First metal horse installed

Plains is known for horses. It's the school mascot. The former elementary school was called Wild Horse Plains. An entire herd of horses recently lined the fence along the greenway. The town police patches had been Wild Horse Plains. Chief of Police Shawn Emmett said the town was called Horse Plains until it was incorporated in 1907.

And now there's a new horse in town standing by itself on the grass along Railroad Street near Central Avenue. It's a 600-pound, 8-foot long, 9 ½-foot tall steel horse made by artist Kenton Pies, who installed his creation Friday morning along the greenway with the help of Bill Curry and Andy Gonzalez. It took the three men about three hours to get the steel statue into the 38-inch deep concrete base, which was installed by the Plains Public Works Department.

This was the first of five horses of the "Wild Horse Plains" herd that Pies plans to create for the greenway. However, he's hoping to get more financial help, either from individual donors or through government grants. He said that he can't finish the project without financial support. He has had some cash donations and the pedestals were donated, but he needs about $10,000 to go for materials and paid help for the other horses. He said Curry was a huge help, putting in over 100 hours on the project.

"I've donated about $2,000 in cash and at least $10,000 in my labor," said the 86-year-old Pies, who began working on his first horse in September 2017. He has about 400 hours into the first horse, but hopes to do the next ones in half the time.

Pies plans to start working on the second horse in early January, but might have to wait until he can raise enough money to purchase the sheet metal. He'll use the same basic design, but said the entire interior structure from the pedestal up will be different. In addition, the other horses will have fuller manes and tails and the stain will be lighter. He'd like to get all four remaining horses done in 2019, depending on how much money he can raise.

Overall, he is happy about the start of his equestrian herd. "I'm on top of the world," he said, now that he's finished with the first one. "We are convinced that God is behind it," said Pies, "especially if he guides more substantial funds."