A 12ft horse sculpture made of more than 600 horseshoes from across Yorkshire has been created for this year’s Great Yorkshire Show.

Sculptor Ollie Holman, from near Selby, has created the 750kg creature, which now takes pride of place outside the showground’s Yorkshire Events Centre.

Ollie, 31, has been welding since he was 13, having being taught by his father David before studying at Leeds College of Art. The masterpiece was made over five years in between other projects.

Charles Mills, Show Director said: “Ollie’s sculpture is a true epic that I have no doubt will turn heads at the Great Yorkshire Show. We are proud of the high-quality equestrian classes we have at the Show each year, so this is a very fitting sculpture to have in such a prominent position on the Showground.”

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The horse sculpture is entitled Os II after the Yorkshire slang for horse and because this is Ollie’s second attempt at sculpting a full-scale rearing horse. His first was sold to Cheltenham Racecourse.

Ollie explained: “The driving force behind this one was to improve myself as an artist and really capture the raw physical power of the horse in more detail. For this one, I layered up the horseshoes to give it that sense of power.

“To get the form right, I relied on images of horses online and my mum and dad rent a field off for horses, so a quick hop over the fence came in handy too.”

A painstaking process, Ollie would move a scaffolding frame around his developing sculpture and would jump on and off to get a wider perspective after each adjustment to ensure the form of the horse was just so.

Ollie’s metalwork horses were initially inspired by his sister’s horse riding, but his repertoire extends beyond the equine to sculptures of human form. Some of Ollie’s other work will be available to view and purchase in the Great Yorkshire Show’s Art Show. The Art Show will host 14 of Yorkshire’s finest established artists, with work inspired by the beauty of the county and beyond.

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There is a strong equine section at this year’s Great Yorkshire Show with 1,800 entries and one of the most prestigious showjumping events in the UK, The Cock O The North which regularly attracts some of the biggest names in the showjumping world.

New in the equine rings will be classes for Traditional Cobs and Connemara ponies, while new showjumping classes, which debuted last year in the Top Spec White Rose ring, are back and have had waiting lists once again.

The 164th Great Yorkshire Show is shaping up to be a sell-out, with tickets for Wednesday July 12 and Thursday July 13 already sold out.

Tickets are sold in advance only, with visitor numbers capped at 35,000 a day. To book tickets, go to greatyorkshireshow.co.uk/ticket-information/