Emotional Rescue from Tattooed Fate

This horse owner definitely won't get any satisfaction from the court ruling that has just gone against him.

Seems a German man had shaved a good bit of hair off the right hind thigh of one of his horses, in preparation for a tattoo — of the Rolling Stones tongue logo from the earlier days. Seems also that the court didn't like it too much.

The tongue, which existed only in outline, was a good six square inches in size. Had the horse owner had more time and the proper authority, he would no doubt have succeeded in branding his animal in a way that might seem a bit head-scratching to some people.

The court, in its ruling preventing the full tattooing of the poor animal, went on about infringement of animal rights law. That may very well be the case, and such things shouldn't be foisted on animals. However, the court was also on to the horse owner's other, more to-the-point motive, which was to create a template that he could show off and then offer as a service — a tattoo-for-hire business, perhaps.

And where would that end, if it had been allowed to begin? What would be able to stop the man from branching out? Who knows but that we might have seen a horse sporting the genius of Dark Side of the Moon. More frightening might have been the cover for Sticky Fingers.

No matter, though, because the court headed the man off at the pass. No doubt his neighbors will be on the lookout for other, similar sorts of tomfoolery.