Posted on 11/12/2007 7:04:00 PM PST by yorkie
Patty Cooper's landlord normally welcomes tenants who use animals to help them get around, such as guide dogs for the blind. So after the disabled woman bought a 32-inch-tall miniature horse to pull her wheelchair, she asked to keep the animal in her home. When her landlord rejected the request, she filed a human rights complaint.
Cooper, 50, paid $1,000 for the 1-year-old gelding named Earl, expecting to use it for trips to the bus stop and into town. The agency that owns the apartment complex in Waitsfield denied her proposal, citing concern about horse droppings, hay storage and lack of grazing space.
Cooper insists the 100-pound tobiano pinto can be house-trained and said it "just makes me so happy whenever I'm around him. I'm not lonely anymore."
The landlord has told Cooper the horse would have to be kept elsewhere—not in the 4-by-6 stall she designed in her living room. For now, Earl is staying at a farm owned by a friend in neighboring Warren, where Cooper visits and trains him.
The case has drawn national attention since The Associated Press reported on it last month as an example of disabled people using animals other than guide dogs for the blind.
Cooper, 50, has celiac disease, a disorder in which exposure to a protein called gluten destroys the ability of the small intestine to absorb nutrients and can cause brittle bones. Cooper, who broke her back for a second time four years ago, uses a wheelchair most of the time.
[snip]But the agency is weighing the specifics of Cooper's request, particularly whether Earl could be trained to relieve himself only when taken outside every three hours.
Also, the apartment complex has no place to graze a horse,
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Sure I believe that, now lets hear about the tooth fairy. :)
32” high & 100 pounds is about the size of a pretty good sized dog. It sounds strange, but it might not be that big of a deal.
Still, maybe she should find a place to live that might have more room - for the little horse’s sake.
Law lottery!
As odd as it sounds, this is very feasible. I know a lady that raised a couple of these little horses and they are very sharp and eager to please when they are happy, much as any other domesticated pet. Also, as someone else mentioned, these horses are smaller than some large breed dogs.
I think she should try to move & find a more pet friendly place for her little horse. I’ve seen these little cuties & they aren’t big but I would want it to be able to graze.
Where did you get that picture and hear that story? I’d love to hear about it.
This is silly. If a hundred-pound dog is permitted in the apartment complex, why not a mini (a miniature horse)? Minis are increasingly being used as assistance animals for people who are allergic to dogs. They wear little sneakers so they can climb stairs and are certainly no more dirty or smelly than dogs of the same size. They are also much less likely to frighten people, much less bite, and their droppings aren’t as disease-ridden as carnivore droppings are. And it’s no more unkind to keep a mini in an apartment than a large dog.
The people in this apartment complex are being very short-sighted. They’ll be lucky if this lady doesn’t take them to court.
And she will never win, if you want to check there are thousands of cases about livestock inside the city limits.
Oh, I know, believe me. I had a long argument with my teenage daughter about this last summer; she wanted to buy some miniature Babydoll Southdown sheep and tried to persuade me that our ignorant suburban neighbors would think they were poodles, and I told her we wouldn't get away with this for long.
But this woman's case is a little different. This mini-horse is a service animal and her quarrel is with the apartment management, not with local government. If she drags out the Americans with Disabilities Act she might have a chance.
Speaking as a horseowner myself, though, I agree she'd do better to move to a place where the horse-ette could eat some grass. She probably doesn't have enough money to afford to rent a house, but farms often have a house or apartment for rent.
Knew an attorney that took a pony case using that line, thing drug on for about three years and in the end he lost. You just cannot defeat zoning laws. The only people that have livestock inside the city limits on the east coast are grandfathered farms. On the west coast you have green belt zoning. As well as grandfather land.
/ping
Probably her mistake was warning the neighbors that she was getting a horse. If she’d just told them it was a big dog, they might never have known the difference. City and suburban people can be remarkably dense about farm animals.
I have one girlfriend who has a pet sheep she keeps on her farmette. She has taken it to Petsmart along with all the dogs and cats, and she smuggles it in by telling people that it’s a Bedlington Terrier. No one has a problem believing this.
Another friend who lives in a rural area has a goat. She brought it to an exhibition in a suburb recently. After the event she left it tied up while we enjoyed some refreshments. We were able to watch and hear the suburbanites as they went past. Some of them were saying, “What kind of dog is that?” while others answered, “I think it’s a German Shepherd.”
Maybe my daughter was right about our neighbors not recognizing Babydoll Southdown sheep.
My daughter at college says that same thing.
We only live in a small town in the country but have always had friends who have farms that the kids have spent time on. It doesn't take much experience to learn the basics about IDing animals but city folk don't have it.
Interesting:)
Becky
Making a miniature horse pull a wheel chair just sounds weird and possibly abusive to the horse. It would tick me off to no end if I saw a full grown adult forcing a dog to haul their big butt around by pulling them in a cart. Where the hell did she ever get this stupid idea in the first place? She should get an electric wheelchair. If a person could afford the horse, they could afford the electric wheelchair.
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