Enough horsing around?

ON AN EMPTY lot in Strawberry Mansion, the weeds grow willy-nilly and waist-high, a flower-speckled urban meadow that hides the trash lining the curbs of surrounding streets.

Although it already looks like the perfect place for horses to graze, few horses have trod its overgrown earth since March, when authorities raided the site on Fletcher Street near 26th and bulldozed an entire city block.

Then, city officials accused the horse owners of squatting. Animal-cruelty agents accused them of neglect and abuse, saying that the filthy stables weren't fit for habitation. Some stables were razed, others were shuttered until repairs were done and several horses were removed for examination and care.

This month, the angry owners hit back.

On Sept. 5, they submitted paperwork to the city laying claim to the block they contend has been home to the Fletcher Street horses for nearly 100 years.

The property, the horsemen charged, has been abandoned by its various owners - including the city Redevelopment Authority and city Public Property department - for decades and therefore by law should be given free to those who are actively using it.

Shortly after the March raid, the owners sank a wooden sign into the freshly cleared earth, bearing a photocopied picture of a posh horse barn and proclaiming: "Property of Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club Coop."

"The land has been continuously used by the Fletcher Street Riding Club for well over 21 years," said the group's pro-bono attorney, Jacob Gurwitz, referring to a state land-use law that considers property abandoned and up for grabs after 21 years. "The law is clear that you lose your claim to a property if you're not doing anything with it. The city has lost control of [the block] by virtue of their neglect."

Terry Gillen, executive director of the Redevelopment Authority, said she would contest any efforts to acquire the Fletcher Street property for free.

"If a buyer wants to come and pay fair market value for a parcel, we're open to having a conversation, but if they're talking about acquiring it for less than fair market value, it's on hold," Gillen said.

"This is taxpayer land," Gillen added. "It belongs to the people of Philadelphia. So the question we should debate in public is whether the people of Philadelphia are entitled to have this land or whether it should go to a private use."

Gillen said that her legal staff would examine the horse-owners' petition, and a judge will decide whether to grant it.

Still, the Fletcher Street horsemen say that their urban farm isn't for private use. Rather, they say, it serves the community and makes better use of the land than its current absentee owners.

"Fletcher Street is like a safe haven for kids," said Ellis Ferrell, president of the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club Coop. "We get kids off the street and keep them out of trouble."

Dozens of area youths have flocked to the farm for decades to learn equestrian care and ride horses through city streets and nearby parks.

Despite last March's raid, the horse-owners contend that they never neglected or abused their horses.

Their problem is finances, they say.

"We don't have the money to have a fancy-looking barn, so from the outside it might look shabby," Ferrell said. "But we take good care of the horses."

Outside the stables, on one recent weekday, there were no signs of neglect or abuse. One young man hosed down a horse, while another shoveled manure out of stalls and into a nearby Dumpster. About 45 horses live there; another 15 were relocated after March's raid.

If they are successful in legally laying claim to the land, the horse owners plan a massive fundraising effort to build their dream barn.

There, the horses would live in clean comfort and have a roomy, fenced corral in which to roam, while kids could learn how to care for the animals and get after-school tutoring and mentoring at an on-site clubhouse and computer lab.

"This is a community jewel," Ferrell said.