Simi Valley, Calif. – The miniature horse Ragtime, which gained fame in the late 1980s during a bitter battle over land-use rules in the city of Thousand Oaks, died just days after moving to Colorado.
“I started screaming. He’s meant so much to so many people,” Ragtime’s owner Patty Fairchild said Wednesday.
Fairchild received Ragtime as a gift from her husband, Rich, and the tiny horse lived like a pet with the run of their house when they lived in the city of Thousand Oaks.
Ragtime became famous in the 1980s when the city and a homeowners association sought to oust the 29-inch-tall horse under anti-livestock rules. Two court rulings disagreed, and Ragtime was permitted to stay. The Fairchilds later moved with Ragtime to nearby Simi Valley.
The Fairchilds sent Ragtime and his mate, Sassy, from Simi Valley to Colorado on Dec. 28 in anticipation of their own move there this weekend. Ragtime and Sassy were staying with a friend of the Fairchilds near Colorado Springs, Rich Fairchild said.
The 19-year-old horse wasn’t well and was treated by a veterinarian. Ragtime was found dead Tuesday.
“Patty is taking it very hard,” Rich Fairchild said. “Rags was her boy from when he was one day old. He has been living with her ever since. They have been through some tough times together.” Ragtime appeared a 1998 movie titled “The Adventures of Ragtime.”
