Can anybody please tell me if this Adsense Placement under the title and at left of the horse picture is allowed or a violation to the Adsense policy?
Why wouldn't be? It complies with adsense's TOS and they can't ban you for placing an add wherever you want (of course, on your site).
I have heard placing adsense ads beside images might violate the rules. I guess this blog post is a good illustration what Google means by it - not seducing/fooling people with supporting images looking like they are part of the ads? hmm..
Yes I hope so. I am working a lot with the SEO to get more relevant ads. As you might see both the banner ad (image in top) and the text ads they are all 100 % relevant. I've been working with SEO for almost 11 years now and I have some Adsense sites too and this gives great "passive income" each month. I've been doing a heavy keyword analysis and built the website brick by brick with SEO in mind from A-Z.. I'm looking forward to see the results. Some more work to do and I hope that it will not be violating any Adsense Rules.. I think this website with its niche focus, relevant ads in high paying positions might work very well.. What do you think? Any recommendations?
If you are putting it beside an image then it's not allowed by Google. I've always avoided placements like those simply to be on the safe side. I have been e-mailed by Google once years back for having put ads alongside images, which is one reason why I never did it again. It's not allowed, case closed.
That placement is in the gray area. If you had 4 images lined up perfectly with each headline, then I'd say it's against TOS. However I wouldn't be sweating this one too much. It's your call in the end. If you feel comfortable leaving it, then go for it.