Is it true that a pistol was carried on livestock flights in case a horse decided it didn’t like the cabin service?
Absolutely the case during my time on the operations. S&W in a locked, combination box. I suspect I was the only pilot who ever bothered to do the usual safety check on the thing at the start of a sequence. One wit opined that the reason for the large number of rounds carried in the box was so that the first umpteen could be used to drill a hole in the unfortunate horse's head and the final round to dispatch it to the big clover field in the sky.
The best tale, however, was from IPEC. The then CP was being quizzed by the relevant DCA chap for his periodic tick in the box. When asked whether he saw a need to carry a weapon when freighting tons of oysters and such like delights, his response was along the lines of "Oh, I don't think that would be entirely necessary. I suspect that a plate, cutlery, and Worcestershire sauce would be more than adequate for the hazards and risks involved …."