Chuck Chimes In

Hey all, this is Cherokee Outlaw Arkie.  Mouthful, ain't it?  That's why my people call me Chuck.   As you might have guessed, I was born in Arkansas.   I spent my younger years working as a roping horse on a cattle ranch in Colorado.   It's a long story about how I ended up in Raleigh, but after working hard all my life, I ended up with a pretty soft job.

Headed down the trail with Deuce

My people were looking for a nice, quiet horse.   That Grady feller thought I would do ok, and he understood that my life had been pretty tough and I had spent time with people who put too much pressure on me.  It took a while, but I started settling in here.   Grady worked with me, convinced me that my new home was a lot different than what I had been doing before.  I have a lot of training behind me.   Grady knew that.  But my new person, he didn't know anything.  The Feed Lady, she knows a good bit.  I don't really like when she rides me, and more than once I had to be her riding horse for dressage lessons when Deuce got hurt.  I didn't care for that much.   Now she rides me once a while on the trails.  She says it's to make sure I'm behaving, but I think she just gets tired of riding her squirrelly horse and wants a nice, relaxing ride.   And Deuce really is a hot mess on the trails sometimes.  He says he likes going out with me because he knows he can outrun me.  What he's running from, we never can quite figure out.

My person learning to take care of my feet

My person, he's all right.   I get the feeling he doesn't always know what he's doing, but his intentions always seem good, so I roll with it.  He's learning.   And he's nice to me.  Sometimes he's like a walking vending machine - treats in every pocket.  We go on rides, and all I gotta do is walk.   Like I said, this job is pretty soft.  I know a lot more stuff, but my person seems pretty content with what we are doing, so I go along.   Besides all that, working hard my whole life gave me arthritic feet, so an easy job suits me just fine.  The Feed Lady, she keeps an eye on me, puts some yucky tasting medicine in my dinner when she thinks my feet are sore.  I've learned that if I need something, it's sometimes best to let her know, she's been doing this a while and seems to have a good handle on things.  Like I don't like being out in the cold wind.  As soon as she figured that out, she started putting a jacket on me to keep the wind off.  And my people bring me in out of the cold and wet during the winter.   In the summer they put me in a stall with a fan when it's really hot.   Not bad for an old roping horse.

On hot days, we get a pool!

My job is making this guy look good

Love me some little people

My other favorite thing is because I'm not grouchy like Deuce or wiggly like Willie, when little people come to the farm and want to pet a horse, I'm the man for the job.  So I just gotta stand while the little ones brush and pet me, and then they feed me treats.  The best treats are peanuts, but I'm not real picky.






After I had been at this place for about a month, my people brought home a dog.   My person named the dog "Gordo".  He's supposed to be a border collie/labrador mix, but let me tell you, that ain't no herding dog, and he ain't no retriever, either!   Can't catch a tennis ball to save his life, drops half of what he's carrying, never cares where the other animals are.   He doesn't bark at us or try to chase us, though, so I guess he's ok.   He stays in the yard and plays with toys that squeak.  He's a weird dude.  My person likes the dog, so it's all good.

My person likes this dog, so I play along

This dog is about useless as a working dog

Now my other pasture mates, they are both Arabs.   They might as well be big dogs for the way they follow their person around and want her attention.   Arabs are funny that way.  But that Deuce, he sure is smarter than he needs to be.  He gets in trouble for opening doors and dragging hay out for us, but it don't stop him.   Willie and I figure as long as he's gonna share, we might as well encourage him to keep doing it.

Deuce!  Your mom saw you stealing hay!  You in trouble now!

The one thing I'm never gonna figure out, they say things like Arabian horses are smart, but when you consider I only have to go for a walk once a week, I get little kids to brush me and feed me treats, my person brings me inside every time the weather is bad...who is the smart one now?

My people bought a cake for my birthday.  I didn't get any.

Yep, that's what I thought.

-C.

Out with Deuce again, I gotta scout ahead for danger.