Graceland has seen a lot of unusual days. But a pony clip-clopping through the house might be near the top of the list.
According to Graceland’s own archive, Elvis once set little Lisa Marie on her Shetland pony and brought the two of them straight inside the mansion. The pony’s name was Moriah, and she was about as small and fluffy as a pony gets.
Now, why on earth would a grown man bring a pony through his own living room?
He had a reason, and it’s the kind of thing that makes you love him a little more.
Elvis did it so his grandmother could see them. Minnie Mae Presley lived right there at Graceland, and Elvis wanted her to get a good look at his daughter perched proudly on her little horse. Three generations of Presleys in one room, plus one pony. You can almost hear the laughing.
There’s no home movie of that exact moment, so we can’t show you the pony in the hall. But there is footage of Elvis being a dad at home with his family, and it carries the same easy warmth.
Elvis at home with his family, away from the stage
Watch how relaxed he is here, just a father goofing around with the people he loved.
Of course, bringing a pony indoors was always going to have one small catch. It was a fun idea, right up until Moriah had a little accident on the floor inside Graceland.
And here’s the best part. Elvis didn’t call for help. He cleaned it up himself, the King of Rock and Roll down on the floor with a mop, all because he wanted his grandmother to share in a happy moment.
Lisa Marie never forgot how much the animals meant to her childhood there. In her memoir she even remembered that her dad bought her a horse and that she rode it through the house. Graceland today is a museum with velvet ropes, so it’s funny to think there was a time when a child could ride right through those famous rooms.
That’s the Graceland the tour guides can only tell you about now. A real family home, full of pets and noise and the odd pony, where a superstar father would do just about anything to make his little girl and his grandmother smile.
Press play on the clip and spend a minute with Elvis the dad.