In what outwardly appears to be unrelated incidents, two horses revealed their independent sides this summer, rebelling against the rules of society. On July 10th a Minneapolis mounted patrol office was thrown from her horse during a routine training exercise and subsequently and mightily stomped on (or was that simply stepped on?) The officer, who was wearing her vest and helmet, was hospitalized overnight for observation.

The very next day on July 11 a horse in Ira, N.Y., was preparing to take flight from the long arm of the law with 25-year-old Joshua Butler. Armed and dangerous, Butler was taken into custody while still saddling up (maybe Butler should have taken lessons from Ned Kelly who knew to tack up before committing his crime). The fate of the scofflaw steed remains a mystery.

And, of course, there’s still the unsolved crime regarding Whisky the Hoof-Wielding wrongdoer who has been in the American penal system for more than five years for allegedly trampling an innocent man