Out with the rooster, in with the horse at London’s Trafalgar Square

Get ready for the sculptural changing of the guard at what’s known as the Fourth Plinth at London’s Trafalgar Square.

In 2015, a ghost horse sculpture is poised to knock the current occupant -- a statue of a 15-foot giant blue rooster -- off its perch.

The Fourth Plinth (which supports a column or statue) has been displaying sculptures on a rotating basis since 1999, many of which contrast nicely with the more traditional statues on the square’s three remaining plinths.

Nothing, of course, can beat the 170-foot-tall Nelson’s Column, a monument to Adm. Horatio Nelson, who died at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

“Gift Horse,” by Hans Haacke, will join the square next year. It depicts a horse skeleton whose front leg has “an electronic ribbon displaying live the ticker of the London Stock Exchange, completing the link between power, money and history,” says an online description of the sculpture commissioned by the Greater London Authority.

The horse will be installed March 5.

It replaces “Hahn/Cock,” by Katharina Fritsch, a giant electric blue rooster that has been a magnet for photographers and selfie snappers. It has been on display since July 2013.

There are more sculptures to come. After “Gift Horse” has its year in the sun, “Really Good,” by David Shrigley, will be installed in 2016. It’s a 32-foot-high hand with a thumb up pointing skyward.

Statues on the three other plinths in Trafalgar Square are King George IV on horseback; Maj. Gen. Sir Henry Havelock (standing), who served in India in the 19th century; and Sir Charles James Napier (also standing), who also served in India and governed the colonial area Sind (in what is now Pakistan).