Giant horse to become £2m artwork

A giant 50-metre horse sculpture has been selected from three finalists in Britain and will now be built in northern Kent.

The £2 million winning sculpture of the white horse will form the centrepiece of a development in Ebbsfleet Valley.

Development plans for the area include shops, offices and 10,000 new homes. It will also be a major transport hub, with an international railway station.

The horse concept was developed by Mark Wallinger. Wallinger's horse will be 33 times life-size and will be built to look over Ebbsfleet Valley and the Thames Estuary.

The horse will be a faithfully accurate representation of a thoroughbred racehorse in all but its scale.The thoroughbred was first developed during the 17th and 18th centuries in England, when native mares were crossbred with imported Arabian stallions. Every racehorse in the world is descended from these animals and the white horse will wear a bridle to signify that it has been domesticated and bred by man.

Turner Prize-winning Wallinger has, for many years, explored the history of the horse and its link to man. The horse in Anglo-Saxon mythology is an extremely significant symbol.

Horses have featured extensively in Wallinger's work and he sees the racehorse as symbolic of British colonial and post-colonial history.