Waikato Museum artwork tells emotional tale

Noeline Jeffries finds the rosette made using hair from the tail of her horse Ritchie Rich. Photo / Peter Tiffany

An evocative 5m artwork at Waikato Museum made using clippings from horse tails is described as like a heartbeat stretched across five linen canvases.

It certainly tugged at the heartstrings for Hamilton woman Noeline Jeffries when she discovered it included hair from the tail of her horse Ritchie Rich who died in 2014 after suffering ill health.

"He was 27 years old and getting thinner by the day; in the end I made the awful decision to have him put down," says Noeline, who is a riding instructor and ESNZ dressage judge.

"It was a very sad day. I kept a piece of his tail as I read where a woman in Whanganui was making an artwork of horses' tails and wanted people to donate clippings for the rosettes she was weaving into a tapestry to remember the thousands of horses that never came back from World War I."

That artist was UK-based New Zealander Cat Auburn who was in Whanganui in 2014 as the Tylee Cottage artist-in-residence with the Sarjeant Gallery. The piece she created — The Horses Stayed Behind — contains 500 individual rosettes woven with copper wire and hair from horses and ponies across New Zealand.

The museum's description of the work says: "Rather than creating a figurative motif or picture ... Auburn has instead chosen to present them using a formalist aesthetic. Like a heartbeat stretched across five linen canvases the horizontal arrangement, devoid of narrative, allows each unique flower to hold on to its individuality while maintaining a role within the larger group."

A close-up of the rosette made using hair from Ritchie Rich. Photo / Peter Tiffany

Each horse and rider who contributed is identifiable, in stark contrast to the anonymous fate that awaited thousands of the horses and men who left for the war.

Noeline, the president of the War Horse Board, was the driving force behind the project which saw a 300kg bronze statue of a Waikato Mounted Rifles horse unveiled at Memorial Park in Hamilton on Armistice Day last year.

She said she felt quite emotional when she checked and found her clipping from Ritchie was used for one of the 500 rosettes.

Ritchie Rich was a 27-year-old thoroughbred gelding. Photo / Supplied

"I felt quite emotional; his tail was there — number 143 on the artwork. In fact it was quite overwhelming to think he is there with lots of other horses' tails of all different colours in the display."

The rosettes are similar to those made from human hair in Victorian times as momento mori. The work is at Waikato Museum until April 29.