Metal horse gets new coat

Kenton Pies is still horsing around with an art project he hopes to have on display along the main street of Plains.

The 85-year-old Plains resident has now decided to coat his 10-foot long, eight-foot high steel horse with a surfacing concrete to make it less abrasive than the metal covering.

"It's a safety issue for kids. It's less abrasive and not sharp," said Pies, who plans to have a herd of five horses somewhere along the greenway, if he can raise enough money to build all of them. His first horse was initially going to be only a prototype and not be part of the set, but after putting more than 300 hours into the horse he's decided to make it part of the "Wild Horse Plains" herd. He's already received permission from the town and Montana Rail Link to have the herd on the greenway, but he's still trying to raise around $15,000 in order to apply for a matching state grant. He has set up an account at First Security Bank in the event people would like to donate to the cause. He also plans to look into federal grants.

He started working on the horse in September and had it finished several weeks ago before he decided to add the concrete. He and Plains resident Bill Curry had a small portion of the horse covered with the concrete material on Monday. Curry has put more than 100 hours into helping Pies with the project.

Pies has been working on the concrete coating for about a week and plans to have the entire piece covered by the end of the week. He said it will take two coats of concrete and will do everything, except for the mane and tail. Pies said he has to work quickly once the concrete is mixed because it dries fast and hard. He also tweaked the horse before starting the concrete process. He constructed a custom vice in order to squeeze the neck and make it just over an inch narrower. Once the horse is covered with the concrete, he plans to put a special brown stain on it and then cover the entire piece with a clear protective coating. Due to the additional thickness of the concrete, Pies said the steel eyeballs are now somewhat obscured, so he plans to insert new "half eyeballs."

The concrete will also add about 150 pounds to the 237-pound horse. Pies hasn't named his metal beast, but has been thinking about having a contest for community members to name it. Curry wanted to call it the "Iron Plug," referring to an old horse, but Pies disagrees. "This isn't an old plug," said Pies. "It's way more sophisticated."