The Gallop Poll

I'm lucky enough to have a couple of nice online friends in Australia, where the brutal heat and uncontrolled brush fires have made this a horrible summer down under, but I hope they can weigh in on this story I found.

A man in New South Wales has pleaded guilty to a charge of using a hand-held phone while...riding a horse.

The man is 30 years of age, and he and his horse were stopped by police in October. Eagle-eyed cops had seen him with the cellphone up to his ear as the horse cantered along a rural road, according to the Tenterfield Star.  One would assume that a man of 30 years, and a horse of at least 2 or 3, would be safe enough without being saddled by overofficious law enforcement.

The local version of Barney Fife hauled horse and rider before the Mudgee Local Court magistrate judge, who said “under the road rules a horse is a vehicle…and he didn’t have a hands-free device fitted to the horse,” the paper reported.

"I've had someone charged with being drunk on a horse before - but just one," the judge said. He admitted this was a first and did not explain how DWI on a horse connects to cell phoning on a steed.

Tim Cain is the man's defense lawyer, and he saw his client plead guilty “because he concedes that the horse was in motion," but Cain also said the matter was "trivial - in the extreme - especially in a rural area where animals are a form of transport," Cain said.

But the man, whom we'll call Midday Rider, was told the charge would be expunged from his record if he keeps his nose, and that of his horse, out of trouble for three months.

Here in Maryland, it is illegal to drive a car while yammering on a hand-held cell, and also to rob banks.  Both laws are broken with impunity.