It’s been a while since we updated the page and that’s partly due to a very, very busy year for Eye Reckon.
 

The biggest news was Eye Reckon’s move in January to a property four and a half miles outside of Bandera, that feels like it’s forty miles from town. Being up on a hill, with magnificent views of the hill country never felt so good when the rains came and lower elevations flooded.
 

The horses – Keystone, Crystal, Reckon, Baggs, Fingers and Sassy have all enjoyed exploring their new home and sampling fruit off the fig tree! They are now fenced off from the fruit trees and happily amble deep in the woods and back into pastures with real grass, which they keep well mowed.
 

In March, we threw a housewarming party, with invitations to friends, family and everyone on our road.   Hoot set up a camp reminiscent of our road camps on the Eye Reckon Freedom Ride, with a couple of additions. The big boy trailer is there, as is a sturdy rock fire pit, a hitching post and a true cowboy camp feel.

 

Hoot also built a stage, where our friends, Joe Henderson, Ted Flannigan, Larry Nolen, Johnny Miller and Eddie Graham helped him entertain. With the sound system on board and geared up, we had our own little honky-tonk on the hill and put out some mighty fine music.
 

Hoot’s big barbecue pit provided mighty fine food to go with the music. Brisket, cabrito, sausage, potato salad, and beans kept everyone well fed and it was agreed among our new neighbors this should become a yearly event. Since we had as good a time entertaining as they did partying, we plan to keep it on the yearly schedule.
 

A bonus was having Hoot’s sister, EJ from Columbia, Missouri, her daughter, Megan from Austin, and his twin brother, Thomas from Richland Springs, join us to help kick off this new phase for Eye Reckon.
 

We were also pleased to have Blake Willard, of the Firewagon Chuckwagon Team here to represent the Calgary Stampede and our association with the chucks. Blake’s friend Robert, who is involved with the Indian Village at Stampede, accompanied him for the trip from the far north.

 

You can see more photos from this fantastic event by clicking the link to our photo page.

We’ve also added a few new critters to the Eye Reckon team. Twenty-three Bantam and Japanese Silky roosters and hens have been providing lots of eggs now that they’re grown. It was such fun watching them morph from fluffy little things to the strutting (and somewhat noisy) crew we now enjoy. They’ve even hatched three babies of their own.
 

In late Spring, our friend Shane Patrick showed up with a most bedraggled little black and tan puppy he’d found under his mother’s porch. “Digger” became the next member of the team and has grown into a sweet, medium sized dog of totally unknown origins. The vet’s office looked at him for a long time and determined to list him simply as “mixed”. Fluffy, curved tail, floppy ears, deep soulful eyes . . . Digger is a happy guy with a glossy black coat and a permanent home. Rider keeps him in line and they have forged a playful friendship.
 

The most mysterious – and amusing – addition to the critter team was the discovery of a tiny black kitten in the chicken coop one day. No more than a few weeks old, the little guy was surviving by living in the safety of the enclosure, drinking the chickens’ water and trying to eat their feed. Oh yes – he also roosted with them at night. On one perch or another it would be chicken, chicken, chicken, kitten, chicken . . .
 

Such gumption and ingenuity had to be rewarded so “Rooster-kitty” (name courtesy of my pal Jane Wagner) joined the group. Rooster has grown into a beautiful black tom cat, who will shortly join the ranks of all things neutered . . . He still roosts with the chickens, eats two square meals a day and has formed a friendship with Digger. As far as Rider is concerned, he’s a cat and that’s that!

Click on any of our Critter Pics to go to our PHOTOGRAPHS page and see what other fun the ERFR is up to.

We did have a scare with one of the Eye Reckon horses. In late October, Crystal began tilting to one side and staggering when she walked. We managed to get her to the vet, where she remained for a week, while they got control of her fever and ran various tests. Spinal cord inflammation, misaligned vertebrae, head tilt, dropped ear, unable to walk a straight line and great difficulty turning in a circle . . . the signs were ominous.
 

We got a positive test for EPM (equine protozoal myeloencephalitis), a nasty disease all horsemen fear. Transmitted from bird droppings to possums and then into feed or pastures, there is almost no way to defend against it and it shows up in stalled horses in immaculate conditions as well as pastured animals. Even ten years ago, treatments were sketchy and cure rates were extremely low.
 

Happily, there are good drug treatments available, although no one can say how much recovery is possible. We put Crystal on a drug called “Marquis” and hoped for the best, without wild expectations. The vet felt she might never lose the head tilt – oh and did I mention she was three and one half months in foal? Fortunately, the drug does not interfere with pregnancy, so we trailered the still badly affected mare home and began the twenty-eight day course of Marquis.
 

I am happy to report her recovery so far has been amazing. She’s back out in pasture with the herd (the disease is not contagious horse-to-horse), the head tilt is gone, the stagger is gone and she’s moving much straighter, turning, lying down and getting up quite well. There are no guarantees. These horses can relapse and she’s still stiff behind and may always be.
As long as she continues to improve and enjoy life, we’ll keep working at it. What else can you do with the horse who carried the American flag across the border into Canada and who nickers when you approach her with the medication? She is and always will be one of the Eye Reckon horses who went the distance with us to Calgary and we’ll go the distance with her.

***UPDATE***

Happy to report that Crystal has finished her course of the drug for EPM. She went to the vet for a follow-up on December 5th and according to her vet, who just grinned looking at her, 'Now this is a true miracle!' And it is. He expects her recovery to continue and we are more optimistic than we ever thought we could be.
 

Music and particularly cowboy poetry is Hoot’s main focus these days. The popularity of “I Specialize Mules” prompted the recording of three pieces for entry into the world renown Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada. Along with “Mules”, Hoot recorded the haunting “Old Man Paul” and a new piece called “Top Of The Ridge”, written from the cowboy’s horse’s point of view. Keystone would like all to know he is the inspiration for this poem.
 

All three poems are available on a separate CD, called “Of Horses, Mules and Men”. Hoot’s original CD, “Just Hoot, Eye Reckon” is also still available with seven cuts, including Hank Williams tunes, the popular “Ghost Riders” and the “Mules” and “Paul” poems. Plans are to record a brand new CD next year with many more cuts, a wider variety of music and, of course, cowboy poetry. As always, this effort will be guided by the talent and experience Larry Nolen brings to the recording studio.
 

       

 

Hoot’s high performance standard with the poetry pieces garnered him an invitation to participate in open mic sessions at the Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, January 26th – February 2nd. This prestigious gathering will expose Hoot and his poetry to a big, new audience and we are confident he will wow ‘em in Nevada!
 

Hoot also performs around Bandera and Kerrville at various open mic’s. His next gig will be a wedding in West Texas, providing the musical entertainment at an authentic and traditional Cherokee Indian wedding.
 

The book, RIDERS ON THE STORM – The True Story of The Eye Reckon Freedom Ride, is still selling well through a number of outlets. Super S Foods in Bandera has been our strongest sales partner, selling boxes and boxes of books – and CD’s - for us at their office counter. The Camp Verde General Store (Camp Verde, Texas), Hastings Book Store (Kerrville, Texas) and the backseats of our own trucks also carry books and CD’s for purchase.
 

To date, we are proud to say we’ve almost sold out the first print run of the book (within 100 books or so) and the book is in a total of nine countries (United States, Canada, England, Ireland, Wales, Australia, Germany, Sweden and Norway). A lot of those books sold with CD’s, so the music and poetry is out there, too.
 

The feedback has been wonderful and I thank all of our readers and listeners for their encouragement and kind words. We did pull down the PayPal account this year due to excessive costs, but you can still order (cash, check or money order) through the website.
A second printing of the book is under discussion and may include some updates, so stay tuned for an announcement sometime next year. It’s gratifying to know the story is still compelling and of interest to folks who love horses, adventure and the human spirit.

The Eye Reckon horses have not been standing idle this year either. Occasional trips into town along the picturesque Schmidtke Road are practice runs for the day we will offer trail riding to guests. For now, and until we get some horse facilities built, Hoot does most of the riding and has participated in the Texas Trail Riders’ Association ride, which qualified him to ride into San Antonio for the Stock Show and Rodeo in February.
 

The Eye Reckon horses have also acquitted themselves well in Pony Express Run Reenactments. Reckon carried the pouch the final leg last year and covered the distance in a steady fifteen mile per hour run the last four miles. That big, sturdy, willing guy never even broke a sweat!  At the Pony Express event he and Hoot ran, Hoot had to loan Reckon's bit to another rider. He then rode Reckon two full legs of the run, full out, with just a halter and lead rope. Reckon responded to Hoot's legs and voice commands and finished the run with no stress or strain. He truly is 'The Prince of Quarter Horses!'
 

Crystal and Baggs also participated in Pony Express and Crystal – before her illness put her into retirement – was doing a bang-up job of team roping at local rodeos. It’s probably her conditioning and overall athleticism that has helped in her recovery.
 

Eye Reckon will again be represented at the Pony Express Run this year to Fort Sam Houston.
Hoot is also considering buying a driving rig to offer buggy/wagon rides into town. This would give non-riders a horse experience through our beautiful countryside location. For now, guests always enjoy meeting the Eye Reckon horses and having a chance to put hands-on in a controlled setting.
 

We hope to have more news as we get into 2008 and begin some of the improvements and work needed to bring the property up to speed. For now, we do lots of cowboy breakfasts and host lots of visitors who enjoy sittin’ around the campfire, enjoying good food and good music and good talk. Please stop by if you’re in the neighborhood, or put us on your vacations schedule. Bandera has lots to offer and we’d love to show you an Eye Reckon good time!

Just a reminder, since we've been lacking updates to the site for quite some time now, we previously added dates to all of our news stories to better help you in figuring out what you've read, what you need to read, and what you might have missed while you were away.  We've even added another page to our archives.  You can surf over to our main ARCHIVES page, or go directly to the oldest stories, Archives (1), or the next oldest stories, Archives (2), or the newest, Archives (3).  We will keep adding to the archives as we get more stories, and now that we're adding dates, eventually you'll be able to look up news stories from certain months and years.  Stick around, we're just getting started!