Ofelia, a longhorn, lived on George W. Bush’s family ranch in Crawford, Texas. Ofelia and her children, Ellie and Logan, were named after staff members who worked for the president when he was governor of Texas. Her favorite pastime was grazing the pasture and daydreaming.
Pets
Barney
“Barney was by my side during our eight years in the White House. He never discussed politics and was always a faithful friend.”
It is with these words that President George W. Bush remembered his pal Barney when he died of lymphoma at age 12 in 2013.
“Barney guarded the South Lawn entrance of the White House as if he were a Secret Service agent,” Bush said.
“He wandered the halls of the West Wing looking for treats from his many friends. He starred in Barney Cam and gave the American people Christmas tours of the White House. Barney greeted queens, heads of state, and prime ministers. He was always polite and never jumped in their laps.”
Barney, a Scottish terrier, was a gift to the Bushes shortly after the 2000 presidential election from Christine Todd Whitman, former director of Environmental Protection Agency and the former governor of New Jersey.
A Media Star of His Time
The dog got to be quite the media star. He had his own website, and Barney Cam featured videos from a dog’s perspective of visiting dignitaries, White House staff and celebrities.
Here’s one of the videos from Barney Cam, which admittedly veered into cheesiness:
The video above mentions the other Bush pets, Miss Beazley and Willie. (The video also shows White House counsel Alberto Gonazles, who would go on to become attorney general just a few months later, as well as political operative Karl Rove.)
“Barney and I enjoyed the outdoors,” Bush said. “He loved to accompany me when I fished for bass at the ranch. He was a fierce armadillo hunter. At Camp David, his favorite activity was chasing golf balls on the chipping green.”
Unfortunately, Barney also had a bit of a temper. Apparently he bit the public relations director for the Boston Celtics when she visited the White House as well as a Reuters news reporter.
Barney did get along well with Miss Beazley, a female Scottish terrier puppy that the president gave to First Lady Laura Bush as a birthday gift in 2004. Maybe it was something in the blood lines — Miss Beazley was Barney’s niece.
Macaroni, Caroline Kennedy’s Pony
“Yankee Doodle went to London riding on a pony; stuck a feather in his hat and called it Macaroni.”
Macaroni the pony has been one of the best known four-legged creatures to live in the White House.
A gift to John F. Kennedy’s daughter, Caroline, from President Lyndon B. Johnson, Macaroni became quite a celebrity, appearing with the young girl on the cover of Life magazine and getting thousands of his own fan letters.
A photo of Caroline with Macaroni from that magazine inspired the well-loved song “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond.
The singer-songwriter kept the story to himself for years, but he got the chance to tell Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg his secret when he performed the song via satellite for her 50th birthday party in 2007.
Diamond told the Associated Press that he was a “young, broke songwriter” when the photo caught his eye.
“It was a picture of a little girl dressed to the nines in her riding gear, next to her pony. It was such an innocent, wonderful picture; I immediately felt there was a song in there.”
Stylish Pony
Macaroni was usually stabled in Virginia, at the Kennedys’ country home, but was frequently brought in on a horse trailer and freely roamed the White House grounds. Tourists would often spot Caroline and her friends taking turns going for rides. If there was snow on the ground, a sleigh might be attached to Macaroni.
The brown and white pony had a stylish and impressive wardrobe. For example, King Hassan II of Morocco presented a Moroccan saddle as a gift for Caroline during his state visit in March 1963.
Born in New York while her father was serving as a senator from Massachusetts, Caroline was 3 when John F. Kennedy became president. The little girl’s first horseback ride was on Macaroni, described by the JFK Library as a “10-year-old gelding, part Shetland, roan with four white stockings and star.”
A Fondness for Flowers
The gentle Macaroni apparently made himself known to visiting dignitaries.
In 1962, while Caroline’s mother, Jackie Kennedy, was giving a tour of the grounds to the Empress of Iran, the pony nuzzled Queen Farah in an apparent attempt to eat the daffodils she was carrying right out of her hand. “He’s going to eat you, your majesty,” Jackie Kennedy reportedly joked.
In 1964, Caroline fell off the pony and broke her wrist. The injury wasn’t discovered until her mom noticed a lump and doctors took X-rays.
Caroline had another pony, Tex. She also had a famous dog named Pushinka, given to her by the head of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev.
