If a statue in the park (or anywhere else) of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
I quote:
There is an urban legend concerning a code for mounted statues, whereby the horse’s hooves are supposed to indicate how the rider met his end. One hoof off the floor would indicate the rider died of wounds received in battle, or perhaps was just wounded in battle; two hooves off the floor would indicate the rider was killed in battle. An examination of the equestrian statues in most major European cities shows this is not true. If it ever was true, the practice appears to have died out in the 19th century.
So it looks like it was but hasn’t been for a long time.
I think you will find that it is not the case of all British Military Statues:D
You been reading Russell Brands book? I’m sure its mentioned in there.
It was mentioned on QI a couple of series ago, they said that it was an urban legend as well. I think it was allan davies who came out with it
According to the Wikipedia entry below this is generally not true, but is the case for some statues commemorating the Battle of Gettysburg, which is probably how this story came about.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equestrian_sculpture#Popular_belief
Not a chance…
