Kevin, it's because the distance between horse and tree; horse is in the foreground, tree is in the background of the scene. That's why it seems big to you...
Author, very beautiful scene!

Nice

I think the part that lets this image down a little is the spheres, they still look a bit flat, try using the spherize filter. The horse itself looks great though! Good luck

I think the horse could use stronger shadows on it (Step 8) given the strength of the shadows on the spheres and the shadow the horse is casting on the platform it's standing on. The top platform does not seem to be casting a shadow on the big sphere and the adjacent little sphere does not seem to be casting a shadow on the lower platform. The horse looks like it's floating because there's no strong shadow at the point where the hooves touch the platform.

you are going to need to upload the sbs for this...

amazing entry !

very good work

Nice entry.......GL

Very nice!

its cool.. very well use of source.. but y the fore legs are crossed? was it deliberate or it happened..? I see in the source image that the horse is running but in your entry its still and that's y the legs are distracting.. or you can lift that leg a bit up like in this pic.. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mmmchoco/63394549/ then it'll be perfect..

just use warp and lift it backwards..

Looks quite nice! The horse is a little distorted (neck too short, butt a little big maybe) edges could use a little clean up. Of course that's MHO.

I forgot to add the shadowing of the leg, before I merged the horse together >< I'll see if I can't redo the horse, it took me a little while so I'll try to get it as best as I can before the contest ends. Thanks for all your nice comments

made some changes

A beautiful fun, you mean! It's wonderful... I like horses, that's amazing...

lovely image, high marks, but imo i like to actualy SEE the source ... VERY clever though well done

Wow, nice work!

great piece good choppin

Good image.

Thanks everyone

congrats

well done digital

Congrats

congrats =)

Congrats.. for the 2nd place...

Congrats!

really strange.. in a very wonderful way.. good job!!!!

love the play with the imagery

Thank you very much Drivenslush

very unique entry...this one is one of my favorite in this contest...good luck author for the ideand and for the execution...

nice

i agree with nator. Aslo, imo i think the other horse should have its light on to....

thank you all for comments. I will reduce the brightness of the light, but the horse on the right I intentionally turned off the light. I didn't mention about the story in the description. These horses are war horses and they were modified to server the war. One day they try to escape and two of them help each other. If you notice in the High-Res, you will see the right one has some injures and there are some cracks, indicating the lightbulb was damaged. Half of the face was damaged, too, so you can see something underneath the natural skin.

Unique! Great imagination

like the idea -- details are nicely done

nice work, sort of looks like 3D stained glass.

Great idea, love the details

Very nice

Very very nice...lots of work here.I like head and body very much.Front legs demands a bit more shading to create better perspective.SBS is very nice,Good luck author i like this entry very much.

Awsome!!! still i think you should shade the legs upwards from the heels... that will give more depth... now it looks a little flotting.. the reason is back right leg is longer than left back leg... try to fix the perspective... this will an awesome entry... goodluck!!

Good thinking

welldone author.... I want to ride this royal horse.... Good luck

I do agree that this is a royal horse.. Only the face needs a little more touch.. try to add some details over the face! Still this is my favorite...

Now this is my favourite.. u had done it.... Exellent work Good luck once again... (one more suggetion.. do some thing with the face as 'shaadow' pointing up, I thind using the burn/ dodge tools is best to do that)

Very creative use of source, nice imagination

hehe nice.

Nice horse. Look like made of gold and ivory

Nice work and good luck author !