Have you ever seen a statue of a horse with both legs in the air? There may be a hidden message in it, and there may not be. This fact is rare in that it bridges both fact and urban legend, and we will do our best to describe it below for you.
The factoid that circulates in many spam emails and questionable websites states the following.
“Did you know that a statue of a person in a park on horseback has a secret message? If both of the horses front legs are in the air the person died in battle. If one leg is in the air the person died of the injuries of battle. If all four legs are on the ground the person died of natural causes.”
There is some argument as to whether or not this fact is true. In many cases it is, especially in the US and UK, but occasionally there will be statues which break from tradition. One notable example is of a statues commemorating the American Civil War and the Battle of Gettysburg.
In 1998 a statue was erected of James Longstreet, a confederate General. When the statue was erected it shows him on a horse with one hoof off the ground. This would mean that he was wounded in the battle and died from the woulds. Luckily for General Longstreet this didn’t happen. He survived the battle of Battle of Gettysburg unscathed and died many decades later.
If you encounter a statue of a horse with both legs in the air, it’s best to do a little background research before assuming the subject of the statue died as a result of some battle, as the statue may not be keeping with tradition. It may not even be a tradition in your country, so it is completely irrelevant.
Have you seen one, tell us in the comments below.
