Four pint wonder horse

You can, they say, lead a horse to water. But Sparky the pony would much rather have a pint of best bitter.

The two-year-old Shetland got a taste for beer after picking up a half-empty pint glass in the garden of the pub where he gives children cart rides.

He quenches his thirst by gripping the glass in his teeth and tipping his head back - although anyone watching tends to get a share too.

Owner John Baldwin, 51, said: 'He gets a better grip on a handled glass, so now he's got his own. Once when he was really thirsty he downed four pints one after the other - it took a matter of seconds.

'But we don't let him have that much any more. We're looking at getting him a filly soon and we don't want him to get a beer belly.'

Sparky is kept in a paddock next to the pub run by Mr Baldwin's daughter Sarah - the Globe Inn at Sandhurst, Gloucestershire. During a hot day three weeks ago they let him into the pub garden while they cleared up.

'When I looked around Sparky had found a half pint of beer left under a table,' said Mr Baldwin. 'He just gulped it back.'

While Sparky's preferred tipple is Arkells 3B bitter, he turns his nose up at lager. Not that he is allowed either while he is working.

Mr Baldwin added:'We don't let him drink and drive and we limit him to a couple of halves a day.

'But we'll have to watch his weight because he's also partial to left-over pork scratchings.'