Horses will be required to wear diapers in order to march in the Halloween Parade in Davenport, Iowa this year. “Even though horses have long been staged at the rear of the parade, their droppings sometimes become a mine hazard to those leaving the parade route afterward,” says the Quad City Times.

According to the newspaper report, the street sweeper who follows the parade route can’t quite make the streets safe enough for the populace. To FHL’s thinking, if horse manure was the most undesirable substance found on the city’s streets, Davenport would be at the top of every list for the Most Livable City.

Nancy Hicks has been riding her horse in the Halloween and Saint Patrick’s Day parades for thirty years, and she’s not about to put a diaper on her horse.

“Making us put diapers on our horses could be a disaster,” she said. “To get a horse to even wear a diaper would take months. Besides, there were only four horses in the parade last year…. You just don’t take a riding horse and put a diaper on it.”

Foxhunters who ride their horses in the parade are fortunate. They are already equipped with the required “plain, gold, safety pins.” Read Barb Ickes article for more information.