Newton Called a 28-Inch Therapy Horse a 'Large Animal.' Now Clover Gets Six Months to Fight It

Meet Clover. She's a miniature therapy horse, 28 and a half inches tall, and she lives in a backyard in Auburndale with Judy Hinchey. According to The Heights, Hinchey has spent more than $100,000 on a shelter for Clover and partly retired to take care of her, with plans to start a therapy service.

In September, after roughly 10 neighbor complaints about the smell of manure, Newton ruled that Clover counts as a "Large Animal" that needs a stable, and that the property didn't meet manure storage rules. The city gave Hinchey 21 days to remove her. That deadline has now passed, The Heights reported.

Here's the twist. Hinchey told The Heights the city agreed to let Clover stay for up to six months, or until her appeal is over, whichever comes first. She's filing in Middlesex Superior Court and plans to argue the decision was "arbitrary and capricious," because Newton has no rules written for miniature horses, and because she built a stall, not a stable, and followed manure rules for it.

"None of them smell manure," she said of the neighbors next to her. The city sees it differently. That's what the judge is for.

What we still don't know: whether Newton will write rules for miniature animals, what the neighbors who complained think of the delay, and whether a court sees a 28-inch horse the same way the city does.