There's a horse-sized hole in Rodney O'Regan's heart.
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After 15 years of travelling around NSW with Plastic Fantastic, Rodney's last trip with the horse was from his home in Hillville, over the Martin Bridge and into Taree, with the stallion standing proudly on the back of a flat tray ute.
Rodney said the reactions from drivers coming the other way as he crossed the bridge were priceless.
"It's so funny. When I was driving him into town the other day across the bridge everyone was looking; they were all waving at the horse. When they were coming in the opposite direction they all nudged the person beside them and pointed," Rodney says.
Don't call the RSPCA just yet - Plastic Fantastic is a life-sized fibreglass (though anatomically correct) model stallion.
Rodney purchased the model horse, made on the north coast of NSW, 15 years ago in Sydney. The horse was painted specifically to Rodney's wishes. It is hollow and 'light as a feather', according to Rodney.
Originally named Tiberias, after a location in Israel where Rodney's grandfather visited during the Great War, Plastic Fantastic has been used in numerous light horse and police displays, along with a camouflage Land Rover and trailer.
"I'd dress him up as a police horse and put a police saddle on him. I also had a manikin dressed up as an 1880s mounted trooper, and also as a light horseman," Rodney says.
Plastic Fantastic has also 'trod the boards', so to speak, of the Civic Theatre stage in Newcastle, during the 2017 anniversary of the Battle of Beersheeba.
"He used to fill the theatre!" Rodney claims.
Now, Plastic Fantastic is spending his retirement standing out the front of a saddlery in Sydney.
Rodney is downsizing his display so Plastic Fantastic had to go, along with the Land Rover and trailer, both of which have been sold locally.
"These things have been sitting in the shed, especially since the drought, the bushfires, and COVID. They've done nothing for 12 months and I said it's about time they moved on.
"I feel so sad. He only went last week and I've been in the shed every day since and I walk in and I don't have to walk past him. It's only a fibreglass horse but he's been there for 15 years! So Rodney's feeling for his fibreglass horse. Rodney's suffering from separation anxiety," Rodney laughs.
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Julia Driscoll
Julia Driscoll has worked as a journalist for the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Times for seven years. She values the deep connection with community that being a rural and regional journalist brings. Career highlights have involved environmental stories - bringing the plight of the little known endangered Manning River helmeted turtle to the attention of the public, resulting in wide-spread knowledge in the community and conservation action; and breaking the news of the Manning River ceasing to run for the first time in recorded history.
Julia Driscoll has worked as a journalist for the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Times for seven years. She values the deep connection with community that being a rural and regional journalist brings. Career highlights have involved environmental stories - bringing the plight of the little known endangered Manning River helmeted turtle to the attention of the public, resulting in wide-spread knowledge in the community and conservation action; and breaking the news of the Manning River ceasing to run for the first time in recorded history.
