Ostrogothic Kingdom
Another element that Donatello took from ancient sculpture is the trick of adding a support (a sphere) under the raised front leg of the horse, which appears also in the lost Regisole of Pavia, a bronze equestrian statue from either the late Western Roman Empire, the Ostrogothic Kingdom or the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna. In this sculpture a standing dog was used to carry the load under the horseshoe.