And while the sign on the door of the historic general store implored customers to remove their muddy boots, Charlie’s shoes were spotless.
Charlie was a Kaitangata wild horse, one of the herd that roams the hills behind the South Otago town.
He was the third of five wild horses broken in by Laura King, who said the horses were very clever and their temperaments were "just amazing".
Charlie was testament to that as he casually strolled into the store and licked an ice-cream.
"When he does something like this, I think ‘I must have got something right’," she said.
He would eat "anything" but had a penchant for lolly cake, which Miss King would pick up from the local bakery on the way home from work.’
She could not leave the house open if Charlie was around, as he had a tendency to wander up the hallway unless there was a "kiddy gate".
Miss King, who works at Silver Fern Farms’ Finegand plant, and Charlie are on the Otago Goldfields Cavalcade this week, taking part in the Cloverleaf trail led by trail boss Jane Whitmore.
It was her fourth cavalcade — "it’s a holiday away from work and family" — and Charlie’s second.
Fellow cavalcader Kieran O’Neill, a veteran of 14 cavalcades, said he enjoyed the camaraderie and friendships forged, many of them people he caught up with only once a year.
This year’s 28th cavalcade finishes today when the various trails will converge on Patearoa for a parade, fete day and hoedown.
An economic impact report prepared last year by the Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust said the cavalcade had been a significant revenue generator for rural Otago since its inception.
On average, an estimated $1million had been injected into host town district economies. For this year’s event, former cavalcade co-ordinator Roberta Laraman has compiled a booklet featuring 14 cavalcade poems, written by Naseby poet, the late Ross "Blue Jeans" McMillan, who died in November last year.
Mr McMillan and his brothers, Grant and Bill, were keen cavalcaders, and Mrs Laraman said it was appropriate, given the host town was in his beloved Maniototo district.
