I'm not drunk--the horse is.

That's what a woman allegedly told police when she was given a disorderly conduct ticket for riding a horse down the centerline of a highway in Six Mile, S.C., while intoxicated.

A pedestrian alerted an officer on Saturday that the woman, Tracy Nadine Ellenburg, was riding down Main Street, television station WYFF reported.

An officer found the horse tied to a bench outside a convenience store while Ellenburg was attempting to use the phone inside.

Ellenburg allegedly told the office "she wasn't drunk, the horse was." She later said she'd consumed a six-pack of beer before attempting to ride the horse to her boyfriend's house.

The horse's owner said the animal was taken without his consent, but he wasn't going to press charges.

The Palio, a horserace in Siena, Italy, in which jockeys representing city districts ride bareback around the city square, could encounter some changes if an order imposing restrictions on the events comes to pass.

The Guardian reports that the regulations include banning whips ... and bits.

Regarding the latter, Andrea De Gortes, the race's most successful jockey, suggests, "I would say to whoever may have written that: get up on a horse and try it."

Santiam Canyon Stampede rodeo queen Kami Smith is using her horse's unique ears to send a message to schoolchildren, The Statesman Journal reports.

Her horse, Ginger, lost portions of both her ears to sarcoids years ago.

"I was scared to death," Smith told the paper. "At that age a lot of kids I rode with made fun of her."

But the issue never affected the pair's relationship. They've competed in barrel racing, pole bending, flag racing, and team events.

Now Smith uses posters of the horse to teach kids that appearance doesn't matter as much as what's inside.

"We've been together a long time," she said. "Ginger has taught me as much as I have taught her."

There was some concern in Philadelphia earlier this week when the Emmanuel Frémiet statue of Joan of Arc was unceremoniously loaded on a flatbed and hauled away, Philebrity reports.

But fear not--"Joanie On The Pony," as the work was referred to, is just getting a facelift and some minor repairs.

The refurbished sculpture will be reinstalled and rededicated on the site in late fall.

Speaking of ponies, if you're doing early Christmas shopping for a small, equine-inclined someone, check these out.  

A 7-year-old girl in Battle Creek, Mich., lost a finger earlier this month when a horse she was saddling apparently took offense. According to the Chicago Tribune report, the horse will be quarantined for 30 days.

Cover art: FAIL.

(This section brought to you by a fantastically funny thread on the Chronicle of the Horse forums.)  

I didn't realize tack was so difficult to illustrate. Judging by these, there must be a real shortage of, you know, photographs. Of real people. Actually riding real horses.

• Oh Biff, I just love your new dressage bridle (note reins attached to caveson)
• That was hard, let's just forget the bridle (but keep the reins)
• OK, forget it, no bridle or reins. Just put a backward pink barrel saddle on a foal.
• And stirrups are for wimps. Note that with reins inserted in nostrils, browbands become optional.

Have you found any cover art/illustration fails?

I keep finding mules in unexpected places. Like the 40-year anniversary of the Apollo moon landing.

Did you know that Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong piloted a mule through the Grand Canyon in March 1964? I didn't either, until I saw it on the U.S. Geological Survey Web site.  

Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were trained in astrogeology in order to learn about the geology of potential lunar landing sites and aid in sample collection. This included the creation of artificial impact craters and, apparently, at least one mule trek.

(Watch this if you don't "get" the title of this post.)  

Barry the steer and Tiger the pony, both residents of Arkansas State University's Bill and Alice Nix Petting Zoo, are local celebrities. Area motorists passing by their field have noticed the pair's fast friendship, television station KAIT 8 reports.

"They're something," driver Hank Hall told the station. "I talked to my wife about it and I said there's something odd going on, there's a red bull and little pony."

Farm director Michael Johnson said the pair grew up together.

"It's amazing the amount of people that comes through here and they comment on the animals, seeing them lay together and play together," said Johnson. "When one of them's not out, I've gotten calls from them asking where's the red steer or where's the little pony."

The annual Chincoteague Fire Company's Pony Penning Auction will take place next week--Thursday, July 30, to be exact.

Here's an interesting story on the Feather Fund, a group that funds pony purchases for special kids.  

The group's mission, from their Web site:  

The Feather Fund is a non-profit organization whose mission is to continue the work begun by Carollynn Suplee to assist deserving children with the purchase and attendant costs associated with the acquisition of Chincoteague ponies, with the goal of helping each child learn about responsibility, care, love, work ethic, as well as the concept of "giving back to others" through the care and training of his or her animal.

If you're going, the Feather Fund group will be sporting pink and green shirts, and the award winners will hold a feather in the air when they bid.

Donkey suits are no laughing matter in Azerbaijan, says a recent article from the New York Times. In a move that some say signals a crackdown on online media, Azeri blogger Adnan Hajizada was recently arrested on charges of hooliganism for allegedly attacking two men, although some witnesses disagreed with the charge.

The back story: Hajizada recently appeared in a spoof video wearing a donkey suit, which the New York Times described as "a sly send-up of the government, which had been accused in the local news media of paying exorbitant prices to import donkeys."

After some diplomats expressed concern over the arrest, Azeri authorities released a statement urging "embassies of foreign countries to stop interfering in the investigation," describing the arrest as "an ordinary hooliganism case."

... Speaking of donkey videos. Love the dirty look he gives the cows. They'd better call in the chicken police.

If you didn't catch the TODAY show on Thursday, meet Amazing Grace.  

The 4-year-old mule from Virginia's Shenandoah Valley made her Rockefeller Center debut after winning last year's America's Ultimate Horse Idol competition. The only mule entered, her repertoire includes counting and multiplication, pushing a stuffed animal in a stroller, ringing a bell, putting a basketball through a hoop, and standing on a box. Actor Robert Duvall also took a shine to her and cast her in his film "Get Low."

Read more about Grace.  

A UK reporter traveling the United States, Newsnight's Justin Rowlatt recently spent some time with an Amish family in Indiana.

Check out the video -- be sure to note the attack Haflinger and the horse yodeling.

Any readers sing (or yodel) to their horses? I'll admit to a rendition or two (or hundreds) of Winnie the Pooh's "Little Black Raincloud" when establishing a Western jog rhythm or quieting a nervous horse (this clip is long--but stoutness exercises are good too!)

On this date in 1789, Parisians stormed the Bastille fortress/prison, freeing prisoners in an action that become symbolic of the birth of the modern nation.

Paris might host the main celebration, but folks in the Boston area are pretty happy too: Bastille Day this year marked the arrival of two new celebrities at the Franklin Park Zoo.

Samuel and Balthazar are Poitou donkeys, one of the oldest and rarest of donkey breeds in France, according to an article on Zoo and Aquarium Visitor.  

Some historians believe, based on ancient drawings, that Poitou donkeys existed when the Romans occupied France in the first century BC. However, numbers of the donkeys fell dramatically last century, and there are now believed to be fewer than 200 registered Poitou donkeys in the world. Learn more about Poitou donkeys.  

They had their official coming out party on July 12, but if you missed them then, the Franklin Park Zoo is offering free admission to anyone who presents an item featuring the French flag and says "Vive La France!" at the Zoo admission booth today. Not joking.  

I keep running into reviews and discussion of the play "War Horse" when searching for news leads, but I didn't really look into it until today.

The story follows a horse sold as an officer's mount in World War I. Heartbroken, the boy who raised the horse enlists in the hope of finding him on the battlefield.

So how do you bring horses to the stage? Puppets. But wipe any idea of marionettes or "Sesame Street" from your mind--these 7-foot-tall equines are amazing! Three puppeteers are required to handle each of the cane creations via an elaborate system of cables and gears. See the photos.  

Currently playing in London, the show might come to New York in 2011, the New York Times reports.  

The article's author noted the horse figures "are as much living, breathing, and emotionally aware beings as any award-winning actor here today."