Invercargill miniature pony's playtime with her doggie pals causes confusion

A Southland man had a mare this weekend when he called the local council to complain about three dogs attacking a miniature pony, not realising that the group was just engaging in a little horseplay.

When he saw miniature pony Whinny racing around a paddock with three dogs he phoned council to report an attack, but Whinny's owner says that couldn't be further from the truth.

Crystal from Invercargill returned home from a short trip to learn that a man had been sitting outside her property honking his car horn and telling one of her family members that "there are three dogs attacking that pony, I am ringing the council."

"She really does consider herself as one of the dogs," says Crystal, who took to social media to share the story and send a message to the complainant.

"If you had just listened for two seconds she could have got the chance to explain that this pony has grown up with dogs and she is not in distress when she's running, she's actually happy playing.

"If you had watched long enough you would have seen her turn around and take her turn at chasing the dogs"

Urging him to get off his high horse, Crystal invited him to come back and "see for yourself ... how about listen to the people who know these animals before ringing the council?"

Speaking to the Herald, Crystal described Whinny as "very hard case" and described how she waits at the gate for her best mate canine mate Robbo, before charging around the paddock with him.

The complaint went no further after Crystal clarified the situation for the local council, but the animal lover has been left frustrated by how the initial complainant handled the situation.

"I would just say to them I am glad there are people in this world that care as deeply as you do about animals and I applaud you for bringing it up as an issue but the way you handled this was not right," said Crystal.

"To sit outside my house and toot, which is more likely to scare my pony, and yell threats to ring the council would have taken much more effort than to come to the door and politely say there are dogs chasing your pony, the situation could have been explained then and there.

"It is a real shame you called the council, I thought people who get the council rung on them for animal complaints are irresponsible pet owners which made me feel terrible and question, am I one of those people?"