Horse house: an unstable situation

An open door lets Bullseye come and go between the house and makeshift pen.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- It's unclear how long Bullseye the miniature horse will be staying at a North Side address.
The little black horse isn't allowed to stay in the vacant house and makeshift pen off the back porch at 47 Illinois Ave., city officials said today.
Police reported about 6 p.m. Tuesday that they had found the animal in the feces-littered living room of the two-story, brick house.
A woman who lives on Indiana Avenue, which is behind Illinois, told police that the horse belongs to her family. The animal has been in the vacant house about a week, she told police, because the stable in Liberty they used had closed.
Police left the horse there until better living arrangements could be made.
Dave Nelson, a human agent at Animal Charity, was on the scene taking pictures and gathering evidence Tuesday, police said.
A garden hose was running this morning between the Illinois address and the home directly behind it on Indiana. A man who answered the door at the Indiana home this morning refused to comment.
Violation
Farm animals can't be kept in the city unless the health commissioner gives approval and there are at least three acres, said Bill D'Avignon, city deputy director of planning and zoning.
"It's certainly a violation of the zoning ordinance," he said.
The owner will be given seven to 10 days to remove the horse, said Bob Hewitt, director of environmental health at the city Health Department. The owner will be cited to court and face a $100 fine if the animal is not removed, he said.
The animal can stay on the property in the interim as long as it's not a danger to anyone, Hewitt said.
There was no discernible odor surrounding the property, and the horse wasn't making any noise this morning.
A woman who answered the door at a house next door on Illinois said the animal was adorable and should stay. She declined to give her name.
The scene
An open door lets Bullseye, who wears a blue halter, to come and go from the house.
A new stockade fence screens the pen from view. New chain-link fencing keeps the horse inside the pen.
A couple of buckets hang low enough for the horse to reach them, but what was in them wasn't visible from outside the fence. There is hay and sawdust mixed inside the pen, and the horse has a basketball to kick around.
rgsmith@vindy.com