Council action against woman who lives with horse

A council has taken legal action against a woman who has kept a horse in her living room for the last two years.

Picture: PA

The three-year-old dapple grey, named Grey Lady Too, took up residence in Stephanie Noble’s living room after a dispute over grazing left the filly without a field.

Her owner has put in a hay bed and turned her chairs into feeding troughs to accommodate the animal.

Currently the horse passes through four doors to go in and out of the house from inside her stable in the front living room.

The council is insisting that the four-year-old dappled grey must have at least two feet clearance above its head while in the living room at the home in Back on the Isle of Lewis.

Neighbours beside the semi-detached home in Broadbay View say they often see the horse staring out of the ground-floor living room as they pass.

But a defiant Stephanie Noble, who has now been served with an animal care notice, says she will fight the moves by the council.

She says that when the horse’s thick bedding – which raises the pony’s height – is removed from the living room “there’s enough room to stand a Shetland pony on her”.

Stephanie Noble, 67, said she had no choice but to move her pony into her home after the animal was “dumped” on her lawn on Christmas Eve two years ago following a dispute with the owner of the land where the filly had previously grazed.

She said: “The pony is very happy in the lounge and the Scottish SPCA have checked her and say she is good health.

“This move by the council comes from people who don’t understand animals.

“I don’t think any horse or pony should be put out in this climate in winter – and that is where she’ll end up if they force me by the end of the month.

“If I get taken to court I will fight it with very good and sound arguments.”

A spokesman for Western Isles Council said, “Although the horse is being kept in a private home and not a council property, our concern is about the welfare of the horse.”

A spokeswoman for Scottish SPCA confirmed they had checked Lady Grey Too and her living accommodation. She said. “We would have had concerns if the horse suffering in any way. But she is actually in very good condition.