Residents of an exclusive suburb have been left shocked by the discovery of parts of a dead horse's body at the front door of a local home.

Occupants of the Rawson Street property in Sydney's Neutral Bay were not at home when a neighbour spotted the partial remains of a horse at the door last Thursday.

Police said the neighbour who reported the incident was heading out for a morning walk at about 6.30am, the Daily Telegraph reports.

Other neighbours told the police they heard voices earlier in the morning outside the house where the horse's remains were found.

The remains were later taken away by the North Shore Council, which said it had never been called to collect an animal other than a possum or a cat.

A council spokeswoman told the Daily Telegraph the partial remains of the horse were 'taken to a local waste transfer station before they went to landfill'.

The incident was a chilling reminder of the scene from The Godfather where producer Jack Woltz, played by John Marley, finds his horse's decapitated head in his bed.