punkin

News from Deb at Horse Fame
August 2004
Note: How ever you spell the name, it's still the same horse.
Thanks Staci! for graciously sharing your experience with this wonderful animal with us.
"The following story is included in the new book to be published in 2005".
'Staci's Guide to Animal Movies'
by Staci Layne Wilson

A Palomino Punkin

When I met Punkin in 1976 I was a ten year old horse fanatic. My friends and I definitely had terminal horse-on-the-brain syndrome. Horses were all we ever talked about, thought about and dreamt about. I believe the Palomino was already well into his teens when I came to know him, but he was still sound and going strong. My best friend at the time, Laurie, wasn’t lucky enough to have her own pony like I did so she made due by exercising some of the neighborhood horses for their owners.

As soon as the man with three beautiful horses moved into the corner house down the way, Laurie and I made our move and before long we were fast friends with Black Lightning, Fire Queen and Punkin. We were thrilled when we learned that Punkin had actually been a stand-in for our favorite TV star, Mister Ed! (Punkin also starred in an episode of Green Acres, Horse, What Horse #29, which aired during the first season in 1966.)

Punkin’s golden Palomino coat had faded to a pale yellow and his once muscular body had become flaccid with age, but to us two little girls he was a dream horse. One our favorite things about Punkin was how he would “talk” like mad whenever we pointed to his muzzle. We delighted in showing off this trick to all of our friends, which Punkin still remembered with perfect clarity after all those years. Punkin loved Cheetos, and he always got that special treat after performing for us.

Although Punkin wasn’t my horse and I unfortunately lost contact with him after my family moved away from the area, I will always remember Mister Ed’s “understudy” with fondness.