Activists Renew Calls To Ban Horse-Drawn Vehicles In NYC Following Yet Another Collapse

Carriage Association Disputes Claim, Saying Animal Got 'Tangled' After 'Bucking'

November 5, 2011 12:39 AM

Horse collapses on Broadway at 60th Street in NYC (credit: CBS 2)

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NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A horse collapsed while pulling a carriage at the intersection of 60th Street and Broadway on Friday, right in the middle of the evening commute.

According to the ASPCA, the horse was suspended pending a veterinary exam and won’t return to work until the exam is completed.

It was the second horse to collapse in the street in two weeks. Last week a spooked horse crashed outside Central Park. Animal advocates say enough is enough.

“Yet again it’s another illustration of why these horses do not belong on the streets of New York City,” said Carly Knudson of New Yorkers for Clean and Livable Safe Streets.

However, a spokesperson for the Horse and Carriage Association of New York e-mailed CBS 2 early Saturday morning disputing the claim that the horse had collapsed, saying: “This horse did not ‘collapse.’ All horses were suspended from working most of this week due to storm damage in Central Park. The combination of the long period with no work and the cold snap led to this horse exhibiting normal, frisky horse behavior by bucking. A hind leg tangled with the shaft of the carriage, the horse fell, and stayed down calmly while people unhooked him from the carriage. He was walked back to his stable under his own power, without further incident.”

Last month, 15-year-old draft horse “Charlie” dropped dead as he pulled a carriage to work at Central Park. A necropsy revealed he had several ailments, including a fractured tooth and a chronic stomach ulcer.

“Some of these horses have underlying health conditions that are not being noticed or picked up in the mandatory Department of Health fact checks,” Knudson said.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is a long-time supporter of the horse and carriage trade, what he called a major source of tourism revenue. He’s not wavered from his position to keep the horses on the street.

“Most of them probably wouldn’t be alive if they didn’t have a job,” Bloomberg said recently.

State Sen. Tony Avella, however, has sponsored legislation to ban the horse and buggy rides.

“I challenge the Mayor and Speaker Quinn now to end this practice because shame on them if they continue to allow this to go on,” he said.

Infuriated by the latest incident, Avella asked how many more accidents need to happen before the practice is stopped.

“How long are we going to continue to have the cruelty to the animals, horses dropping dead in Midtown traffic? Plus the danger to pedestrians and motorists?” Avella said.

Should horse-drawn carriages be banned in New York City? Sound off in our comments section below…

Ferdinand

Unfortunately most here in this comment blog don’t realize what happens to a horse when it no longer “works.” Check out horse slaughter…and how many people in this country advocate for this. Its true, research this. So I can tell you that when these animals are done with their use they are sent to “auction,” where people think they are going on to a green pasture, but are just being bought up and shipped to canada or mexico for slaughter….yes people, we in this country banned it, and now these animals have to stand in trailers intended for cows and endure a trip north or south before they are shot in the head or electocuted for human or pet food consumption. They are killed people, but tortured with a 1000 + mile trip before they do it!!! WAKE UP….read…Sen. Max Baucus wants to reinstitute this practice in the US….open your eyes, take off your rose colored glasses!! Bloomberg knows exactly what he’s talking about!
Kristin

Do any of you understand that all of these carriage horses would just be sent to the slaughterhouse if they banned the practice, along with the millions of others that are sent there yearly? Their meat is sold to Europe.
ohsnap!

I don’t believe these animals should be working on the streets of NYC. I often think of the stress of traffic, the pollution they have to breathe and work in everyday. It was different when horses were the normal mode of transportation. Now if the horses outnumbered the cars, that would be different. As it is, no.
Charlotte

My two cents… i think horses should continue to work in New York City. I think the health department or animal services should be taking better care to make sure that the horses are being taken care of. But I see no reason to not allow them to continue to pull carriages through Central Park. I don’t think it is cruel at all.
Chris

Unfortunately if these horses lose their jobs it’s the dog food factory for them rather than retirement to the happy horsey community farm. People need to think about the consequences before they go suggesting that these horses would be better off without a role. I guess we don’t see ill treated draft horses on farms any more, of course the majority worked but had as good a life as their owners and were always well cared for. But along came the tractor and suddenly the dog food didn’t taste quite so beefy for a while. Careful what you ask for.
coloradopam

Wake up and smell the 21st century people. We do not use horses for transportation anymore. This is pure expoitation. Any of you who feels this is okay should be hooked up to a carriage and forced to drag people around the cramped, busy, smog-filled streets of NYC. Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Chris

Ask the horses if they’d rather be dead. Or don’t you know this country has more horses than it knows what to do with? Cared for and working is better than discarded and eaten.

Heather Vernon

Wow.. I can tell that most of you people have never owned a horse in your life. You can’t MAKE a horse do something it does not want to do. Try getting 1500 lbs to do something it does not like. You can’t. Our horses work with us.. we are partners, friends, and family. Horses like dogs strive to please us and do what we ask. In exchange they are well taken care of.. Remember wild horses only live a short time. They die due to diseases, starvation, and injury. Domesticated horses live up into their 30′s. You can’t tell me that man/horse relationship does not work out well for the horse in the end.

Dubloh7

I am truly glad that your horses are treated well, and you work in a partnership with them. This is just an FYI. In my youth and young adulthood, I owned my horses who were also my friends. I also worked for a horse trainer and we had literally hundreds of horses each year come through our facility. If you believe that you can’t make a horse do something, then you have (happily) never seen the ugly side of the horse world. The poor auctions and the cheap dealers, out to make a buck. I have seen things I wish I could forget, but thought I was too young or powerless to act against. I know better now, but a horse CAN be forced to do something it doesn’t want to. Let’s all try to make our pets and companion animals know that they can depend on us.

Beth Boyle

Horses like people have good days and bad and some get sick and accidents happen. I have driven horses for years and It’s much easier on a horse then being ridden. Horses are still being trucked to Canada by the thousands and slaughtered for meat. If you think these horses would be better off not working you are mistaken. In these hard times many, many horses are just being put to sleep by their owners or trucked over the border to end up as dog food or on a table being eaten in France.. My mare is now retired and its really expensive to keep her going but we do because if we sold her she would end up killed for meat in all likelihood. The public has no idea about what goes on. Retired horses do not live happily ever efter much of the time.
iggy

and when the show horse died after smashing its legs into wooden barriers in a sport for the rich, no one said a word about banning the sport. hypocrites
Donna Schultz

This must stop. My friends and I will be boycotting NYC until the carriage horse program is dissolved. No plays, movies, dining, museums, attractions until this is fixed and the horses are in pastures. Not dead like the mayor insinuated they would be if they weren’t working. I will only enter the city to participate in vigils and protests. Please join me in this and help make the mayor see how it affects the city finances as opposed to his distress over no horses no money. Please join me in this and make this midevil horror known so others may join also and the city can see the toll it may take. Also, the ASPCA is now removed from my will until they step up to the plate on this cause. Sincerely Donna Schultz

Beth Maxwell Boyle

You have never lived on a farm or around horses have you?
Heather Vernon

That’s ok.. My horse friends and I will go and be sure to take a carriage ride to support the HORSES in NYC. You realize that if these horses don’t have a job to do they will be sent to auction??? Do you know what happens to horses that go to auction? If you love these horses so much you should be paying for the carriage rides that PAY FOR THEIR FEED AND HEALTH CARE!!

Jane Doe

I wonder how many of you people actually know anything at all about horses. I don’t mean crap you’ve “heard”, or read on the internet, but actual, solid knowledge of horses. Until you have real, hands on experience with an animal like that, you really have no room to make your comments. Horses are LIVESTOCK, and if they didn’t have a job, there would be absolutely no point to them being. Yes, they’re beautiful, magnificent animals, but they’re not dogs, and they have to work for a living. I agree they need to be treated humanely, and with respect, but give me a break. These cab horses aren’t being abused. You can tell just by looking at most of them how healthy, and well cared for they are. Why would the owners abuse their income? If they don’t take care of these animals, they can’t make a living. Simple as that.

Beth Maxwell Boyle

These posters clearly know nothing about horses.

Bobbi Smith

Of course they should be banned from the streets of “NEW YORK CITY”….what are you Bloomberg…NUTS! And everyone else who lets this so called tourism business continue….you have NO BRAINS!!!! A horse belongs in a pasture, ya know, on a farm….what the hell is wrong with the way your brains work? Oh sorry, YOUR BRAINS DON’T WORK! YOU ARE THE SICK PEOPLE ON THIS EARTH THAT DESERVE NOTHING LESS THAN NOT BEING ON THIS EARTH ANY LONGER IN GOD’S EYES!!!!
PK

As a owner of horses – NO! No to banning horses in the carriage trade. No to banning Police horses. No to banning horse rentals in Central Park.

Animal Rights “people” (and I use the term loosely) won’t be happy until cats, dogs, hamsters, Guinea Pigs, etc are banned – banned in the Cities and banned in the country.

As a human being I’m insulted by those who say animals have the same rights that I do.

beth

And I am ashamed to be part of the same species as you. You sound like a real first class animal lover with a huge and generous, emphathic heart.
Jane Doe

As an animal lover, and a former breeder of stock horses, I have to agree with your comments. Animals have rights, to a point – they have the right to humane treatment, and the right to be treated with respect. They do not, however, have the right to be treated like human beings. I love my horses, and I love my other animals, but these animal rights activists are getting way out of hand.

Mary Kecko

FACT: Horses worked the streets of NYC long before cars were even thought of. BAN THE CARS from NYC – THis will provide a safer environment for the horses to do their job, that they havebeen doing for hundreds of years and return many horses to work that have not been able to work because of the cars.!! THis will eliminate the traffic congestion and pollution from the cars and Create additional jobs for people such as – Pooper scoopers, groomers, vets, stable hands, etc from the increase in horses working again. Leave the horses alone, increase the oversight in their proper care and ban the cars and STUPID people!!
libby

how many of you ‘animal lovers’ posting here have leather seats in your car, wear leather jackets or shoes, wool hats, sweater and mittens when it’s cold and let your kids use crayons?

these horse are draft animals, bred to pull PLOWS in FIELDS. pulling a lightweight vis-a-vis carriage made of light weight wood on wheels on a paved street is nothing for them. i worked in boston as a carriage driver for 10 months (september to june) and those horses i drove had a better life than i did.
rachel york

If these horses don’t have a job, they’ll be sent to Canada for hamburger. Do you want to take one of these horses home? Thinking you are advocating the right thing, you’ll have unintended consequences.