A horse of the people

Peppy and his owner spread the joy on their walks around Ryal Side

Nicole Puz looked out the window of her house on Kernwood Avenue, did a double-take and asked a question that a lot of Ryal Siders have been asking lately.

“Is that a horse in the front yard?”

The answer, with apologies to Mr. Ed, is “of course, of course.”

For the last few years a horse name Peppy has been walking, sometimes trotting, the streets of Ryal Side with his owner, Kevin Hios, at his side. As a reporter who’s covered Beverly for years, I’m embarrassed to admit I never knew this. When I finally found out about it this week and called up Kevin, he said, “I’m surprised nobody has written about this before.”

I’ll pause here to give you the inside story of how I ended up with this big scoop. I checked the agenda on the city’s website for Monday’s City Council meeting and there it was, laid out for me in beautiful government speak — “Resolutions: Order #156-Peppy the Horse.”

Hmmm, I said. Sounds like a story.

I met up with Kevin at his home on Melvin Avenue on Wednesday to get to the bottom of the whole thing. When I arrived, he was backing his trailer down the street. A few minutes later, out came Peppy, a beautiful bay quarter horse.

“You can pet him,” Kevin said. “He’s very calm.”

Off we headed down Melvin Street, with Kevin leading Peppy by his rope. He told me he started walking Peppy in the neighborhood during the pandemic, when Kevin was furloughed from his job and Peppy was rehabbing from an injured leg.

The kids (and adults) in the neighborhood were so excited and happy, not to mention stunned, to see a horse walking down their street that Kevin figured he’d keep spreading the joy.

“As soon as you walk down the street everybody’s ‘Oh my God look at the horse’ and they come out,” he said. “Everybody’s smiling. I’ve never seen a frowning face. It’s really fun.”

As we headed down Shortell Avenue, Armando Zapata came out of his house to say hello. He remembered spotting Peppy for the first time last year when he looked outside his home office window. Zapata, 81, said it reminded him of his native Chile.

“I grew up in the countryside,” he said. “I grew up with animals. I’m glad he’s around.”

Kevin told me he usually walks Peppy on Sundays when there are more people around, especially kids. So for awhile we just walked through the quiet neighborhood, Peppy’s horseshoes clattering on the pavement, the Danvers River shimmering in the background.

Kevin, 49, has owned Peppy for 14 years. He said he first gained his love of horses while hanging out at Endicott Park in Danvers, where his father worked. Kevin keeps Peppy, who is 25 years old, at a barn at Willowdale Farm in Topsfield. One time he rode him all the way back to Beverly. He’s also ridden him in Willowdale State Forest, Bradley Palmer State Park and on the Danvers Rail Trail.

Mostly, though, it’s the walks through Ryal Side when horse and owner bond and spread their good cheer. They’ve been in the Ryal Side Fourth of July parade and hung out for hours during the cornhole tournament at Obear Park. One time they happened to be walking past a house that was having a birthday party for a girl. Everybody thought her parents had ordered a horse.

(At this point we’ll address the question that will inevitably come up in this otherwise feel-good story: What happens if Peppy goes to the bathroom, so to speak? Kevin told me he can’t pick it up right away, but always returns with a shovel and a bucket.)

As we turned down South Terrace, Sherre Irving hopped out of her car when she spotted/heard Peppy approaching. She had seen him on social media (I can see Peppy blowing up on social media after this story gets out, a veritable Shoebert on land) but this was the first time she’d seen him in person.

“Usually we’re in New Hampshire on Sundays,” Irving said. “I thought, ‘Oh, we’ll never get to see him.’ This made my day.”

Sherre Irving meets Peppy for the first time.

Marcie Sidman from across the street said she always comes outside when she hears Peppy’s clomping.

“I feed him carrots and he likes our grass,” she said. “He makes people smile.”

Even the UPS guy got caught up in the excitement. He dropped off a delivery, then hustled over to pet Peppy.

“It’s the closest I’ve ever been to a horse,” he said.

As we turned into Obear Park, James Nutter was riding his bike toward us. He stopped, hopped off and came over to pat Peppy.

“My 2 1/2-year-old son loves him,” Nutter said. “He thinks it’s awesome.”

Peppy and Kevin picked up the pace at Obear, heading into a trot across the field. The sight was startling enough to interrupt a serious game of pickleball.

Kids are the ones who really love Peppy, but this was the middle of the school day so there weren’t that many around. Kevin suggested we head to Livingstone Park. When we walked through the gate, all eight legs of us, Abby, 5, and her brother Henry, 3, couldn’t believe what they were seeing:

You can’t get a much better reaction than that, so I figured I’d call it a day on the Peppy trail. I thanked Kevin and Peppy for letting me tag along, and as I was leaving Kevin mentioned that he might keep walking all the way to City Hall.

Which reminds me. Remember “Resolutions: Order #156-Peppy the Horse”? It turns out that Peppy is going to be honored by the City Council on Monday night with a resolution submitted by Ward 1 Councilor Todd Rotondo designating him as the official mascot of Ryal Side. The ceremony will take place on the lawn outside City Hall at 6:30 p.m.

Kevin figured he’d do a trial run and get Peppy used to hanging out at City Hall. Their arrival — a man and his horse walking down Cabot Street — caused quite a stir. People poured out of City Hall to pet him and pose for pictures, including Ehioze Okhuozagbon, a Beverly High School senior who’s interning with the city’s engineering department.

“I didn’t think I’d see a horse in my time here,” he said. “That wasn’t on the agenda.”

Well, actually it is. Peppy was just a few days ahead of schedule. He’ll see you Monday night.