COALITION TO
BAN HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGES




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CARRIAGE HORSES
Letters & Editorials

Carriage Owners Don't Get It; Stop Being So Inhumane to Your Horses!

Hudson Reporter, NJ 08/13/2006

Dear Editor:

It's not just the accidents and substandard stables that prompted us to form the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages. It's because this industry is by its very nature exploitative and inherently inhumane to horses. This is what the carriage owners do not get. There is no room for debate.

Wearing blinders to prevent peripheral vision and shackled to their carriages for nine hours straight with no opportunity to move freely is not humane. It is also not humane to work nose to tailpipe breathing in car exhaust -or at high humid temperatures that are technically within regulations; or to continue this restriction in their stalls with no opportunity for turnout and most with no opportunity to lie down comfortably. If the drivers say their stables are so good, why aren't they open to the public?

People who take these rides are not good judges as to whether or not the industry is inhumane. Their attitude to the horses is very telling when they finish their ride and have their picture taken - careful not to include the horse who just pulled their weight around the park.

Elizabeth Forel
Founding member of Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages Coalition for NYC Animals, Inc.

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