'Twas the night before Christmas

no break for the horses
Another busy week for carriage horses, who in New York City were getting a lot of attention after a video from filmmaker Donny Moss showed them trotting on icy streets during a snowstorm, getting soaked by sleet, and eating wet food, while the ASPCA did little but wring its hands. If you haven't already done so, watch the video--it's a real eye-opener.

Also causing a stir are two videos from "HorsesinNYC": one showing a driver gone wild and the other documenting tourists being overcharged. All of these were much talked about. The kind souls on Care2 circulated the storm story widely, the Central Park Blogger commented on the cruelty of this outdated industry, and described the ASPCA as "woefully out of touch." Gothamist weighed in on the story and so did the Pony Tales blog. Meanwhile, two carriage crashes in South Carolina have sparked outrage (people were injured, but the cub reporter didn't see fit to tell us the fate of the horses). In Michigan, a 15-year-old boy was at the reins of a carriage that was struck by a car, a crash that injured the horse so badly it had to be euthanized.
Photo credit: Donny Moss

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