May 3, 2014
Official announcement of the Ministry of Silly E-mails

A broken head and a broken leg...

Dear Sillizens!

What is worse: a broken head or a broken leg? To answer this philosophical question I visited Dark Horse in the Stable, because when she suffered from a severe depression last year, she often sighed: ‘It’s easier to have a broken leg’. And now she has a broken leg: on April 17 she came into violent contact with a iron horse and broke her right hind leg. So it was time to see if she changed her mind.

I sat on a haystack and Dark Horse started to tell me that she had been absolutely right. ‘It is far easier to have a broken leg than a broken head’, she said.

‘I feel less guilty for asking assistance for example. If you are depressed you can say to yourself “Get out of bed, you lazy cow!” Oops, I mean, horse! And sometimes it works and you feel a bit better. With a broken leg it’s fairly obvious that you won’t run a marathon soon... You will recover slowly with a pace that is dictated by your own body. The body clearly indicates: "Enough is enough."'

‘With a broken head this is far more difficult. I often thought: I feel tired. Did I do to much, or to little? I feel tired, but physically I’m not. How is that possible? Difficult questions, which you but slowly learn to answer. Although a broken leg hurts a lot and is very inconvenient, especially for a horse, the clarity of a broken leg is quite nice. Mental illnesses are often more intangible and cannot always be cured

‘Yeah, you’re right’, I said, ‘for me a wee drop of whiskey lifts my spirit once and again, but it seems unfortunately horses do not thrive well on whiskey...’

But what is a broken head or leg compared to a broken heart? Yes, my dear Sillizens, Dark Horse has a broken heart too! She told me her bosom friend Dormouse was so impressed by the new surroundings of the Villa, that he went into hibernation prematurely. And then she sang a short but sad song. Listen to Dark Horse’s Lament in the Stable and wish a ‘break a leg’!

Best wishes,

Seamus McAllister

Head of the Subdivision of Territories Outside the Dikes
Department of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Silly E-mails
Villa Dark Horse
The Hague