trying to get the legs attached. What is the trick? I am not tightening them down and I have grommets on both sides of the leg pot. I am afraid to keep trying for fear of breaking more.
Tee
Hi Susan!
This is definitely the tricky part as I also broke a pot doing this. Try having a second person hold the body up while you attach the legs, as this makes a huge difference.
dora fabiana hubert
te felicito por la idea ,lo voy a intentar saludos de medanos argentina
Tee
So glad you enjoyed the post Dora, and thanks for stopping by!