The big wooden horse kept in Palazzo della Ragione was ordered by Annibale Capodilista in 1466: it was one of the big machines - and the only one that has survived - made for an extraordinary celebration that was organized in Padua, in the squares Piazza dei Signori and Piazza del Capitanio. The parade saw the participation of all the people in town, and of more people who had been attracted to town for this exceptional event.Later the poems by Giovanni Giacomo Cane and Lodovico Lazzarello give us a detailed report of that huge parade, while the horse is recalled in the palace of the Capodilista family in San Daniele by Vasari, who described it in 1568 and attributed its making to Donatello.This gigantic artefact remained in the palace until 1837, as is mentioned by Scardenone and old guides on the town. That year the earls Giorgio and Giordano Emo Capodilista donated the horse to the Municipality of Padua for it to preserve the artefact and restore it, or else they would take the gift back.The Horse had lost its head and tail; these were remade by carver Agostino Rinaldi upon a horse model of the equestrian monument to Gattamelata made by sculptor Antonio Gradenigo.Since then we have no news of more far-reaching interventions on this work of art, with the exception of some sporadic, small maintenance work.