Must lose weight

In an earlier blog, I dealt with the Holbeinpferdchen, located on a small lawn triangle just around the corner from my apartment. The sculpture of a foal is frequently painted and repainted.

The Holbein horse in January 2006 (©BZ/Ingo Schneider)

Due to the many paint shops since 2006, the slim concrete sculpture created by Werner Gürtner became a heavy, cold-blood horse, so it was time for a reducing diet.

The same sculpture in January 2019 (©BZ/Lisa Petrich)

At the end of my previous blog, I mentioned that the last time the layers of paint were removed was in 1997. Since then, the expertise on how to do the job has been lost, so experts were scratching their heads.

Now apparently, the solution was found; yesterday morning, the Holbein horse was removed from its location.

Das Pferdle shows the call to vote No in the referendum next Sunday 24 (©BZ/Patrick Kerber)

It was lifted from its pedestal with the help of a small excavator and - secured with belts - moved on a small truck for transport to a stonemason's workshop at Freiburg-Haslach.

On the hooks (©BZ/Patrick Kerber)

All the layers of paint - several centimeters thick - will be removed. "It will take a little longer," said Martina Schickle, press spokeswoman for the city.

Those thick layers of paint (©BZ/Patrick Kerber)

The father who had "dismantled" the foal in 1997 is watching his son
 trying to chisel off the layers of paint in 2019 (©Amtsblatt)

While the original sculpture is on a reducing diet,
a rocking horse is fulfilling the representative function
 in serving as the Stallvertreter (representative in the stable).
This is a German pun.
It should instead read Stellvertreter (deputy) (©Marie-Christine Poulet)

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