Horseback ride for man on a mission

ON HIS WAY: Steve MacDonald, armed with a ring and flowers about to embark on his horseback trip from Heaven Scent, Kuripuni, into town to propose to his sweetheart, Kim.

Marriage on the mind of modern day cowboy

Carterton man Steve MacDonald was not just horsing about when he rode his 3-year-old Clydesdale Lochie into Masterton yesterday. He was on a mission to get himself a wife.

In true The Man from Snowy River fashion, Steve clip-clopped his way into town in mid-morning traffic to arrive at Heaven Scent florists in Kuripuni where he whistled up shop owner Liz Warren and her staff and took delivery of a huge sheaf of flowers.

It was then he spilt the beans to onlookers who had gathered on the sidewalk, probably attracted by the sight of a magnificent young Clydesdale as much as anyone else, and tipped them off he also had a ring in his pocket.

From there, he and Lochie made their way to the CBD, right to the door of OPSM where a rather bewildered optical assistant Kim Kenning saw the man she had loved for more than three years appear.

Surprise gave way to embarrassment when it dawned on Kim that Steve's appearance complete with flowers was not just an early Valentine Day's gesture, but as he went down on one knee, declared his love for her and asked her to marry him, she recovered sufficiently to give him the answer he wanted - "Yes."

There was just a hint Steve would have to survive a bit of a telling-off when he and Kim got home for making the workplace proposal that had caused his lady to blush.

The couple have no idea when their wedding day will be but revealed they met because of a mutual love of Clydesdales, both being members of the Clydesdale Society.

Lochie has the company of other Clydesdales on the couple's Carterton property but was hand-picked for the important mission yesterday. His next job is likely to be an appearance at the Masterton A & P Show.