What will neigh-bours think of stunning new sculpture?!

There was no time for horsing around for Nafferton-based fabricator Steve Albinger who has created a life-sized sculpture of a horse for a local farmer.

Having previously created a skeleton, completed with all but a few of the human body’s 208 bones, for a garden in North Frodingham, as well as a bridge for a couple in Wansford, Steve is no stranger to large-scale commissions.

He was approached around three years ago by Driffield farmer Paul Temple, asking whether it would be possible to construct a horse for the front lawn at Wold Farm.

It came after Paul had seen War Horse at the theatre and, never one to turn down a challenge, Steve accepted and set to work on the hunter-style horse earlier this year.

Around four weeks later, Steve, who lives in Wetwang, had reached the winning post and the sculpture is now sitting proudly on the farm, where Paul and his family can view it from all vantage points.

Speaking to the Wolds Weekly whilst standing next to his grand design, Steve said he was pleased with the finished article.

“I was approached by Paul around three years ago,” he said. “He said if I ever had any spare time, did I fancy making him a horse.

“Earlier this year, I decided that if I didn’t start it soon, I was never going to get it done, so I made time for myself.

“Paul had been to see War Horse on stage and he wanted a similar framework to the one used in the play.

“I was confident I could do that and I’m pleased with what I’ve come up with. I was given a plastic model of a horse to work off and I’ve scaled it up and altered it to suit the shape.

“Paul wanted the horse to look as though it was doing something, rather than stood stationary, so I’ve made it look like it is going over a jump.

“It wasn’t easy to do and was very time consuming. In total, it took me just shy of four weeks.

“It’s the first horse I’ve done, but you never know, it could be the first of many.

“It’s also the biggest sculpture I’ve done so far in terms of the sheer scale and size of it.”

As well as being inspired by his visit to see War Horse, his wife Liz’s love of horses was another reason Paul asked Steve to create the impressive structure.

Liz only saw Steve’s handy equine work for the first time last Friday when she returned from a holiday, having missed out on views of the statue that Paul described as spectacular and unexpected during last week’s full moon.

“I’d seen Steve’s work and other horse sculptures in the past and asked him whether he fancied the challenge,” said Paul.

“I like the concept of the lines, as it makes you look at the sculpture in a different way.

“My wife is a big horse person and was really keen for us to go ahead with it, so I supplied Steve with four horseshoes and the model and he’s worked it from there.

“The fact it is a hunter-style horse emphasises the muscles and it’s fabulous. You can see it from each window in the house and it’s framed in a different way.

“We had a full moon recently and I hadn’t anticipated how amazing it would look. “We decided to place it in the garden, as when you have something like this, it needs to be somewhere you can see it, rather than being hidden away.”

Fresh from creating his first-ever horse sculpture, next on the agenda for Steve is a dragon, continuing the theme of weird and wonderful creations he has made over the last few years.

“The next sculpture on my list is a big dragon before June,” said Steve. “It will take me between four and five weeks to make and will go to the same place as the skeleton I created in North Frodingham.”