Horse Trader

A woman has moved her horse into her home after a number of disputes with her neighbours.

Stephanie Noble, 65, moved three-year-old filly Grey Lady Too into her semi-detached home near Stornoway on Lewis. She has now been left with only one room to live in due to her horse taking up so much space, but insists that she had no choice. “It will look strange to most people but I really had no choice,” she said. “I’m living in one small bedroom upstairs. Another bedroom is full of horse equipment, another is full of horse meal and the living room is full of horse. Even the bath is full of horse mats. “I’ve heard that some call me a mad old woman but I don’t give a stuff. I know that all I’m doing is defending a principle.

“We didn’t win two wars by just sitting back and letting the Germans come steaming in. I won’t be shoved around. “The council has told me that there is no problem with me having the pony living with me but it is not ideal.” Stephanie, who moved to the Hebridean nine years ago, ran an equestrian business in Europe, Ireland and the US. She purchased Grey Lady Too, a Connemara pony, in September last year. The horse was named after Stephanie’s first Connemara pony, Grey Lady, which she owned in 1959. Speaking about Grey Lady Too, she said: “I spent £1850 on her and I think it was money well spent as she is beautiful.

My first ever Connemara pony was Grey Lady back in 1959. I decided to call her Grey Lady Too.” Stephanie began to face problems with locals after trying to keep Grey Lady Too in an unused outbuilding on communal land after arrangements for the pony’s stables and grazing fell through. She was contacted by one of her neighbours, who claimed that the outhouse belonged to him.

Stephanie was then arrested and forced to spend the night in a cell. Stephanie was contacted by the SSPCA, who attempted to persuade her to have Grey Lady Too rehomed. She attempted to arrange alternative lodgings for the pony, which led to a disagreement with the stable owner over money. The pony was then returned to Stephanie’s home on Christmas Eve and tethered on her porch. “I was faced with the choice of leaving her out in the cold or bringing her indoors and I chose to bring her in,” Stephanie said. She has now used her own furniture to create walls and has built a stable door.

She has also spent hundreds of pounds on other items for the pony, including hay and straw for bedding and cat litter for the horse’s waste. She hopes to build a stable next to her home soon, but will need £1,000 to help her get it started. Stephanie’s neighbours have not responded well to her new lodger, with one local saying: “Who in their right mind would ever want their next door neighbour to be a horse? “The problem is not unsympathetic neighbours.

She has been a pain in the neck from the minute she got here. “The pony seems quite nice – but she’s not.” A Western Isles Council spokesman said that Stephanie is allowed to keep the horse on her own property as long as no hygiene or public safety issues occur. He added that the council do not encourage people to keep horses in their homes.

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