Miniature Horse Wins Court Fight Over Home

Ragtime, a 27 1/2-inch-high miniature horse, is a household pet, not a barnyard animal, and so may continue living in a Thousand Oaks house, a Ventura Superior Court judge ruled Thursday.

Judge Edwin M. Osborne denied a request by the Oakbrook Village Homeowners Assn., which sought to have the 177-pound horse removed from the house of his owner, Patti Fairchild. The association’s civil suit claimed that Fairchild kept Ragtime in violation of the rules of the 300-house neighborhood in the northeast section of the city.

Ragtime’s reprieve comes after years of legal battles with the city of Thousand Oaks, which also sought unsuccessfully to have the gray-and-white horse removed.

Roy Rones, Fairchild’s brother, said that his sister has spent $40,000 defending her right to keep the three-year-old pet and that she was out celebrating Thursday night.