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Halfsies!

Welcome to Wellington, home of hot studs, deep tans, and the mother of all custody showdowns. The child in question? A stallion named Bam Bam.

A A A Comments By Kelly Cramer Thursday, Mar 29 2007

Day three, emergency hearing, federal court: As attorneys take turns making final remarks, Judge Marra interrupts with a simple, Solomonic solution: Why not sell Bam Bam, split the proceeds even-steven, and call it quits?

C. STILES

A rider on her white horse in the Village of Wellington.

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It was not to be.

Friedman and Chapman explain that their clients have become much too attached to the horse by this point. It is no longer about the money.

Friedman has a counterproposal: Arnett should get Bam Bam, and Marra should use his judicial authority to convert the three-day horse hearing into a final hearing so that His Honor wouldn't have to empanel a jury and hold a full-blown trial.

Marra: "It's very tempting."

In the end, the judge stops short of granting Arnett permanent custody, but he orders Muente to turn Bam Bam over to her until a jury can sort things out. And in a 14-page ruling issued February 22, Marra sides with Arnett, saying Muente had lied and acted in bad faith. "At this point... the evidence demonstrates that [Muente] sought to defraud [Arnett]," Marra wrote.

A few days later, Arnett dispatches a horse trailer and a team of wranglers to pick up Bam Bam at Littlewood Farms in Wellington. She likely won't be back in Florida until the next court hearing. Nothing's on the docket yet, but Judge Marra surely hasn't heard the end of this tale. And the meter is still running on court time and attorneys' fees.