enlightened horsemanship through touch

A controversial giant statue of a white horse by sculptor Max Wallinger will soon be erected at the Ebbsfleet station in southern England, the UK’s new gateway to continental Europe for Eurostar high-speed trains. Pita Kelekna tells us why this symbol is especially appropriate….

Well, it's big alright!

Pita Kelekna has uploaded another segment of her book, The Horse In Human History to This Side of the Pond. Entitled, The White Horse at Ebbsfleet, this chapter describes equine images and their role in history. In a previous post, I wrote about the White Horse of Ebbsfleet and the controversy it has engendered. Kelekna views this enormous sculpture from a historical perspective.

From among those perspective, she writes,

In 620, the Prophet Muhammad mounted the winged white horse Buraq* on his miraculous Night Journey through the seven levels of heaven to speak with Allah, Moses, and Jesus, thus linking Islam with the two older religions. In medieval England, Saint George battled the dread dragon on a magnificent white steed. And in Mongol equestrian culture, Khubilai khan celebrated each spring a Great Feast in which herds of pure white stallions and mares, all revered as sacred, had free run of the summer palace park at Xanadu. Later in the summer, the khagan performed the ritual horse sacrifice and the scattering of white mare’s milk to the winds as a symbol of Mongol ascendancy over the vast steppes.
*American President Barach (sic) Obama’s first name refers to this white horse.

I find that fascinating.

At Ebbsfleet station, Max Wallinger’s White Horse stands poised to embark on a new era of high-speed locomotive travel. Its presence reminds us the locomotive was first known as the “Iron Horse.” As international passengers catch a fleeting glimpse of this giant statue, they will know the White Horse embodies man’s ambition for ever more rapid and complex travel.

The White Horse of Uffington, courtesy BBC.com

© 2009 enlightened horsemanship through touch and Kim Cox Carneal

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What are they thinking?

The As-Yet-Unbuilt Giant White Horse Has Finally Bee Named!

What? Aren’t there enough giant white horses in England? Do they really need another one? Can’t they just wander around scraping up the chalky sod and find another? Do they have to construct one? Apparently the answer is yes. The proposed horse evokes ideas of national identity that artist Mark Wallinger said were behind the sculpture.

Wallinger’s submission, which draws on Anglo-Saxon legend, Stubbs’ paintings of thoroughbreds and the ancient White Horse of Uffington, won a competition to construct a landmark work of art to be placed by the A2 near Ebbsfleet.

A 164ft-high sculpture of a white horse will be called Kingdom, according to Alan Hill, the winner of a tongue-in-check Daily Telegraph competition. Hill’s approval of Wallinger’s giant horse is not shared by all. Due to be completed by 2012, the enormous white Kingdom will undoubtedly dominate the skyline in part of north Kent. Several people suggested it should be called the Big White Elephant; others proposed Eyesore and Nightmare. Jake Dowding from Girton, Cambs., thought the “only name for a 160ft steel horse” was Rusty.

One man even suggested structural improvements to enable the horse to collect and then pass water for “dramatic effect.” “When full, the tank should discharge its contents in a stream from the obvious place.”