Newspaper Page Text
Page 16
Herd Os Hobby Horses Is
A Kind Os Open Secret
A Covington man, L. B. At
kins of Collum Road, is one
of three owners of midget Ar
gentine ponies in the United
States. He shares this distinc
tion with the children of the late
Senator Robert Kennedy and
Smith McCoy of Ridervllle, West
Va.
Mr. McCoy, a millionaire, is
the exclusive dealer for the tiny
ponies and controls their owner
ship under special agreement
with Argentina.
The Kennedy ponies are the
most famous and have been fea
tured in several Kennedy docu
mentaries on television. McCoy
obtained his special agreement
after Argentina gave the Kenne
dys a pair for their children.
The ponies are hard to breed
and hard to raise, Atkins says.
He began with a pair, later add
ed 5 mares and in five years
he has had only 5 ponies, los
ing one. At birth they are about
17” tall and weigh from 18-20
lbs. They grow to 25” - 30”
and weigh 200 lbs. at most.
The midget size pony Is in
demand for show horses but
Mr. Atkins says his are
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not for sale at any price. This
is why the herd had received
little publicity and has been kept
an open secret.
When he obtained the ponies
from McCoy, Mr. Atkins signed
an agreement stipulating that he
wouldn’t sell a pair, that he could
sell a stallion but that he would
only sell a mare back to McCoy.
The 11 Atkins hobby horses
are a lot of pleasure, says At
kins.
“You have got to look after
them like people,” he said. "They
are very smart and can take
care of themselves. If you keep
them fastened up they are bad
to take colds. But if you leave
the bam door open and let them
go in and out like they want
to, they stay pretty healthy. I’ve
only lost one. But when they are
small you have to watch them
close until they are 2-3 months
old. When they are born, you
don’t know how tall they will
grow. You just have to wait
and see. “I give them a special
feed that Is mixed here in Cov
ington.
They are very gentle and will
lay down in my lap. Os course,
I^^ . J 4 JWIME
-7
TINY, midget Argentine pony, makes a trip to town for some
special feed with his owner, L. B. Atkins. Here Bob Hunter of
the NEWS staff, who Is 6 ft. 2 In., looks down on Tiny, 27” tall.
they cause a stir everywhere
I take them and I have long
distance calls about them all
the time. But under the agree
ment I can’t sell them.
“I have a hard time explain
ing this to people and they some
times get awfully mad when I
turn them down. One man offer
ed me SI2OO for one. Later he
called my wife and asked her
What will it take to get one?
“We have people come from
all over the country to see them.
Just to show you what sort of
prices they get, Mr. McCoy has
leased one 20” horse to a New
York museum for $30,000 for
two years. He sells them to
shows where the smallest ones
bring the best prices. Most
pony shows don’t have real mid-
* ■ H
fry 0 W
gets as small as these which are
20-25” tall. Most of these show
THE COVINGTON NEWS
A4rss Robinson Retires After 44-Yr. Teaching Career
PORTERDALE — “There’s
nothing to say about me. All
I have done is teach school and
love children for a long time,”
Miss Lucy Robinson tried to
thwart a reporter’s questions
three days before her retire
ment.
But the visitor formulated
many questions readily: “How
long did you teach? Where?
How many children? What grade
level?”
Thus the interview unfolded.
How long has she taught?
Forty-four years.
Where? Gordon, Heard-Mix
on, Covington, Milstead, Jeffer
son, Norcross, Porterdale.
How many children? Never
less than twenty. “One year I
promoted 49 second graders,”
she recalled.
What grade level attracted
year after year? Second grade
classrooms were her home for
twenty-one years, and the latter
twenty-three were spent in Por
terdale School’s third grade.
Life has been an Interesting
adventure for this great lady.
She was graduated from Cov
ington High School and received
college training at what is now
Georgia College, Milledgeville,
G. N. I. C., and Lucy Cobb in
Athens, receiving her B. S. de
gree in Education from Oglethor
pe University. One summer she
participated in a special read
ing course at the University of
California.
Travel to Washington, D. C.,
New York, New York, and the
western United states also broad
ened horizons for her.
Miss Robinson is an active
member of the First Methodist
Church in Covington, which she
joined at the age of ten. She
holds membership In the Porter
dale Woman’s Club and was ad
visor for the Maud King Girl
Reserves, Group # 1, for many
years.
In the twenty-three years at
Porterdale, with exception of
family or personal illness, she
has not missed more than two
PTA meetings. What a testim
ony to its importance!
What kind of children did she
teach? “Well, some are doc
tors, dentists, nurses, mothers,
fathers, scientists, teachers,”
she enumerated and beamed,
“Walter Pope is one of my phar-
people own ponies 30” tall or
more.”
Mr. Atkins loves horses and
loves to talk about them. In
fact, that’s how he got his first
midgets from McCoy. “I just
kept talking. Finally he let me
have the first two for $2100.”
Now they are not for sale at
any price.
Don’t tell any one. It’s a
secret.
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Miss Lucy Robinson
macists, you know.”
Five years ago, the seniors
at Porterdale Junior High School
were asked to write an autobio
graphy from which a script was
prepared for their graduation
program. W'ithout exception,
every child who had been in “Miss
Lucy’s” room emphasized that
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“she was the favorite”.
Does not the dedication of such
a teacher attest to the truth of
the oft-quoted “A teacher’s life
affects eternltv’”’
In what better way can one
spend forty-four active years
of a lifetime than teaching sch
ool and loving children?
SELL YOUR TIMBER TO
Call or Write To:
WILLIAMS BROTHERS
LUMBER COMPANY
934 Glenwood Avenue S.E. Atlanta
Atlanta Office: MA7-8421
; S D McCULLERS, Phone: Conyers 483-8626
i ’ ‘ Route 1, Lithonia, Georgia
Farrar, Ga. Mill: Mont. 468-6219
> Covington, Ga. Mill: 786-5717
t ———————l
Thursday, June 13, 1968
/' A-
$
‘‘lt’s easier to follow-the
leader, than to lead-the-fol
lowers.”