4 of a kind

I'm taking this challenge literally - and not to mean 4 identical items.

These are Chinese carvings, and there are usually 8 in a set - we only have 7 as one was broken unfortunately.

There are two stories I've heard about them.

Either

1, The 8 carvings are of the emperor's favourite horse, and represent it's last movements before it died (or was killed, take your pick)

or

2.They represent horse getting rid of a fly.

I prefer the latter version, myself.