The horse of Christmas past

All the preparations have just reminded me of one Christmas eve several years ago, during the time that I had my childrens' riding school. Some of the children had made Christmas stockings for their favourite ponies, which were hung on the wall of the barn. I went out for the evening with friends, and upon my return I went to check on the ponies. I was greeted by the sight of Bouncer the adorable Welsh riding pony, wandering around the barn loose, cheeks bulging and eyes popping. He had somehow let himself out and completely trashed all the ponies' Christmas stockings, which had been stuffed with carrots etc. Sweet memory of a treasured pony-his insides didnt seem to suffer from the incident, which was a relief.