DENVER-
The owner of the miniature horse Ragtime, who died last year just days after moving to Colorado, is suing a veterinarian who treated the animal and his former employer, claiming negligence.
In a complaint filed May 9 in El Paso County District Court, Patty Fairchild alleges that Jeffrey Weinberg treated Ragtime with a variety of medicines, mineral oil and salts shortly before the horse died on Jan. 3, 2006.
Fairchild claimed in an interview that Weinberg did not thoroughly examine Ragtime, who appeared to be unwell, before starting treatment. She said she learned from the Colorado Board of Veterinary Medicine that her 175-pound horse was given too much magnesium.
“His little body just couldn’t take it,” claimed Fairchild’s attorney, Caroline Cooley.
Weinberg, listed in the complaint as a resident of Peyton, could not be reached by telephone for comment. A man answering Weinberg’s cell phone last week hung up when a reporter identified himself. A subsequent message was not immediately returned.
The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, also names Weinberg’s former employer, Elbert, Colo.-based Range View Equine Associates, as a defendant. A woman who answered the phone at Range View said the owner declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.
Fairchild received Ragtime as a gift from her husband, Rich, and the 29-inch-tall horse lived like a pet with the run of their house when they lived in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Ragtime became famous in the 1980s when the city and a homeowners association sought to oust the horse under anti-livestock rules. Two court rulings disagreed, and Ragtime was permitted to stay.
The Fairchilds moved with Ragtime to nearby Simi Valley, Calif. In December 2005, the couple sent Ragtime and his mate, Sassy, to a friend’s house near Colorado Springs, in anticipation of their own move to nearby Castle Rock, Colo.
When the 19-year-old horse appeared to be developing colic, Fairchild’s friend called Range View Equine Associates, which dispatched Weinberg, according to the complaint.
Shortly after Ragtime’s death, Fairchild, an animal trainer who runs Ragtime’s Ranch and Movie Animal Rentals in Castle Rock, complained to the State Board of Veterinary Medicine.
In April 2006, the board referred the case to the state attorney general’s office for disciplinary action, said Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies spokesman Geoffrey Hier. Hier said the board found “that there was probable cause to believe that Dr. Weinberg violated the veterinary practice act” but did not elaborate.
Attorney General spokesman Nate Strauch would not comment, saying an investigation is ongoing.
Cooley estimated the horse’s value at more than $100,000 because Ragtime was a stud animal.
Ragtime appeared in a 1998 movie titled “The Adventures of Ragtime.” The horse also appeared on the Animal Planet channel, the “Hollywood Squares” game show and a Cracker Jack Super Bowl commercial.
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