BBC News, North East and Cumbria
BBCVillagers have awoken to a replica pony standing tall in place of a bronze metal statue which was cut down to its hooves last summer.
The original in Ryhope, Sunderland, was stolen in August 2024, while an identical statue at the other end of the village was sliced down by thieves in 2021, with nobody ever traced for either theft.
The new bronze-coloured, fibreglass effigy by a secretive sculptor appeared on one of the concrete plinths welcoming visitors to the village on Friday morning.
The families of miners previously said they were heartbroken by the theft of the statues, which they said were memorials to those who worked at Ryhope pits.
Councillors previously estimated it could cost £34,000 to replace each original, and that the council faced “financial pressures”.
The person behind the replacement artwork, who is only willing to be identified on social media as Ryhope Horse, said they had been “vexed” every time they passed the remains of the original statue.
“It annoyed me to see the cut-off feet every time I drove passed it,” they told the BBC.
“[It was] just a matter of local pride, I wasn’t going to let the thieves spoil it for Ryhope.”
The same sculpture was first installed at the village’s other plinth in 2023, but was repeatedly damaged and the same mystery artist replaced it with a more sturdy concrete statue.
“Once that [concrete statue] was made, I concentrated on repairing this one and making a suitable base to fit it to the taller plinth,” the artist said.
“Now we have two again.”
Villagers were left baffled in 2023 when the replacement statue first appeared, hailing the cryptic creator who had “gone to so much trouble” to make the pony.
