By Jennifer Stultz
Tri-County Tribune Editor
jstultz@cherryroad.com

Something is missing on the Pratt business skyline just west of the US Highway 54/400 and 61 junction. The big black and white stallion rearing into the sky above Lisa’s Western Wear at 1715 E. 1st was toppled in last week’s Tuesday night windstorm. He fell to the ground with a broken leg and was discovered Wednesday morning, March 5, by store manager Lisa Washington.

“He was just lying on the ground right under the sign stand,” Washington said. “He didn’t land on anything else. It just looked like his leg broke off. He is made out of fiberglass so hopefully we can fix him.”

The large black and white horse statue, affectionately just called “Horse,” by business and building owners Rocky and Linda Fox, has challenged the realms for the past 17 years plus, during the time they owned the establishment.

“I have a video from when he was moved from the top of the building to the 30-foot stand,” Washington said. “But he has been up there for maybe as long as 50 years. Howard Swisher put him up there when owned the western store.”

Horse was moved, reportedly, from atop the western wear store to the higher metal stand because of trouble with vandalism by students, alternately from Pratt High School and Skyline.

“It’s been part of the store for a long, long time,” Washington said. “People are concerned about him and have been stopping in and asking what happened.”

Apparently, Horse was just a victim of one of those strong wind gusts that swept the area last Tuesday. The Pratt Regional Airport recorded a wind gust at 58 miles per hour during that long, windy night from March 4 to March 5. There were no major reports of wind damage in Pratt via the Pratt County Sheriff’s Department, but some homeowners lost shingles, and the airport buildings had shingle damage as well.

Pratt County Emergency Management Director BJ Hayes said that a large oak tree on S. Pine Street in Pratt was also blown down in the wind event that took place last week, but otherwise damage was limited to the usual displacement of trash cans and trampolines around town, and Horse.

“I saw he was blown over. Looked like he broke a leg,” Hayes said.

Estimates to replace the iconic “Horse” could run as much as $12,000-13,000 but Washington said she was pretty confident that the store owners could find a way to fix him. They hope to find a way to replaster the broken fiberglass leg and get him back up into the Pratt skyline soon.