Horses Finally Out of the Gate

Sculptures Make Their Belated Debut Across the County

One of the horse sculptures is "Mr. Lucky" by artist Anne DeSantis. It stands outside the Loudoun Museum. (By Tracy A. Woodward -- The Washington Post)

It took quite a while longer than anyone expected, but 13 of the horses in "Horsing Around Loudoun," the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce's public art project, are finally ready to meet the public.

The project is in the mold of the Party Animals and Panda Mania exhibitions in downtown Washington in 2002 and 2004, respectively: Artists were commissioned to decorate animal statues, made partly of fiberglass, and sponsorships were solicited from local businesses, which could then display the art outside their offices.

While donkeys, elephants and pandas made sense inside the Beltway, the chamber decided that horses were a fitting model for Loudoun, given its equestrian history.

The project was to hit the streets in late July, but the supplier of the horses went bankrupt after providing only 17 of the 32 ordered statues, causing a delay.

The chamber managed to locate eight more and set an October unveiling date.

Then Hurricane Katrina disrupted the schedule.

"We had expected to make our bases out of concrete, and after Katrina, the rising demand for concrete made it impossible for us to do that," said Bob Steere, the chamber's chief operating officer.

The project was stuck until officials at the local Home Depot offered to donate plywood and to construct wooden bases for the statues.

Steere said 12 more horses will be installed by the end of the year.

All 25 will be on display until March, when the chamber will move them to Oatlands Plantation for an auction and gala on March 25.

The horses now on display are: