FERGUSON: City is neigh-borly to miniature horse owners
Amends ordinance to allow the diminutive creatures
 |
| David Kennedy photo - Peanut Buster Parfait is a miniature horse that now can live at Nikki Brandt's mother's house in Ferguson. The city amended an ordinance last month allowing miniature horses in some residential areas. |
"I always wanted a horse," said Brandt, 22, of Ferguson, who had worked with horses for several years as a veterinarian's aide.
The dream came true last year, when Brandt found Peanut Buster Parfait (Peanut for short), a white, 2-year-old gelding with blue eyes. But it took action by the Ferguson City Council last month to allow Peanut and another new horse, Royal McGee, to live at the home of Nikki's mother, Sharon Brandt. The Brandt property is just east of the stables where the horses are now boarded at 1000 Hudson Road. (Click here to view a related video.)
Peanut and Royal McGee are miniature horses.
Peanut is perhaps two-and-a-half feet tall on his tippy-hoofs and weighs about 130 pounds. Royal McGee, a 22-year-old brown-and-white stallion, is bigger but nowhere near the size of even a small pony.
But according to the city's ordinance regulating horses, a minimum of three acres of land is required to keep a horse on the property, with an additional acre for each additional horse.
The Brandts called Ward 2 Councilman James W. Knowles III.
"They asked if I could do something about it," Knowles said.
The result was a bill amending the city's present ordinance "distinguishing between horses and miniature horses" and regulating the keeping of them in the city.
The bill allows miniature horses to be kept on parcels of at least one acre.
A miniature horse is defined as being no more than 34 inches tall and weighing no more than 350 pounds.
Nikki Brandt said she found Peanut through the Internet at a farm in Nebraska that breeds the animals.
Peanut wasn't exactly best in show material because of bad hips. "He was a mutt," Nikki said.
When she picked him up in October, he was small enough to fit comfortably in a dog cage.
After seeing Peanut, Sharon Brandt said she had to have one, too. She bought Royal McGee from a farm near Eureka.
Royal McGee and Peanut became stable mates with other full-sized horses.
"The first thing (Royal McGee) did was go up and challenge the stallion," Sharon Brandt said.
Peanut seemed to get along with the stallion, perhaps because the big horse had a hard time seeing him, Nikki Brandt said.
She wants to use Peanut as a therapy horse that she can take to visit the elderly or sick.
Peanut is already used to being petted and fussed over. He's not shy about coming up to bystanders and poking his head into someone's hands looking for a treat.
"He's loves peppermints," Sharon Brandt said.
