Paul Pibworth, Artist, Sculptor, Journeyman.

Creating The Horse of War

The Horse has been a key contributor to the development of mankind.

Centuries have seen it being the beast of burden, taking care of all the heavy work men needed performing and finally giving the name which measures the power of the beast which took its place; the engine; the tractor, the car.

Every living creature responds best to the softly spoken voice. The horse is no exception to this rule. Jacob was a true gentle giant, he was happy to pull in the field and happy to draw a carriage. Having lived his life at the National Trusts stables at Wimpole Cambridgeshire, sadly he passed on to pastures in the sky last summer. During my first visit to Cockington Court, earlier this year, I had spoken to a gent in the glassblowing studio of the old stable block. We spoke about the horses being freely given to the war effort of 1914. I imagined this. I imagined the new environment these horses were thrust into, shouted commands, shouted above the screech, bang and boom of bullets and shells.

Setting out to turn Jacob into the image of the “Horse of War” I drew him out at 1% larger than life (I wanted to make him more imposing). Then drawing him in stainless steel wire gave me the parameters I needed to flow freely with the final finished surfaces of mild and stainless steels. Jacob had a brown coat with beautiful white feathered hooves and white flash from forehead to chin. I have used the mild steel for the brown coat and the stainless steel as the white flash on his face.

The rust of the mild steel references Jacob’s brown coat, the life cycle of the steel and the flesh of our War Horse. The stainless steel represents the life force or soul, for you to see, Jacob is the returning ghost of a “Horse of War”.