Wally and Beaver get a job for two days after school and on Saturday at the traveling carnival that's in town. They clean out animal cages, rub down the horses, etc., and come home each day smelling as such. Ward is pleased but June isn't thrilled. (She's always worried about something. although sometimes she has good cause to worry!).
Anyway, Ward encourages the boys but warns them than carnivals have been known to pick up and leave before paying their bills. Wally answers, "Gee whiz. One of the owners has a tattoo of the flag on one arm and his mother on the other. A guy like that wouldn't gyp us."
Well, they didn't exactly gyp the boys, but the carnival people didn't do them a favor either, giving them an old horse named "Nicholas" instead of the cash. June and Ward freak out when Benji's mom calls up and tells June she saw a horse in the Cleavers' garage. To make matters worse, the horse likes to lay down all the tine! They thought the animal was sick, but old Gus from the fire hall explains that sometimes horses do that sort of thing. (Gus - Burt Mustin in real-life, is the wisest man in Mayfield. As Beaver says, Gus knows the answers to anything.)
Even the boys know they have to get rid of the horse so they put an ad in the newspaper want ads under "Used Horses." A man comes to get him but the boys find out he's going to turn Nicholas into glue, so they rush out to the street before the man drives away and demand their money back.
As you can tell, this was a funny episode....and a very warm one in the final few minutes. Hugh Beaumont (Ward) wrote this story, by the way.