Horse kept in living room of semi is finally moving on

A HORSE that lived in a woman’s living room has become council property after inspectors said keeping it in a house was cruel.

Western Isles council has been embroiled in a four-year legal battle over the welfare of the animal – called Grey Lady Too – which has cost them around £10,000.

Stephanie Noble, its owner, claimed she had no option but to move the Connemara pony into her home after she fell out with the owner of the land on which the mare previously grazed.

She moved it indoors over winter in 2012 after adapting her living room and kitchen, while she lived upstairs in the semi-detached house at Back on the Isle of Lewis.

While she insisted it was the bestkept pony in Scotland, her neighbours disagreed and, after its lodgings were inspected by experts, it was removed by the council in 2014.

In the following years, the authority is understood to have spent around £10,000 on the animal’s upkeep.

The council has now won the right to sell the pony or give it to a charity after Sheriff David Sutherland granted a disposal order.

A spokesman for the local authority said: “From the outset, the council’s concern in this matter has been the welfare of the animal and we welcome the court’s decision which validates the council’s position and actions.”

Ms Noble no longer lives in the house, but previously described the removal of the horse as “torture”.