Hallooooo! 

So it's been a SOLID 10 years since I've done anything with manips. I was super hardcore into HP back then xD

It's not perfect by any means, and my hair sucks currently until I get my tablet unpacked. But i'm open to any advice, suggestions, etc! 

https://i.imgur.com/AYIBDUt.png

Oh boy, I remember trying to do hair without a tablet so I feel your pain! The lack of pen pressure is a killer.

Firstly, welcome back to the fold. :)

With regards to suggestions, I have 2 main ones that would be pretty simple for you to pop in and don't require the use of a tablet! ;)

Firstly, in this particular image the horse just looks a tiny bit too small in proportion to the background it's standing in? It's a little thing but it bugs my eye a touch and it throws the immersion of the image off.

Secondly, I love the kinda moody feel that the BG has to it, and you could try playing around with (if you're working in PS this would be in the 'image' drop down menu; I'm afraid I have zero knowledge of other software) the colour balance/selective colour on the horse (I often duplicate the layer containing the horse when doing colour adjustments and adjust the second layer, then the opacity or type of that layer can be tweaked to get the right kinda tone on the horse), just so the red of the chestnut doesn't pop quite so much as it makes it look slightly out of place, as if it's not subject to the same lighting as the rest of the image. Hope that makes sense, I feel like I'm useless at describing even vaguely technical things!

Considering you haven't dabbled with manips for so long it's a solid start; the stock and the BG really work together and your composition is good. The best thing to do is just play around with all the little tools that editing software gives us these days and see what you can do, and most importantly see what you like. Everyone has a slightly different style that suits them individually and the only way to figure it out is to have fun and experiment.

that looks really cool!

@uta: thank you so much! I know the proportions are off. I stared at this thing for a solid two hours and finally gave in xD

I did go back and change the tones on the horse so it didn't pop so much. You were definitely right! https://i.imgur.com/cC8QlHj.png

Thank you for the advice, it means alot! Gonna go practice some hair now!

@jaya: thank you so much! I missed doing these!