This pair of horses is a rare adaptation from Giambologna's model of a pacing horse, made in connection with the equestrian monument to Cosimo I, for a pendant horse has been modelled freehand and cast as a pair to it. The tails are nearly identical and there is an unusual attention to detail, in the treatment of distended veins over the shoulders and along the undersides of the ribcages. Another feature that does not appear on Giambologna's original model is the addition of horseshoes, with grooves at the ends and front centre.
The dark cherry-red lacquer patination is reminiscent of French bronzes of the early 17th century, such as the works of Prieur, and this suggests that the remodelling may have occurred in Paris, where the Giambologna model would have been readily available, thanks to the presence of Giambologna's assistant Francavilla, and of bronzes in the Royal Collection, many of which were specified as having been 'repaired' (in the ceramic sense of the term) by Susini.
However, an origin in the workshop of Gianfrancesco Susini in Florence cannot be ruled out, for he seems on occasion to have been constrained to produce variants on the original pairings of models by Giambologna as in the case of a leopard, instead of a lion, attacking a bull. In the present instance the standard pairing was with a Walking Bull, or a Lion.