Judicial Horseplay

If there was ever any doubt that the British are animal lovers, then read on:

Appeal court judges last month approved a £1.5 million divorce settlement which included £50,000 a year in maintenance for the upkeep of three horses and a lump sum of £900,000 to buy a house with land for the horses. Sir Mark Potter, Britain’s most senior family law judge, commented that the lady’s husband had known about and consented to the horses playing a key role in his wife’s life and had actually encouraged the hobby by purchasing one of the animals following the loss of their baby. The couple had been married for 11 years and had no other children. Experts believe that the decision could set a new legal precedent, with divorcing couples claiming thousands of pounds in maintenance for animal interests.

At £16666.67 per horse per annum, I would say this is a pretty decent time to be a horse, what with the credit crunch and all. I do not and have never had anything against horses and infact will go as far as saying I am glad for the horses, however this seems slightly excessive - forgive me but this is my opinion and I would further posit that if the horses could talk they might equally view the expenditure as excessive, having said that what do i know about horses and their needs, what do we expect next Horse weddings and Horse prenuptials? Why not, the two nags now have an assured income and indeed assets which stand eligible for asset protection/division.

I can imagine the poor horses being badgered by Telesalesmen, trying to interest them in our "outstanding range of exotic sugarlumps" or "our Korean Organic carrot range", lifestyle gurus sending brochures urging the poor nags to undergo life-coaching on Barnyard Fengshu (goodness!).

Anyway I thought you might want to know.