PINTO

Taupo Times, Volume I, Issue 5, 13 February 1952, Page 2

PINTO

THE PET PONY Most people who live in the country know what a nuisance a pet lamb can be. Or a pet goat, or anykind of pet in the animal kingdom. Especially if it is allowed to wander all over the place, or goes fossicking about in places where it has no business to be. Fve mentioned the lamb and the goat because IVe always considered their nuisance value puts them at the top of the class. But I was wrong. I discovered that when I met Pinto. \ Let me tell you about Pinto. One day a girl teenager with her hair in pigtails hanging behind each ear came riding along on a grey pony, through ihe main entrance, up the drive and round to the back door. Pd better not tell you her name. She mightiTt like it. Anyway, the name is neither here nor there. What she wanted was grazing for her pony. I had a paddock down in grass with the idea of having a pony myself someday. So I said she could have the grazing, but the pony would have to be tethered, as the fence between the paddock and the domestic premises (including orchard, gardens, and yard), wasn't properly up. She said that as long as the pony had plenty to eat in the paddock it wouldnT worry about anything else, especially at night. So the business was settled, and she went off, leaving me with a pony, saddle and bridle, a long tethering rope and a hatful of trouble. Also its baptismal name — Pinto. Pinto, I had been assured, was as quiet as a sheep, had no vices and | was guaranteed to give no trouble. \ She — Pinto was a mare — was certainly as quiet as a sheep. She had no vices. But as a trouble-maker she had the pet lamb and the pet goat beat a mile. In short, Pinto was a pet. Listen: After the girl had gone, and Pinto had been Jeft grazing peacefully in ihe paddock I happened to be standing in the back yard smoking a pipe when somebody gave me a push from behind. The jolt knocked the pipe qut of my rnouth, and my hat over my eves. Any uhorrid man" who happens to read this will know precisely what words ivould have suited the occasion. I said them, and turned round. It was Pinto, feeling bored with herself and wanting company. That was the beginning of two I days of trouble, ending with the de_ parture of Pinto, plus girl, tethering rope, saddle and bridle. Pinto didnT break down ^fences. She crawled through them. She would graze about the paddock as if she had nothing on her mind but clover, Italian rye-grass, crested dog's tail, lotus-major, cocksfoot, & what have you. But as soon as she spotted a human being on two legs who might be good for a carrot oi a lump of sugar, she made a bee-line for the quarry, and kept up the pursuit till the victim— me, mostly- — surrendered. The climax came about madnight of the second day of her stay with * us. I was awakened by a clatter at the back of the house like the noise made by a couple of low comedians doing a slapstick act with a stage elephant. I don't as a rule pay attention to things that "go boomp" in the night. But my wife, in the adjoinmg room, who seems to exist in constant fear of the end of the world, doesn't miss much. Anyway, she couldn't have missed this lot, so I had to go and investigate. The night- was cold. It was raining. I would have muclf preferred to stay put and keep warnT. But with a wife sitting bolt upright yelling blue murder there was nothing for it but. to get up, slip on a dress-rng-gown and slippers, and venture torth. The exit door of my room ipens to {he back verandah, a space 14 feet by 7, built in except for a 4foot entrance and a couple of steps. I opened the door and walked into !

Pinto. She made no fuss, went- all friendly, and nickered. The same "horrid man" who said Pd remark what I had previously remarked when I was pushed in the Jback, would have been right the second time. I said just that. I had to get Pinto turned round, steered to the entrance of the verandah, down the two steps, and back through pelting rain, to the paddock. I still think I want a pony. But I donT think it'll be a pet one. — €. J McK.