Horse of a Different Posture

There is an idea floating around out there that the position of his horse’s legs in a hero’s statue is a code for the manner in which that person died. For instance, if the horse has one front leg raised it’s supposed to mean the man was wounded in battle, but lived. If two front legs are raised, the subject of the bronze, copper, or marble sculpture died of those battle wounds. All four legs firmly on the ground is supposed to mean that the man died in peace, most likely not on a horse, but statues of men laying comfortably in bed with their loved ones around them and a chamber pot on the floor generally don’t get picked to be placed in town squares.

I could find no suggestion of what it might mean if one back leg is raised but it’s probably just that there was a fire hydrant nearby. One front leg and one back leg could suggest that the horse is about to fall over, especially if the legs are on the same side. Two back legs? Wheel barrel race.

Three legs raised means the horse was probably in the middle of a canter at the moment the artists imagined the “snapshot” that would become the statue. A canter is a gait that is faster than a trot but slower than a gallop. So I’m thinking that if I’m in a battle, on horseback, gallop is the way to go, so that’s probably why you don’t see a lot of “three leg up” statues; slow riders are usually at the back of the charge. Not where you want to be if you plan on getting killed and immortalized in metal.

If you see a statue with all four of the horse’s legs up, please give me a call. I’d like to see how the artists accomplished that.

Of course the number of legs that are up and which ones they are might have nothing to do with how the rider died. It might suggest how the horse died. After all, wouldn’t a horse make a much better target than the man on that horse? Here are my suggestions in case anyone is interested:

One leg up – horse stepped in something and is just about to wipe it off his hoof. During the days of cavalry you know there was a lot of that stuff around.

Two legs up – horse died in a boxing match with a kangaroo. Those boxing kangaroos were as thick as squirrels back then.

Three legs up – horse dropped his shotgun while climbing over a fence.

Four legs up – see above.

Now I don’t live in a town with a lot of statues of men on horseback, so when I went out searching I only found one. It’s a statue of David of Sassoon that is in Courthouse Park in downtown Fresno. Mr. Sassoon (Yes, I know Sassoon wasn't his name) was an Armenian hero of an epic poem. The statue shows his horse with both front legs up but according to the legend he didn’t die in battle. Curiously, that statue shows young David missing a leg. Great, now I have to start over.