SELMA – “Hi-Ho, Sliver! Away! … as long as we change your diaper first”

The city of Selma is doubling down to make sure horses wear diapers in public.

In December of 2013, the city council adopted an ordinance saying that anyone walking or riding a horse down a public street had to fit the horse with a diaper apparatus so it wouldn’t leave any droppings on the road. Sure it sounds weird, but really it seems like a logical request, right? No one wants to walk down the street through a maze of horse manure.

Well, three years later, council members say that horse owners are blatantly ignoring the rule. Councilman Michael Johnson doesn’t have any issue with people riding horses down the street, but the leftovers bring smells, mosquitoes, and other sanitary issues. And on hot, humid days in the Alabama summer, those smells can quickly affect all 20,000 residents in the city.

Selma Police Chief John Brock plans to be much stricter with violators. Officers will issue first-time offenders with a warning, and second-time offenders will get a citation.

But Brock did say, “if he’s out there doing something crazy with his horse, he’s going to get a citation right off the bat.”

And it’s not like horse diaper stores are hard to find, as both Johnson and Brock say there is a place in town to buy them. But most of the time, riders don’t seem to care about what their horses are leaving behind. In the three years since the law was enacted, Johnson has only seen one law-abiding horse.

“Most of the time, they take a chance and hope they don’t get caught,” he said.

Johnson hopes that people will continue to ride their horses, as long as they start following the law. After three years of dealing with such a strange law, he is ready for it to be dealt with so the city council can move on and spend time on more important issues.