Beer-loving pony cutting back on drinking with tourists

By Filipa Gaspar

A "boozy" pony who became a celebrity due to his love of a daily Guinness has gone tee-total with tourists - who all want to buy him a pint.

Visitors flock to see Patrick the Pony in his home village after he previously hit the headlines over his daily pub visits and love of the Irish stout.

His owner Kirk Petrakis, 47, would take him to their local pub to socialize him for his work as a therapy horse.

But Kirk said although he still allows Patrick to indulge in a "good sip" of Guinness he has had to cut down his consumption.

And he says that tourists that join him on walking tours around the village all want to buy him a pint - but he has to turn them down.

Kirk said Patrick still loves a Guinness and pubs will invite him in for a pint whenever they see him due to his alcohol-guzzling reputation.

He said: "Tourists always want to buy Patrick a pint of Guinness when they see him. But if we said yes it would be too much for him.

"He does not have a sip of Guinness every day anymore, he has a Guinness occasionally for a treat.

"Pub staff always invite him in when he walks past a pub to have a sip of Guinness.

"The manager of the pubs says that Patrick is better behaved than many dogs that come in - they are delighted to have him in.

"Somebody always buys his pints of Guinness for him."

The seven-year-old pony has turned into a celebrity - with visitors from around the world coming specifically to Cockington, Devon, to see Patrick.

Kirk added: "He has a sip of Guinness as a little treat and it’s actually quite good for horses.

"It is a benefit for horses as it serves as a supplement."

Visitors from all over the world including Bangladesh, Canada and US have travelled to the small village just to see Patrick.

His social media has sky rocketed - with almost 160k followers on Facebook.

Kirk even said that he is more famous than Brad Pitt in the area.

Kirk added: "When we walk Patrick around the village because the locals and the villagers know him there is always like 'It's Patrick'.

"That must be how Tom Cruise and Brat Pitt feel. It is them out and about and there is people that see them and they get over excited when they see a celebrity.

"It is amazing."

Kirk explained that visitors come "specifically" to the UK to Cockington to see Patrick and so they started to do walking tours with the pony.

Patrick the Pony is so popular in the village he has also been voted the unofficial 'Mayor'.

He said: "We walk around the village and talk about how he became a Mayor, the history of Cockington and then we end up at Cockington village and Patrick puts his Mayor clothes on and they get a little picture with Patrick.

"It really makes their day!"

Kirk said with some widespread publicity, Patrick seems to love his fame and takes it all in his stride.

He added: "Patrick is so calm and placid. When he gets to the village center after the tour, he is so calm he just stand there and let's people take photos of him.

"He poses and it is just amazing how he reacts to it all."

Owned by Kirk and Hannah Petrakis, he became Mayor in 2019 after the previous Mayor passed away and a petition to have Patrick fill the position attracted hundreds of signatures.

Patrick is a fully trained therapy horse and Kirk said he had a knack for comforting the people who need it most.

He said: "With extremely unwell patients he will pop his head on their beds so they can stroke his nose.

"You luck at Patrick's eyes and they just tell you the story - he knows that person is ill and he will react in a completely different way to each individual person."

Kirk said Shetland ponies tend to live between 35 to 40 years.

"In that short space of time he has achieved so much.

"He still got loads of life in him," Kirk concluded.