Is a miniature horse a large animal? The City of Newton says yes, and it has ordered a woman in Auburndale to remove her miniature horse, Clover, from her backyard within 21 days. Judy Hinchey says she spent about $100,000 on fencing and a shelter after getting city permits, and she plans to take the fight to Superior Court.
The question sounds like a joke. The law behind it is not: a narrowly worded city regulation, a second city department’s approvals, a 60-day deadline, and a federal rule about miniature horses that most people have never heard of and that probably does not help her.
What Newton decided
According to WCVB, Newton Director of Public Health Services Lisa Heyer upheld the denial of Hinchey’s license after a September 16 hearing. Her written decision says “a miniature horse is a breed of horse and thus, based on the regulations, constitutes a large animal” under the city’s Rules and Regulations for the Keeping of Animals and Live Fowl.
That classification carries the city’s stable rules with it. Large animals must have manure stored at least 100 feet from property lines and 50 feet from any dwelling, WCVB reported, and Hinchey’s lot cannot meet that. Her position is that a miniature horse is a small animal, which would require only a 10-foot setback, and that other Newton departments approved the construction. The decision rejected both points: it said Health and Human Services approval is required separately, and that keeping a single horse in a stall does not exempt the property from the manure rules.
The dispute started with neighbor complaints about manure odor; WCVB reported ten. Hinchey’s lawyer told WHDH that towns including Bourne and Needham distinguish miniature horses from full-size horses in their rules.
How she can appeal: 60 days, in Superior Court
If the city’s rules provide no other appeal, the usual route to court from a local licensing decision like this one is an action “in the nature of certiorari” under G.L. c. 249, § 4. The statute allows review of “errors in proceedings which are not according to the course of the common law, which proceedings are not otherwise reviewable by motion or by appeal,” and it has a hard deadline: the action “shall be commenced within sixty days next after the proceeding complained of.”
Certiorari is not a new hearing. A judge reviews the record of what the city did and asks whether it made a legal error or acted arbitrarily. That shapes her strongest arguments:
- The words of the regulation. If Newton’s rule defines “large animal” by a list such as horses, cattle and donkeys, the city’s reading, that a miniature horse is still a horse, is straightforward. If the rule defines it by size or weight, her reading gets much stronger. The regulation’s exact text will decide a lot.
- The approvals. She built after the city issued permits. That is a sympathetic fact. Whether it matters legally depends on whether another department’s approval can bind the health department’s separate licensing decision, and the city’s decision says it cannot.
- Consistency. Evidence that Newton has treated miniature horses as small animals before, or that its own departments read the rule her way, can help show the decision was arbitrary.
Does federal disability law protect Clover?
Probably not, on the facts reported. Federal ADA regulations do have a special rule for miniature horses. Under 28 C.F.R. § 35.136(i), a public entity “shall make reasonable modifications in policies, practices, or procedures to permit the use of a miniature horse by an individual with a disability if the miniature horse has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of the individual with a disability.”
The key words are “individually trained to do work or perform tasks” for a person with a disability. Hinchey has described Clover as a pet, a therapy animal that visits nursing homes, hospitals and schools, and an emotional support animal. The ADA’s definition of a service animal, in 28 C.F.R. § 35.104, says that “the provision of emotional support, well-being, comfort, or companionship do not constitute work or tasks.” A therapy animal that comforts other people is not doing tasks for its owner’s disability. So the miniature horse rule, which is about access to facilities for a disabled handler, does not appear to fit.
What happens next
- 21 days to remove Clover under the city’s order, unless a court intervenes.
- 60 days to file for certiorari review in Superior Court.
- A request to pause the order. To keep Clover home while the case is pending, she would need to ask the court for a stay of the removal order.
Frequently asked questions
Is a miniature horse a large animal in Newton?
Newton’s Director of Public Health Services ruled that it is, writing that “a miniature horse is a breed of horse and thus, based on the regulations, constitutes a large animal” under the city’s animal-keeping rules, according to WCVB.
How do you appeal a city health department decision in Massachusetts?
Often through a civil action in the nature of certiorari in Superior Court under G.L. c. 249, section 4, which must be filed within 60 days of the decision. The court reviews the record for legal error rather than holding a new hearing.
Are miniature horses service animals under the ADA?
Not technically; only dogs are service animals. But 28 C.F.R. section 35.136(i) requires public entities to make reasonable modifications to allow a miniature horse individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability. Emotional support and therapy work do not count as tasks.
Why is Newton making her remove the horse?
Because it classified the miniature horse as a large animal subject to stable rules requiring manure storage at least 100 feet from property lines and 50 feet from any dwelling, which her Auburndale lot cannot meet, according to the city’s decision as reported by WCVB.
Sources: WCVB, September 28 and 29, 2026 (Newton’s decision, as quoted); WHDH (hearing and attorney’s statement). Newton’s regulations and the written decision were not reviewed directly. Statutory text of G.L. c. 249, section 4 read at malegislature.gov; 28 C.F.R. sections 35.104 and 35.136 read at ecfr.gov. General information about Massachusetts law, not legal advice.