Ragtime Wins: Court Rules Horse Can Stay Home

Ragtime, the 28-inch-high miniature horse, has cleared what appears to be the last hurdle in a two-year-long fight by its owner to keep the animal as a pet at her Thousand Oaks home.

Ventura Municipal Judge John J. Hunter on Wednesday found Ragtime owner Patty Fairchild not guilty of charges that she violated a city zoning law prohibiting horses and other livestock in her Oakbrook Village neighborhood. Following a two-day trial, the judge ruled that because of its size, Fairchild’s American miniature horse should be considered a domestic pet, such as a cat or dog.

“I was speechless,” Fairchild said in a telephone interview. “I was crying and hugging my attorney.”

The judge’s ruling is the latest in a series of court battles fought by Fairchild, who was first told by city officials to remove Ragtime in December, 1986. After appointing a citizens committee to study whether Ragtime was a horse or a pet, the City Council voted in May, 1987, to press efforts to have Ragtime evicted. Since then, attorneys for the city have lost two other court cases against Fairchild.

A judge had ruled in September, 1987, that the city zoning code regarding horses was poorly worded and unenforceable. The law at the time prohibited the keeping of two horses on properties that are smaller than 20,000 square feet, such as Fairchild’s.

Attorneys for the city appealed the decision. But an appellate court upheld the ruling in July. Two days after the appellate court ruled that the city law could not be used to prosecute Fairchild because it did not mention restrictions against a single horse, the city issued a new citation under a law revised to close that loophole.

Fairchild, who faced fines of up to $160 a day for keeping Ragtime at her home, said the animal made a good impression before the judge during a court appearance Tuesday. “He was compared with a Great Dane that weighed the same as Ragtime but came in panting and knocking things over,” she said.

Fairchild said she hopes that this is the last time she hears from the city about Ragtime. Officials from the Thousand Oaks city attorney’s office did not return telephone calls for comment. “I just hope that they don’t waste any more taxpayers’ money,” Fairchild said.

In the past, City Atty. Mark G. Sellers said he could not calculate how much the city has spent trying to evict Ragtime.