8:42am Thursday 23rd August 2007
ONE of Winchester's landmarks has been backing into the bushes. Horse and Rider, in front of the Law Courts, seems of late to have become a victim of shyness.
Almost imperceptibly this summer, I'd swear that the life-size bronze sculpture has been in reverse. Now man and animal, on the corner with the unprepossessing Trafalgar Street, have almost disappeared.
Maybe it's the traffic fumes that have repelled them, or the din as van drivers rev up the hill. Or maybe the metallic duo are just trying to keep out of the rain...
Shoppers used to be able to eyeball this equine work of art from much of the High Street, but the proud symbol of the city's cultural vigour looks for all the world as if it has gone into hiding.
The Elisabeth Frink masterpiece must be worth a packet, so it seems a pity it's withdrawn from public life.
Some of the horse is still visible, but the rider is almost entirely screened by leaves.
Horse and Rider used to delight children and lift the hearts of art lovers. Now the only people who see the work are either very observant or have X-ray eyes. I suggest a veterinary psychologist is brought in to coax the horse back into the open.
The public can do their bit by issuing a few soothing words of reassurance to the rider as they pass, and perhaps by offering a sugar lump to his nervous steed.
Alternatively, someone could trim the vegetation. But even if no trimming is done, I've a feeling the horseman will be emerging from the vegetation in a few weeks.
I've noticed that he does that in the autumn.
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