WHILE most people choose to drive or use public transport, Helen Wapshot prefers to get around on four legs.

Ms Wapshot can often be seen riding her horse through the main streets of St Albans, running errands or stopping for a coffee at her local café.

The St Albans resident has kept up this routine for the past two years but fears her riding days could be over.

Brimbank Council has ordered the pensioner to remove her two horses from a St Albans lot amid concerns the land is too small to accommodate them. Jeremy Wood, the council’s manager of City Development said the council was concerned about the welfare of the horses kept on a quarter of a hectare parcel of land in Davy St.

“The horses in question are located in what is essentially a factory area, on an undersized plot,” Mr Wood said.

“This is significantly under the required size, which is a minimum of two hectares for the first animal and a further 0.5 hectares for each additional animal.”

But Ms Wapshot says she had never received any complaints about her horses and claimed the land was big enough to house them.

“I’ve had horses here for well over two years,” Ms Wapshot said.

“And I’ve been keeping horses elsewhere in St Albans for over 20 years.”

Ms Wapshot said she feared her horses, Ricky and Montana, would have to be sold or put down if she was forced to remove them.

“I’m a pensioner and I use this land for free,” Ms Wapshot said.

“If I have to vacate it, I don’t think I could afford to keep them anywhere else.