He's a handsome fellow isn't he? This horse is one of the gentle trail horses at Custer State Park and the subject of the first painting in my Trail Guide series. I chose him as the first horse in the series because of his eager pose. Swishing his tail and raising his hoof he looked like he was ready to be saddled and hit the trail.

Trail Guides is dedicated to all of those wonderful, patient western horses that carry tourests through woods and mountains...many of those rides have never been on a horse in their entire lives and these hard working horses need to be depended on to quietly follow the lead horse and carry their often inexperianced riders.

I was working on this horse's painting before the Mangy Moose painting was commissioned and had almost forgotten about it. I was going through my elk photographs and getting ready to start a new painting when I suddenly recalled this one that had to be put away several months ago so I could work on the moose painting. At the moment only the background is completed around the horse's body. Tomorrow I plan on painting in the color and details of the star of the painting...the horse itself.