Thousand Oaks Tries Again to Evict Horse

Thousand Oaks officials, having failed in a criminal prosecution, filed a civil lawsuit against the owner of a 28-inch-high miniature horse Tuesday, seeking its removal from a suburban tract home.

The lawsuit, filed in Ventura County Superior Court, asks for a court order to have Ragtime, a 1-year-old American miniature horse, removed from the home of owner Patty Fairchild, Thousand Oaks Deputy City Atty. Shawn Mason said.

The city had formally ordered Ragtime removed from the home early last summer but was forced to drop criminal charges against Fairchild after a ruling in September. Ventura County Municipal Court Judge Herbert Curtiss III ruled that the Thousand Oaks zoning law prohibiting horses in Fairchild’s neighborhood was poorly worded and not enforceable.

Judge’s Ruling

The law, which prohibited keeping more than one horse in Fairchild’s Oakbrook area neighborhood, mentioned no restrictions on keeping a single horse, the judge ruled.

But the City Council last week amended its ordinance, which now applies to one or more horses, Mason said.

“We wanted to clear up the ordinance and say that clearly our intent was to prohibit any horses on lots less than 20,000 square feet,” Mason said. The rented house where Fairchild lives is less than half the minimum size to keep a horse, he said.

The city’s lawsuit seeks a court order to force Fairchild to comply with the new ordinance.

Fairchild was first told to remove the horse last December. She challenged that demand, maintaining that Ragtime, because of its small size, should be treated as a domestic pet such as a cat or dog.

Committee Recommendation

The issue drew nationwide attention, and the City Council ordered a citizens’ committee to study the issue. In May, the council, acting on the committee’s recommendation, voted to order Ragtime removed.

Fairchild refused and was arraigned in late June on a charge of keeping a horse on property not zoned for such animals.

Fairchild said Tuesday she spent several days in a local hospital last week because of stress ailments caused by the city’s efforts to remove Ragtime.

Of the latest city action, Fairchild said: “I’m sorry they have to waste our court time in harassing someone with a pet when I’m sure there are more serious things going on out there.”

The city seeks to have its lawsuit heard in conjunction with another suit seeking Ragtime’s eviction, filed last month by the homeowners’ association representing Fairchild’s neighborhood, Mason said.