After a morning thunder storm the temperature cooled down which caused a lot of playing around. Goober, a Gold Champagne  gelding quarter horse, is sparring with an older bay gelding quarter horse.

Hunt County Texas is home to several custom saddle companies. Some are small operations turning out a few saddles a week, some are large nationally known companies. This is a custom hand made and hand tooled cutter saddle made  in Greenville, Texas.

After a late afternoon rain shower Ruby, a sorrel Quarter Horse, grazes under a rainbow.

Cool nights and warm humid days are the time for misty mornings. Winter coats have been shed and the grass is thick. It’s a welcome change from winter feeding on hay.

Sampson, a classic champagne stallion, and Joker, a grulla stallion, check each other out prior to a minor territorial scuffle.

Eve’s Necklace is a small native Texas tree. It favors limestone soils in the center of the state. In spring it produces  flowers that hang in clusters.  We have a grove of about 10 trees growing at the edge of a thicket. It produces dark seeds that are strung together like a necklace which explains its name.

A Male Painted Bunting feeding on Texas Dandelion seeds. This picture was taken behind my garage. They seem to be a very shy and solitary bird but they occasionally visit our feeders and get close to the house. My best chance for seeing them has been early in the morning. The dimension of the fence wire square is 6 inches so you can get an idea of the size of this bird.

There are a lot of migratory birds either passing through on their way north or coming back to north Texas for the summer. One of my favorites is the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology it is eastern North America’s only breeding hummingbird and has the largest breeding range of any North American Hummingbird. We have a lot of coral trumpet honeysuckle and trumpet vines in our area. Since the Ruby Throat likes red or orange tubular flowers we have a lot of these birds around our place. They also like to eat small insects such as gnats, fruit flies and mosquitoes.

I saw the first Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher of the year this morning. These birds are usually only seen in several states in the south central US. It is the state bird of Oklahoma. You can’t mistake these birds with their long forked tail and salmon colored flanks. You usually see them perched on fences or power lines. They catch most of their insect diet on the fly.

Sampson, a Classic Champagne quarter horse stallion, has been turned loose from a conformation photo session and is in a hurry to get back to his mares. In this picture you can clearly see the reverse dappling that is found on some champagne horses. Reverse dappling is dark spots surrounded by lighter lacing. On Sampson the dappling effect is best seen when he sheds his winter coat.

Bluebirds have started building their nests in preparation for a new breeding season. They are facing fierce competition from house sparrows for their nest boxes. We  had to remove one nest box within 3 days of putting it up after house sparrows took it over.

The Mexican plum tree is a beautiful spring-flowering small tree.  It is a native Texas tree that grows well in east Texas.   When it blooms in early spring it is covered with sweet smelling white flowers. Its fruit ripens in late fall and is edible. The fruit is about an inch in diameter and its seed is large so there is not much fruit to be enjoyed.  The fruit can be made into preserves and jellies. The scientific name of this tree is: Prunus Mexicana.

Its foaling time. Everywhere you drive you will see mares in pastures with their new born foals.

Spring has arrived in Northeast Texas. Wildflowers and fruit trees are starting to bloom. This is an apricot tree in our yard. If we don’t get another frost there should be a nice amount of fruit on the tree.

Another picture of Goober, this one taken at sunset. He is a Gold Champagne colored horse which is the result of a red colored horse, such as a chestnut or sorrel, bred to a horse carrying the dilute champagne gene. A champagne horse will have freckled pink skin, which can be seen around his mouth, and amber eyes.

Barrel racing is a major horse activity in Texas. There are events at small arenas and major rodeo facilities. Regardless of the size of the event the competitors put maximum effort into their sport. This picture shows the mirrored intensity of the horse and rider as they struggle to maintain maximum speed.

Texas has a long history of raising and competing with cutting horses. This type of competition dates back to the days of cowboys using their horse to “cut” a cow from the herd for the purpose of medicating or branding the cattle. Horses are bred for their ability to work with cattle. This picture shows horses at a cutting horse training facility grazing in one of the facility pastures.

The White crowned sparrow is plentiful in this part of Texas. They seem to adapt well to pastures, woods, gardens and shrubbery.  They feed on the ground looking for seeds and the occasional insect that ventures out during the winter months.

Goober is a Gold Champagne Palomino quarter horse. The Gold Champagne color is the result of a breeding of a sorrel (red) horse with a horse that carries the dilute Champagne color gene. Champagne horses  have very distinctive amber eyes and freckled pink skin. This photo was taken when Goober was about 1 ½ years old.

A bare oak tree stands covered with wet snow. Hunt County was covered with snow after the record North Texas snow storm.