The ponies found it odd he wore clothes all the time, and at the time, Handy really didn’t want to get into a discussion about why all humans wore clothes all the time with rare exception outside of bathing. Even then, some humans wore clothes, so he deftly avoided the whole topic. So he deftly avoided the whole topic. Having seen some well-off ponies in the town wearing clothing, and clothing also being seen as a sign of formality and professionalism, as he had seen business ponies and town officials wearing various articles, he made up some cock and bull story that he was from a human noble family that had fallen down on hard times for the past few generations and tradition was important to him. It got the more inquisitive ponies off his back about the clothes but opened up a whole new can of worms. However, that was a story for another time. Joachim, for one, didn’t believe him but didn’t contradict him either and settled for poking him about his ‘prudishness’.