The Mare's Leg is fairly new. Maybe it's just a signal that Henry is constantly working on making better guns.
I've looked their stuff over and wouldn't mind trying one of their lever action .22 carbines, but the Mare's Leg looks quirky. Might be great for shooting at stuff for fun, but with no stock, I don't see it being useful to me.
I may have missed this, but why are we limited to .22 LR as the only choice for this thread?
Lately, if a guy didn't have .22 ammo he probably wouldn't be able to buy any. Conversely, there has been as much 9mm available as I could afford and even a lot of .38, .357, .40, and .45 ACP.
For a gun that is only likely to be brought out in the most dire circumstance, the .22 isn't the best choice. It excels if you need to carry a lot of ammo, but in a crisis, I'd be more likely to need a gallon of water than a brick of .22.
I'd still vastly prefer a concealable centerfire handgun and a couple reloads to any .22.