Reading between the lines

There are mixed emotions for Tessa Waugh as she ponders the best way to market a much-loved member of the family, while ensuring he goes to the most suitable home

- Tessa Waugh

SOMETHING about writing an advertisement for a pony for sale fills my head with clichés. Even our neighbouring farmer, Colin, who is not at all horsey, told me that a horse ad isn’t worth the paper it’s written on unless it includes the word “bombproof”.

“You’ll have to get that in somewhere,” he chuckled.

There’s no doubt that some of the clichés of pony-selling have been so over- (and mis-) used that they have lost all credibility. Bombproof is a classic. It can easily take on two meanings – kind and steady in all situations, or nothing short of a bomb required to get them going forward.