Macaroni the White House pony

Presidential pets have always been celebrities of sorts, from Checkers the dog to Socks the Cat, but for a few years one could regularly be seen nibbling on the White House lawn.

Macaroni, a 10-year-old part-Shetland gelding, was given to young Caroline Kennedy as a gift from Lyndon B. Johnson.

Though usually stabled at the Kennedy family home in Virginia, the pony was often brought in for Caroline and her friends to ride, sometimes accompanied by another pony, Tex.

Macaroni made for good entertainment for visiting dignitaries. In 1962, she tried to steal a bunch of daffodils out of the hands of Queen Farah of Iran, and the next year she received an ornate saddle from King Hassan II of Morocco.

Amid wide public fascination with the seemingly perfect “Camelot” of the Kennedy household, Caroline and Macaroni appeared together on the cover of the Sept. 7, 1962 issue of LIFE Magazine.

That sweet, idyllic cover would go on to inspire a fairly popular song by a young songwriter named Neil Diamond.

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