The town council of Joe Batt's Arm had recently passed a new animal bylaw. All animals, chickens, goats, dogs, and ponies had to be fenced in. They weren't allowed to roam free. The council said the animals were an eyesore. They were a nuisance. Fencing in the animals was part of the council's beautification plans. Tilting had no such law. Their animals were still free to graze where they would, and where they would was always Joe Batt's Arm.

The men and women of Tilting had been warned. They hadn't paid any attention. They said they couldn't help where their animals chose to roam. They said there must be something very nice about Joe Batt's Arm that their ponies had discovered, even if they had never noticed it themselves. And now Charles had been instructed to capture the whole lot of them.

He waited with his mare by the side of the road, the two of them squinting into the sun. When his pony's ears started to twitch Charles knew it was time to get ready. Sure enough, about 30 ponies came wandering into view. Charles walked his mare out onto the road. He wanted the other ponies to get a good look at her. The ponies met and murmured. They snorted among each other. Charles started to lead his mare away. As Charles knew they would, all the other ponies followed his little darling right down the road and into the town compound. When the last pony wandered through, Charles shut the gate and barred them all in. The young man didn't know what would happen when the people of Tilting found their horses had been caught. He didn't really want to find out. Charles brushed the road dust off his clothes and went home for lunch.

It didn't take long. Someone from Joe Batt's Arm must have run up the road to warn the Tilting women about the capture of their ponies. The women stood on the wharf and called out to the men who were coming in for their meal.

"Our horses are gone. Our ponies are gone. They've rounded them up in Joe Batt's Arm and barred them in. If you want them back you've got to pay a fine," the women called across the water.

The men brought their boats ashore. They couldn't believe the story. Pay a fine to get their own horses back? Pay a fine to a town that had taken their horses and put them behind bars? These ponies always roamed where they would. They did not cause any harm. The men of Tilting would not pay a fine, certainly not. But they would have their animals back.

The men climbed into their trucks and drove off down the road. Joe Dwyer went with them. He meant to get his ponies back. He needed them for his work in the woods. The trucks pulled up at the compound. The men stared at their horses. They still couldn't believe their animals had been barred in. The men opened the gate and let their ponies out. Charles Dwyer and several others got out of the trucks. They started herding the ponies back to Tilting. They say it was a fine sight, men and horses marching smartly up the road on a lovely sun-lit day. Things were going nicely. And then the RCMP drove up. The police charged all the men with stealing their own horses. The police took the horses back to the compound. The town took the men to court. Joe Dwyer says the judge threw the charges out because they were so unusual.