Horse breeds brouhaha in Dedham

The newest resident of Congress Place is 14.2 hands tall, weighs about 870 pounds, and turns five in May. She is a sorrel and white paint mare named Fancy, and she has caused quite a stir in the neighborhood since her arrival Thursday.

She is being kept in a small stall inside a garage-turned-stable at 41 Congress Place, off Bussey Street in East Dedham. Some neighbors call it animal abuse. The horse's caretakers say she is well looked after, and that financially they had no option but to bring her into the suburban neighborhood.

The horse is owned by Amanda Labarge, 20, who lives with her fiance, Michael Cimeno, 43, in Norwood. His mother, Judi Cimeno, owns and lives on the half-acre Dedham property that is now Fancy's home.

"It's a financial situation where we didn't have much of a choice," Michael Cimeno said about the horse's move from its previous location, where he and Labarge could not afford to pay for its boarding. They said the main cost of a horse is housing, which can run from $500 to $800 a month.

"When we brought her here, I didn't think it was going to be that big of a problem with a million people down here causing trouble," said Cimeno, a tilesetter by trade, who is currently a stay-at-home dad with his three children.

He said he filed an application with the Board of Health for a livestock permit last week. But because the permit was not in hand when the horse moved in, a police detective told the couple Saturday that the police would begin fining them $20 a day for a bylaw violation, Cimeno said.

"We are making arrangements to find her a place to stay while we're waiting for the permit," he said. "We haven't been fined as of yet, but if we don't have the horse out of here shortly, I'm sure they're going to start imposing the fines on us."

Dedham's health director and Board of Health chairman did not return calls.

Neighbor Diane Grandy said she was very concerned about "having a horse this close in a residential area."

"What happens if the horse gets out and starts running around? It's a safety issue," said Grandy, who lives at 45 Congress Place, adjacent to a side yard where Fancy could potentially spend time outside. "This is a hazard to my neighbors, to my children. I'm trying to raise my family here, and I can't."

Grandy was irritated that Cimeno and Labarge do not live on the street, calling the situation "completely absurd."

"You can't just come in and drop a horse here and leave," she said. "They don't live here. There's no reason why they should have a horse."

With no one home during the day on Friday, Granby talked about how the horse was being kept inside.

"The poor horse is in there - it's cruelty to animals, boarded up," she said. "There's no air in there."

Yesterday, another neighbor claimed the horse had been "in the garage since Friday morning at 7:30."

"If that's not animal abuse, I don't know what is," said the neighbor, who did not give her name.

Cimeno and Labarge said they try to take the horse outdoors every day, weather permitting, using a 30-yard line. Fancy did not go outside yesterday.

Meantime, officer Nadia Branch of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals visited the premises yesterday afternoon and said the horse appeared to be well-cared for.

"There's no violations of the animal cruelties law," she said.

Cimeno said his neighbors are "worried about the smell of the manure," but "one horse doesn't create so much waste or smell." To demonstrate, he pointed out that a reporter was standing in front of a wheelbarrow of fresh manure inside the stable yesterday. There was hardly an odor.

Cimeno said they plan to compost the manure in a bin out back.

"We're going to do everything humanly possible to keep everything clean and keep everybody happy," he said. The back yard is being cleaned to set up some paddocks, he added.

Cimeno said he also hopes to give Dedham kids "pony rides" at Condon or Memorial parks, if that can be arranged. (Fancy is barely bigger than a pony.) He referred to Fancy as "a family member."

Labarge has had Fancy since the horse was born. She said the horse is fed in the morning and in the late afternoon.

"If you've got food, she's your best friend," she said.

Daily News staff writer Edward B. Colby can be reached at 781-433-8336 or ecolby@cnc.com.