Conan responds to David Letterman's response to Conan's horse story

Not to beat a dead horse — or an alive and kicking one — but there’s still more to the saga of how Conan O’Brien received a horse named Dave from David Letterman after O’Brien penned an exemplary tribute to the departing late-night legend in the pages of EW back in 2015.

The host of Conan unspooled the lengthy, meaty story of the gift during last Friday’s appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and on Tuesday, Letterman wound up on the Jimmy Kimmel Live guest couch and countered that the horse was more gag than gift, one Conan was supposed to return (his wife found a permanent home for Dave at an equine massage center). “He’ll have the horse on the show, and it will take a dump on the show, and it will be hilarious,” Letterman told Kimmel of his thought process at the time.

On Thursday, O’Brien decided to address human Dave and his equine addendum via video message, with the help of horse Dave, who seems to be taking after his (former-or-maybe-new-who-knows-this-is-getting-confusing) owner. “Sorry about the whole mix-up regarding Dave the horse,” O’Brien said. “When you sent him to me, I had no idea that he was a rental. Well, these things happen all the time, when one man sends another man… a horse. Either way, he’s doing great. You can see, he’s fine. He’s grown kind of a long kooky beard, but I guess that’s his thing now. God love him.”

O’Brien then slapped a sticker on Dave (the horse) and sent him on a UPS truck, headed back to Dave (the human).

The end. (Maybe?)