RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30552, 22 September 1964, Page 26

RANDOM REMINDER

THE LAST ROUND-UP

A love of animals is not uncommon, but only occasionally is it put .to a really acid test An affection for one’s boss may be even more uncommon; and not many employers would survive the trial one man in Christchurch demanded a girl on the staff should suffer. She is fond of horses, and it was this which persuaded him, before he took off on what purported to be a business trip, but which those left behind darkly suspected was something more, to leave instructions that the young lady should take some time off work and ride a pony about six miles across Christchurch to a man who had agreed to train the animal until such a stage that it was a suitable conveyance for the boss’s small daughter. It might have seemed a reasonable request, although the young woman discovered that no provision had been made for the return trip. She could only presume that she was expected to walk. Some bosses are like that. It's all based on the

business management injunction to delegate authority wherever possible. At all events, she decided it would be best to obtain a horse float and take the beast away in that. But the horse was at the top of a hill, and the float would not go up. So she had to bring the horse down. It being business hours, she was not suitably attired for horse wrangling; skirts and stockings are usually highly regarded by their wearers. A man from the office, and another girl came to help. Then the helper brought his wife and two children along. The horrid horse, surveying the approaching troops from his eminence, evidently decided it was just the afternoon to make life difficult. He had bad feet, and temper to match. The girls went up and had a terrible time trying to get the pony down-hill. But this they achieved, finally. They were then left with the distasteful task of thrusting the beast into the

float, a move which the animal resisted bitterly. They tried to coax it aboard, to push and lift and pull. Beating jC did nothing. An hour later, they rested. And in a moment the wild-eyed animal was nuzzling at them, trying to pick their pockets for apples. But already word had been sent out that reinforcements were required, and two more men arrived. They were needed. By now it was dark, and it took a further full hour before the three men and the two women were able to thrust the unwilling animal on to the float. The other woman and the children had quite wisely retired. It was as well, perhaps, that the owner of the pony and the cause of all the trouble was away for a week. It gave the interested parties a chance to simmer down a little. But they returned rapidly to the boil when he came back and blandly asked the girls if they had looked after his little pony nicely?