Here is a cool video that a very good friend did for us.  

      The temps are dropping again and we have some major storms coming our way. The Keeper spent the whole day trenching the stalls and putting the sandbags back in place. It looks like she had some help. Durango the Paint Horse, scattered and emptied the sandbags in his stall. He is such a help, NOT! The Keeper had to redo them all again this evening. 
       I'm fine. Check out my pic. I am sporting my new flannel lined blanket and munching on a large WARM bucket of soaked feed.  Life is good. Happy Trails To You! 

                                                                        

      Check out one of my most recent picture. Now compare it to the recent picture in the pasture. 
Now watch my book trailer video and look for me in it. Now compare the two. Enough said. Here is the link  
http://youtu.be/UYGZK7vrbYA.   Get the tissues out. Happy Trails To You! 

Here is a link to an interview I did on Youtube.  Wait until you see a horse talk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQG9MUjneG0


Here is the link to my book
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=PIe%20an%20old%20brown%20horse

      It was pointed out to me that I was a little hard on MC, especially since she has a bum leg. Well, to put it plainly, all the chickens we have are sporting bum legs. They are all homeless chickens that we have taken into our barn as adults. For whatever reason, they were no longer wanted. Even though the rest of the chickens have bum legs, they can still roost up in the rafters of the barn but not MC. She does not seem to be able to get it. 
       Since she can't figure it out, the Keeper has come up with a semi solution. She has put predator lights up all around the barn. These lights fool predators into thinking there are predators already in the barn,  this keeps them away from the barn..  This seems to be helping to keep the chickens a bit safer. The lights blink and make the wild animals think it is the eye shine of another. The one draw back is they have to be moved every day to an area where they can recharge during the day. Then they need to be put back at night. 
      So as you can see, I was not hard on MC, I was merely stating the facts. She gets plenty of good care. The temperatures are back down tonight in the teens. I am in my blanky and MC is in her bucket in the feed room with a heater on her.  She is not suffering at all. Happy Trails To You! 

      This is M. P.   Her name is short for Major Payne.  She is really a pain. She has a bum leg and does not know the first thing about being a chicken.  She was left with another bantum chicken at the feed store. Bantums are really small almost miniature chickens. M.P. was a young chicken when she was left. She does not know the first thing about being a chicken.  She will not roost up high where she is safe from predators.  (Animals that eat chickens)  She thinks roosting on the small rubber bowl is good enough.  ( It is not, her friend, another chicken used to do the same thing and one of the wild things ate her one night.)  So to prevent her from suffering the same fate, we try to get her to roost. 
     The other chickens have accepted her as one of them and will let her travel with them during the day to find food. When it comes time to roost, they jump on my back and use it as stepping stone to get in the rafters of the barn.  They have shown her and shown her, but she just goes back and roosts on her bowl. 
      The Keeper has to make sure she is there every night before it gets dark to catch M. P. and put her in the tack room. The chicken spends the night in a large bucket with  a blanket cover.  It's pretty funny when you think about it, a chicken in a bucket?  Get it?  Kentucky Fried Chicken.  
      This would not be a problem if the chicken was a little more cooperative.  The Keeper or the Sire has to trick her to catch her. It is pretty entertaining to watch. They put one hand out in front of her and wiggle their fingers. She is so entranced by the fingers, she freezes to to watch the fingers. That allows them to scoop her up.  When they do, she screams like they are killing her, every single time.  I'm worried about that chicken, she seems a bit incapable of learning.  I guess she is just a special chicken. The Keeper apparently rescues chickens as well as horses. 
         We will keep you informed of M. P.'s antics as  time goes on. Until next time. Happy Trails To You! 

      Whoo Hoo!  The blanket is off and the weather is nice.  We went from 17 last night to 55 today. It is a horse's paradise. We love this kind of weather.  My pasture mate, Durango and I took advantage of the nice weather to do a little exercising. It sure feels good stretch our legs after being locked in the barn for three days and three nights.  
       Texas winters are a bit hard on old horses. The weather is a real up and down roller coaster. We can go from below freezing to above 70 in less than twelve hours. This puts us all in a severe danger of colic. So far, the Keeper seems to be on top of it all.  She puts electrolytes in our food, plus a dab of olive oil everyday. That helps keep our guts running and us feeling quite fine. Of course an occasional apple does not hurt at all. 
       I hope every else has had a chance to enjoy the sunshine. According to the weather we are supposed to be below freezing again in the next two days. We have not dried out from our mini monsoon yet. That makes ice everywhere. Ever seen a horse slide on ice?  It is not pretty.  
       Okay, I have to go finish my gallop with Durango. He is waiting on me not so patiently. If I don't get back out there, he is liable to tear a gate down! 
       

       Well, it finally stop raining here. Yea!  Now it is really cold. It is 17 degrees with a wind chill in the single digits. This is not something we are used to around here. This is Texas afterall.    Now I'm not minding the cold so much this time. The Keeper got me this really cool new blanky.  It is navy and looks great on me. The thing is waterproof, windproof and lined in the softest flannel.  It also has  neat belly piece that fits across my whole belly and doesn't rub like the old blankets. I think I look pretty spiffy in it. 
      I have included a picture of my newest pasture mate. His name is Ben. He is also an older gentleman. The Keeper took him in before Christmas because he no longer had a home due to no fault of his or his owners. The property owner was going to shoot him. Well, we all know the Keeper. We had room and here he is. He is big boy. He has fattened up since he came here and he is even bigger. He started his career as a race horse, he has the tattoo in his lip. Then he went on to be a ranch horse. He has a brand on his hip. Then he went on to be a lesson horse. He was bought as a young girl's horse and now he is here with us. His a very young 35 years old. He fits right in with my pasture bunch.  
         Everyone stay warm and dry and I will check in with ya'll tomorrow. Happy Trails To You! 

       Now it is time for the old nursery rhyme, Rain, rain, go away and come again another day.  We are barely holding on at the barn. The Keeper has dug out trenches and put out sand bags but as you can see. They are about past their limits. This is three straight days that we are locked inside due to rain, rain , and more rain. 
Hopefully tomorrow will be a time when we can go out. 
      The rain is not the biggest problem, the mud afterwards is the big problem. It makes a big old mess and impossible to clean the barn. You can't get a wheelbarrow in and out of stalls that you can't walk in without having your boot sucked off your foot. 
       Enjoy the slideshow. Hopefully I will have something more interesting to share tomorrow.   I am really tired of being locked inside. I need to get out and stretch my legs.