Whats with all the colorful horse statues int he Carolinas?

[thefed]

I wondered this a few years back and never looked into it. It seems there is a colored horse statue everywhere you look....


Anyone know the significance? I know there is/was wild horses in NC, descendents of the Spaniards.....but thats all I've got...

 

[GatorBuzz]

Not sure. Do they look sort of like the elephants/donkeys in DC:

Party Animals - Washington DC - guide for the Washington DC Pages Community

Or these horses found throughout Ocala, Florida (horse country):

Index Stock Imagery, Inc.


If so, it might just be a marketing campaign paid for by the city's chamber of commerce. I think there are bulls/bears in Manhattan also. Never seen them but heard about them.

If you already knew this and were just wondering why horses in the Carolinas, then just disregard this. lol.

 

[MikeD]

We have the painted horse statues here in Loudoun County, VA, too. I am thinking it's because we are in horse country. We have one at the hospital with painted-on Dr. clothes and a stethoscope.

Mike D.

 

[thefed]

Not sure. Do they look sort of like the elephants/donkeys in DC:

Party Animals - Washington DC - guide for the Washington DC Pages Community

Or these horses found throughout Ocala, Florida (horse country):

Index Stock Imagery, Inc.


If so, it might just be a marketing campaign paid for by the city's chamber of commerce. I think there are bulls/bears in Manhattan also. Never seen them but heard about them.

If you already knew this and were just wondering why horses in the Carolinas, then just disregard this. lol.

the second one is more like it....



someone has to know...

 

[jdmorton]

They Were for the Centennial of the First Flight...

thefed,

Here is a link that explains the winged horse statues:
[URL="http://www.outerbankspress.com/whe/winged-horses.html."]http://www.outerbankspress.com/whe/winged-horses.html.[/URL]
They were a part of the 2003 Centennial of the First Flight celebration on the Outer Banks as well as raising money for the wild horse fund.

Here's a link to the Wright Brothers First Flight monument in Kill Devils Hill, NC: http://www.firstflightcentennial.org/

We go to the Outer Banks pretty frequently, and the winged horse staues were a big hit in 2003. Interestingly, Pittsburgh (where I work) had a "dino-mite" outdoor exhibit of dinosaurs that year as well - to celebrate Pittsburgh's science and technology roots (the Carnegie Museum had a hand in it, as I recall). I remember the fish statues in Baltimore's Inner Harbor in 2001, and the cow statues in Chicago in 1999. For a while, these statues were a pretty popular thing. I haven't heard much about other cities doing it recently.

 

[thefed]

thank you!