They say 'you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink'.

Well, that is unless you're David Patterson from Camooweal.

He owns Grumblebum, a beer-drinking horse. Listen Duration: 2 minutes 2 m Listen Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. David Patterson introduces his beer-drinking horse Grumblebum ( Lydia Burton ) Download 942.3 KB

Mr Patterson says four-year-old Clydesdale Grumblebum took up drinking one hot afternoon.

"I just went up to water him and I was having a beer and he came over and smelt it, so I put it in his mouth and away it went.

"Grumblebum's preferred beer is XXXX - he's a Queenslander."

However, Grumblebum's drinking is limited to one beer every few months.

There is far more to David Patterson's story than just a beer-drinking children's horse.

He and his wife Sue have been foster carers for the past two decades.

They currently have seven foster children, and have cared for a total 200 children over the past 20 years.