THE VALEGRO PROJECT

Valegro is undoubtedly the most famous and well-known dressage horse ever. He lives just outside Newent at the stables of Carl Hester who trains him and is ridden by Charlotte Dujardin. In 2012 he shot to fame when he and Charlotte won two gold medals at the London Olympics. He is a double World Champion in Dressage wining the Grand Prix Special and the Freestyle at the World Equestrian Games in 2014. He won Gold for Britain at the Rio Olympics and achieved the highest ever score in Dressage. Valegro is also the only Dressage horse to have ever scored perfect 10’s from judges. Having won pretty much everything he could win with Charlotte and Carl, he was retired in December 2016, giving a retirement performance at the London International Horse Show. The seats were packed, and the YouTube video of the performance was viewed by 1.8 million viewers and is still being watched today.

The Gold Post-box in Newent has been photographed and used for selfies by hordes of people. Due to the interest in Dressage, the proximity of Hartpury University, its significant number of International and National Dressage events, and the fact that Carl and Valegro are so local, a Committee was established to consider a statue of Valegro in the Centre of Newent.

The Committee felt that such a statue would most definitely bring people to Newent which would in turn benefit the town itself. The interest in animal statues is high and these days people love to take selfies.

Following the completion of an extensive Public Consultation Exercise that addressed aspects of need for such a statue, form, design, location, and its impact upon the community, its results were published. Based upon the outcome of this exercise, it was considered where to place the statue and decided that near to the Market House would be best, as its central location would attract visitors right into the hub of the town, readily visible from the main Market Place roads and has space around, so people can stand back and view the horse properly and safely on the paved area.

The consultation exercise, undertaken in Newent, resulted in an overwhelming 92% in favour of the statue and its placement in the Market Square. A further UK-wide public media exercise confirmed that the approach being adopted was correct. On the basis of these consultation exercises, a planning application was submitted to the Local Planning Authority to place the statue in the Market Square, leaving space for the Christmas tree and other future community activities.

Originally, the plan was to have a full-sized statue of Valegro. However, when he came with Charlotte and Alan, his groom, to the Market Square to launch the Project, it was recognised that a large horse literally surrounded by hundreds of well-wishers took up a significant amount of space. The Committee and Carl therefore decided upon what is called a “half-life” statue, like those at Cheltenham Racecourse, would be a much better fit and also less costly. Six artists were approached and asked to bid for the task of sculpting the statue, Carl finally chose Georgie Welch, a renown local sculptor with a passion for horses.

To raise the funds for the completed statue mounted upon a plinth placed in the Market Square, a limited edition of 12 smaller statues called maquettes was planned. These maquettes are exact replicas of the final statue, only smaller. Eleven were sold at full price and the last one Number 12, called the People’s Statue was raffled in February 2020. Some 800 tickets were eventually sold, the proceeds being allocated to offset the costs associated with the statue and the manufacture of the maquettes.

In support of, and to advertise the making and subsequent sale of these maquettes worldwide, a documentary film was made for the TV channel, Horse and Country. A public viewing of this documentary was shown in Newent Library. The first three maquettes were sold before the film was released with a further 6 sold almost immediately afterwards. The remaining maquettes were sold within the following three months.

With funding in place, the foundry was instructed to proceed with casting of the statue, with completion originally planned for March/April 2020.In addition to the above, Georgie Welch, the Sculptor, kindly donated her original drawings to The Project to support the raising of additional funds. These sketches, signed by Georgie, Carl and Charlotte were reprinted in limited numbers and sold world-wide.

Unfortunately, due to the restrictions in place within the UK due to COVID19, completion was delayed, and a limited, by invitation only statue press launch, eventually took place at the International Centre for Birds of Prey (ICBP), Cliffords Mesne, by kind permission of Jemima Parry-Jones, in October 2020. Since then, planning consent, related approvals, legal agreements and arrangements for CCTV in Newent’s Market Square for the longer-term security of the statue have been put into place.

Valegro and Charlotte are probably almost entirely responsible for inspiring a new and increasing generation of future Olympians. Charlotte’s Facebook page has 328,000 followers, Carl’s 205,000 followers and Valegro himself, 137,000 followers.

Special thanks go to all of those individuals, organisations kindly donating funds to support The Project and especially Carl Hester and Valegro’s other Co-owners for allowing the community the opportunity to benefit from Valegro’s humble beginnings to a world class phenomenon.

Supported by the Newent Initiative Trust who acted as fund holders, The Committee, comprising all volunteers, have spent considerable personal time and funds. The Project was totally self-funded: at no time was money received from public funds. In-fact, it would be fair to say that this was an Equestrian Project funded by community minded, Equestrian People, with a huge interest in a very special horse.

In compliance with the County, District and Town Council’s Legal Agreements, The Newent Initiative Trust, acting on behalf of the Valegro Project Committee will Gift the Statue together with the remaining Project funds, to Newent Town Council for its longer-term care and maintenance, on condition that The Town Council installs and continues to maintain a suitable CCTV system.

The Project Committee, with many others, are convinced that this beautiful statue, when erected, will enhance Newent’s town centre, attract visitors and benefit the economics of the town in future years.

Click the icon above to visit the Valegro Facebook page for up to date information about this project.