The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies
Royal Dick School of Veterinary Studies Bicentenary

Stone Horse Restoration

A stone horse sculpture, which has belonged to the Vet School for nearly two hundred years, is being given a new lease of life with a full restoration.

Stone horse renovation
Experts from Graciela Ainsworth will restore the horse

The horse was originally commissioned by the School’s founder, William Dick, to sit atop the Dick Vet’s first purpose-built home in Clyde Street, where it moved in 1833. Carved by A. Wallace, the horse sat in the Clyde Street quad, with stone columns underneath which featured sculpted animal heads of a horse, dog, bull and ram, with a stag in the centre.

The School stayed at Clyde Street for eighty-three years, but eventually had grown to the point where it needed larger premises to accommodate the thriving school. Land was purchased in South Edinburgh and the Summerhall building completed, becoming the School’s new home in 1916.

The horse, or course, came with us and sat in the new School quad at Summerhall, in place of pride. It remained there until around 2003, when it made its latest move out to the Easter Bush Campus, then known as the Easter Bush Veterinary Centre.

Stone horse renovation
The horse will now undergo a full restoration

Finding its home among fellow equines, the horse came to sit beside the Equine Hospital and there has greeted clients and their horses for the last sixteen years.

Nature and time have taken their toll and this week specialists from Graciela Ainsworth have been on site to begin the restoration work. 

The horse will be cleaned and repaired, then placed on a new plinth, so that it can continue its long service at the School.