In looking back through some of my videotapes the other day, I realized that nearly every time I take the camera down to the barn, I take this same scene. This big black shadow is looming around in nearly every shot, either heading straight at me for a good scratchin' or towering over my kids.

Maybe he's really not a Percheon (3/4) Quarter (1/4) cross. But some strange interspecies Black Lab/Perch mix. I wrote recently about our unfriendly appaloosa. Well, Toby's got to be just about the friendliest horse I've ever known. He's going to scare some hikers on the trail up in the Pecos this summer, I suspect. I can just see him greeting everyone.

Our Andalusian Caprichosa has a habit of thrusting her head right at anyone she meets on the trail, sniffing inquisitively, just being sociable. After I realized what she was up to, I have to keep an eye on her and see who's amenable to such horse friendliness and who's not. With some idiots hikers not liking horses on the backcountry trails (Eek! Horse poop! How the hell do these city dwellers who venture into the forest once every couple of years with a thousand dollars worth of brand spanking new REI gear think this country got settled? By SUV? Maybe Coronado drove a Lexus? Lewis and Clark a Humvee?) and even managing to limit backcountry usage in some places (so I hear), I do everything I can to be a good equine ambassador up there.

I'm going to have to watch The Big Boo. To the uninitiated, his social overtures might be a little intimidating. Don't want my Percheron to get me thrown out of the National Forest ...

(I can see now that his baby-elephant-sized poops are going to be potentially offensive to someone with more refined sensibilities than mine. As far as I'm concerned, they can limit their outdoor forays to the city park with all those nice clean pigeons.)