More Tales of the Weird in Hell's Kitchen

This chilly afternoon I found myself in the badlands of W. 45th Street, home to the sad-looking Shamrock Stables. It was around 4:30 pm and a carriage driver was stuck in traffic as he headed west to 11th Avenue. (This north-south speedway is one of the scary and congested routes that the horses must travel on their way to Central Park for the night shift.)

The driver got antsy trying to weave in and out of traffic, so he steered his horse up onto the crumbling sidewalk to get into prime position to turn right onto 11th. Perhaps he deemed this strategy the lesser of two evils, since the Metropolitan Lumber workers were zipping around the other side of the street on a forklift. The white horse soldiered on, pulling the white carriage. I said a prayer under my breath, knowing how far they still had to travel in Friday afternoon traffic.

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Coming up: Pop quiz! Which horses have to travel the farthest to and from work? We'll map their routes at www.MapmyRun.com