Stirred by Horses

Credit: Flickr

Inspired by the blogs on the Light Boat Horse that has now found a permanent home on the shore at Wells next the Sea, (Norfolk,  UK), several of us began thinking of other statues of horses that we found captivating. One of my favourite horse statues is the one that carries The Maid of Orleans outside the Melbourne City Library as shown above. The sculptor was Frenchman Emmanuel Frémiet.

Jane on the other hand said the Light Boat Horse reminded me of the sculpture I saw  on the disused railway platform at the Prairie hotel in Parachilna, in outback South Australia. Not a river or a pond let alone a sea for hundreds of kilometres. A lone horsemen seated on his trusting stead overlooking a majestic , flat Australian landscape. It was quite haunting.

Jane's photo
Jane's photo
Jane's photo
credit reqd?

America's Response Monument, subtitled De Oppresso Liber, is a life-and-a-half scale bronze statue in Liberty Park overlooking the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City. Unofficially known as the Horse Soldier Statue, it is the first publicly accessible monument dedicated to the United States Special Forces. It was also the first monument near Ground Zero to recognize heroes of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

The artist Douwe Blumberg was inspired to make the statue after seeing a photo of the U.S. Special Operations, members of ODA 595 and Force Dagger, and Afghani forces on horseback in northern Afghanistan during October 2001.

Credit: Wikipedia

At first Blumberg made and sold a small-scale, 18 inches (460 mm) version of the statue. Then in April 2011, an anonymous group of Wall Street bankers who had lost friends in the 9/11 attacks commissioned a large, 16 feet (4.9 m) tall version. It was dedicated on Veteran's Day, November 11, 2011, in a ceremony led by Vice President Joe Biden and Lt. Gen. John Mulholland, commander of Task Force Dagger and U.S. Army Special Operations Command during Operation Enduring Freedom.(Wikipedia)

The statue commemorates the service members of America's Special Operations forces and their response to 9/11, including those who fought during the first stages of the Afghanistan war. This operation led to the initial defeat of the Taliban in Afghanistan. (Wikipedia)

Credit: Flickr

As I write the blog tonight the beautiful area of Gippsland in South East of Melbourne is being ravaged by dreadful bushfires. Our prayers are with the residents and the wonderful Emergency personnel who risk their lives to save others and their animals. Specifically - our thoughts are with the subscriber  W of Toora who thankfully is out of the line of fire as far as I am aware. And closer to home we have a young family friend on the edge of the fire courageously organising, with only the help of neighbours, the care and safety of over forty horses on the property where she works. Heartfelt prayers for no loss of life through this ordeal.

Tomorrow we are going to return to study some more war horses in a little more depth.

PS It’s Tuesday morning and the wonderful firefighters and other emergency personnel are winning against the bushfires. Thank you for looking after us.