Sonny The Horse Finds A New Home

The state Supreme Court on Tuesday said that the Mignacca family can't keep their miniature horse Sonny at their home in Ridgewood estates in Cranston. This reversed a lower court ruling.

In the meantime, the Mignacca's figured out another way to get their way. They bought a farm down the street from their house . (They had been housing Sonny at the farm) That means they now have 9 horses!
They are going to tear down the house on the farm they bought and build a new one, including another small apartment for the previous owners of the farm.

Sonny weighs approximately 120 lbs, is approximately 33 inches tall, and is smaller in stature and weight than a Great Dane (which would be allowed) The Mignacci's had gotten Sonny for their son Christian as an aid to get over bacterial meningitis.


The Homeowner's Association complained that Sonny was livestock, and therefore not allowed. The Mignacci's had gotten a Zoning exemption, saying that Sonny was a pet, not livestock. The Supreme Court Judge (the late Victoria Lederberg, who authored the decision before she died, but hadn't had a chance to proclaim it.) ruled that the restrictions from the deed of the land superceded the Zoning Board decision.


Read the Lower Court's Decision(HTML)


Read the Supreme Court's Decision (PDF)