When a drunk German man, identified only as Wolfgang H, found no parking place for his horse, he used a bank's automatic teller machine for that purpose. The horse's owner apparently drank a bit too the night before and decided to sleep it off inside the bank's heated foyer. Talking to the Bild newspaper, the 40-year-old machinist said he had "a few beers" with a friend in Wiesenburg, southwest of Berlin.

It took a backhoe and a team of rescuers to dig out Champ, the 1,200-pound horse from the mud on Thursday, where he had gone to quench his thrust but started sinking into it. Champ, who has been sucked up to his belly by the time his owners discovered him in the morning, was completely tired from his efforts to get out. AP quotes Champ's owner Jeff Radabaugh as saying, "It was like quicksand out here. We dug until we couldn't dig anymore. "

Police on Sand Mountain, Nevada arrested a woman who went for a horseback ride through town at midnight and allegedly used the horse to ram a police car. Melissa Byrum York was charged with driving under the influence and drug offenses. The 40-year-old woman, who said she had crystal methamphetamine, a small amount of marijuana, pills and a small pipe, trotted the horse on DeKalb County road 1-94 in the town of Sylvania around midnight on Sunday.

Female sentries are guarding Britain's Queen Elizabeth for the first time at Windsor Castle. The King's Troop of the Royal Horse Artillery took over guarding the queen's residence for one month Monday, and the 20-strong troop includes five women. They marched led by a brass band wearing plumed busby hats and braided uniform tunics, carrying ceremonial swords.

Altering the centuries old tradition, nine female soldiers have reportedly been posted at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle in London on Sunday, a ceremonial role that was earlier reserved exclusively for men. Five women from the Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery and four more women from the Army Air Corps reported for duty at the palace for the first time ever thus marking a breakthrough for women in the British Army.