Peter Cottam builds horse from scrap metal to go with pa’s plough

Peter Cottam wanted to put a special piece of his family’s history on display. But he may have underestimated how long the project would take him to complete.

FOR a man who declares himself not into scrap art, Peter Cottam has a great talent for it.

Peter, from Zeerust north of Shepparton, spent hundreds of hours piecing together pieces of scrap metal to make a life-sized horse.

The horse was made to pair with an old plough that had belonged to his grandfather, Nathalia’s Jack Orr.

“I had seen on computer different scrap-iron art, and I had seen a few horses and thought perhaps I could make a horse to go with the plough, thinking I could knock it off in a couple of weekends,” Peter said.

“I soon realised I had bitten off more than I thought I had … but I was determined to finish it.”

Lifelike: Peter Cottam used one of his grandfather's ploughs as inspiration to build a horse sculpture. Picture: Dannika Bonser

Peter estimates he spent 300 hours constructing the life-sized horse. Some of the materials came from an old scrapyard near his home, where he would spend hours on weekends wandering around looking for the right pieces.

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A “friend of a friend” who was a farrier also gave him a bag of old horse shoes.

As well as the horse, Peter spent another 100 hours crafting a wire version of his grandfather.

“I wanted it to look lifelike … the amount of times I would weld half-a-dozen pieces in place and I’d stand back and look at it and think no that doesn’t look right so I’d get the grinder.”

History: The wire version of Jack Orr with the original plough. Picture: Dannika Bonser

The horse and plough are at Peter’s father Don’s home at Bundalong, on the Murray River near Yarrawonga.

Peter and Don, 83, restore old tractors and engines there. Peter says there is about 100 in Don’s collection.

“It’s a magical little shed where old tractors go in, and they’re worn out and ready for the scrap heap, but Dad will spend months on them, and do them all up and they come out all shiny and new,” Peter said.