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 The Story of The Lely Freedom Horses
The Lely Freedom Horse Monument represents the very best in cultural achievement by combining the talents of several world-class artisans. Veryl Goodnight was selected from a field of fifty sculptors to design the bronze life-and-quarter size horses. Her talents were combined with those of the Larson Company of Tucson, Arizona who designed and fabricated the Florida limestone caprock water feature. The entire process of consultant selection, design, fabrication and installation took three years and involved the skills of over twenty companies.
First came hundred of sketches, then a six-inch high study, and finally a fully developed, ¼ lifesize working model. The culmination of thousands of hours of creativity and hard work is the larger-than-life (1 ¼ lifesize) monument at the Lely Resort entrance.
“The horse has been used by artists throughout the centuries to symbolize strength, power and freedom,” said Veryl Goodnight.
Horse models were brought into Veryl’s studio. In fact, the stallion model was Robert Redford’s favorite “Rising Star,” the horse he rode in the movie “The Electric Horseman.”
The horses were fabricated in the Valley Bronze Foundry in Joseph, Oregon and are constructed of bronze weighing approximately 1 ton each. The fountain was fabricated of fiberglass reinforced concrete panels, carefully assembled to replicate indigenous Florida limestone. A highly specialize pumping and ozone purification system operates the patented hoof water jets and is accented by a fog mist system that comes on in early morning and early evening hours.
Dedication of the Lely Freedom Horses took place on Saturday, July 24, 1992.
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