Phar Lap stance irks horse expert

A racing expert believes Phar Lap's skeleton at Te Papa needs a makeover as visitors are being short changed by the way it is displayed.

Self-confessed Phar Lap fan Robin Marshall says the 1930 Melbourne Cup winner is too short in the back and his hind legs are tucked under.

She believes Phar Lap, the Seadown-born galloper that dominated the world, is not exactly striking the elegant pose one would expect from one of the world's best known race horses.

Ms Marshall's computer handy work highlighted the horse's poor posture head bowed and legs positioned awkwardly.

While there is no suggestion at all that the bones are not Phar Laps, the simple answer to his size is there is possibly not enough space between the vertebrae.

Ms Marshall, who owns the horse news site, Horsetalk.co.nz, spotted the error on her first visit to Te Papa.

"Phar Lap was a big thoroughbred, he stood at 17.1 hands. At that height he would have stood over a lot of ground.

Ms Marshall said the back legs seemed to be placed too close to his front legs.

"If he had been my horse, I'd have wanted him more stretched out, showing off his dominating size," she said of the thoroughbred that won 37 of his 51 races.

She believes Te Papa could do better.

"They could do a lot better with his neck and head, and front legs, too. He's not exactly standing tall and proud."

Ms Marshall also sought overseas veterinary advice, referring the overlaid image to Colorado University's Dr Kevin Haussler, a veterinarian and qualified chiropractor who has a doctorate from the University of California, Davis, in equine spinal anatomy.

Dr Haussler stresses that no concrete conclusions can be drawn without proper investigation of the skeleton and a check for possible parallax error in the skeleton image.

He said, if indeed it was short, the most likely cause was putting too little space between the vertebrae the area that would normally be occupied by discs.

Te Papa however seems unperturbed.

Projects manager for the museum's natural environment team Chris Paulin said Phar Lap was mounted in the style of taxidermy in the 1930s.

While there had been suggestions in the past for a change to a racing pose, nothing was being planned. Mr Paulin said foam and plastic are sometimes used to replace cartilage but most skeletons are still just bones.

Phar Lap's hide is in Melbourne and his heart is in Canberra.

In Timaru the Phar Lap Trust is on track to unveil a bronze sculpture, by Joanne Sullivan-Gessler, on November 25.

Ground work in preparation for the building of the fountain and plinth starts on Monday, beside the gates of the Phar Lap Raceway on State Highway 1.

- © Fairfax NZ News