Stop Horse Drawn CarriagesWorked to death - NYC Carriage Horse Collapses and Dies
Stop Horse Drawn Carriages

Resources and information to help end abusive horse-drawn carriage businesses.

FROM Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages
March 2019

Carriage Horse fall

On Saturday, February 29th a pedicab driver captured video of a horse in Central Park who kept falling on himself and being dragged by his owner. The horse was taken back to the 52nd Street stable and was euthanized.

The industry is saying the horse had a heart attack. However, I checked with an expert in the carriage industry and was told something different but much more believable.

This horse most likely had tying-up disease or exertional rhabdomyolysis. This comes from a horse not working for a long time and suddenly being forced to work. The horse needs to treated very carefully monitoring the amount of feed before he is put out to work. If not, his muscles will freeze up and he will lose control of his hind end.

This person said it was wrong to push him into a trailer and a vet should have come to the site and euthanized him. But the drivers wanted to get the horse off the street at any cost.

If it were a heart attack, the horse would have dropped on the street and died right there.

Horses get sick and die. That is a fact. But the most horrible thing that happened here is this:

  1. The horse was obviously put out to work after being idle for a while - with no knowledge of how to address such a situation.
  2. Instead of putting the horse out of his misery right away (by getting a vet to the scene) the drivers shoved him in a trailer and made him suffer and wait to be put to rest.
  3. This was done for "appearances sake" - not for the horses sake.

The Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages has always called for a ban - NOT MORE REGULATIONS - but our call was to deaf ears. When the City Council and Mayor de Blasio decided not to do anything about this brutal and inhumane business, we stepped back. But we are still there behind the scenes.

ACTIONS:

Call your Council Member's office. Don't e-mail. Mention this horse and tell them the City Council must shut down this cruel industry. It is way past time for them to do the right thing. It is not romantic; not nostalgic, not picturesque - but it is certainly cruel.

Find your Council Member HERE and make the call.

Call Speaker Corey Johnson's office at (212) 564-7757. The Speaker has it in his power to shut down this cruel industry. 

AND please sign this petition: Justice for Carriage Horse Who Collapsed in the Streets

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