Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages

COURIER JOURNAL  - LOUISVILLE, KY   
Saturday, Nov. 3, 2007 -

Abuse of Carriage Horses in New York Lamented

I am writing to America because I am at my wits' end. I finally see that my city, New York, has no shame or no compassion. Every year lately and for decades, Central Park carriage horses have been dying in the street. From exhaustion, from panic. It is not uncommon for a horse to bolt into traffic, galloping crazy down streets and into intersections. It is a miracle that nobody has been killed by this. The horses are made to work 14 hours a day; they have to stand in the street (a very busy avenue filled with exhaust fumes and constant traffic). Most of them have no shade, and none has protection from the elements. None has good access to water. And unless the temperature is 90 degrees, they are out there. (Do you know how hot it gets in Manhattan in summer? With the humidity, 80 feels like 100 sometimes.) And when they go home at night? Cramped quarters.

So, I am writing to America. If nobody takes a carriage ride in Central Park, the horse owners will go out of business. It is not romantic or quaint or sweet to ride in a carriage once you realize the horse may be really old and exhausted and ready to die, and that these are this horse's last days. This is such a bad thing a commission recently issued a report confirming everything I am telling you here, and still nothing has been done. The deaths and the events of panicked, galloping animals are in the paper for one day, and then on to the next story. Other cities have banned carriage horses because of the cruelty in the whole thing. New York, magnificent, wonderful New York, looks the other way. Please, please, please: If you visit New York, do not take a carriage ride. Make us feel ashamed.

Jeannie Reed, New York