Surreal Conversations

Until yesterday the most surreal conversations that I ever have found myself involved in all occurred at the tack shed while we were saddling up. Several times each year I find myself with a panicked horse in hand who, if I made the slightest misstep, could seriously injure me. On more than one occasion during such moments,(even once when the horse was not making contact with the ground) a rider will look at me and ask me to come and check to make sure that their girth is OK.

Yesterday topped that, but in a pleasant, though no less surreal setting. As a special prosecutor in another jurisdiction I found myself involved in one of the more contentious cases that I had had in a long time. After the judge made his final ruling, he looked around to make sure that all of the parties were out of the courtroom, and quickly called the other attorneys and court personnel up to the bench. He then rather excitedly asked me to "tell them a story about Lido."

This shot above is of an equine with beautiful Spanish features woven into a mule's body. It is not unusual that this mule should carry such obvious Spanish genes. He lives on the Dominican Republic where the Spanish set up large breeding farms in the 1500's. A regal mule, what could be more surreal?