Disabled woman wants service horse to live in apartment

The Central Vermont Community Land Trust usually has no objection to a service animal moving into its apartments.

But Patty Cooper's service animal is a horse of a different colour: a black and white miniature horse, to be exact.

The nonprofit housing group is trying to figure out whether it can accommodate the disabled woman's new companion amid concerns about the horse's need for grazing space and whether it will be adequately housebroken.



Cooper said she has built a stall in her apartment to accommodate the horse.

Cooper's plan is to hook the horse, named Earl, to her wheelchair in horse-and-buggy fashion.

Cooper can walk, but spends most of her time in a wheelchair. She said that years ago, she was injured while horseback riding and suffers from a disease that causes her bones to be brittle. She said Earl is trained to pick her up if she falls out of her wheelchair.