A very dangerous mix

Central Park looked a little like a Six Flags amusement park on Sunday. Watch these accidents waiting to happen: the careless children riding bikes in front of horses, the drivers turned around backward, the sirens and speeding cars, the pedicabs zig-zagging on East Drive at 72nd Street. The person who sent me this asked me to delete a few expletives.

Also notice the white horse who stumbles (cue in to 12 seconds).

Take action to help the horses. Visit the website of the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages (if you're on the fence about a ban, this website (www.banhdc.org) explains why an outright ban is needed). Also sign these petitions: Intro. 670, which would close the current loophole that allows NYC carriage horses to end up at kill auctions, which are a one-way trip to the slaughterhouse; and a New York state bill that would ban horse-drawn carriages in New York City.

How can New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn support this dangerous industry? There is going to be a gruesome accident. The question is not if, but when.

Horses + traffic = danger ahead

Six blocks from the place where the carriage horse Spotty died in a horrific spooking accident in 2006, the white horse (in front of the building) is seen yesterday sandwiched in between parked cars and moving taxicabs.

A recipe for trouble, considering how easily horses spook and the consequences when a 1,500-pound animal runs wild.

This is business as usual for the carriage horses who live in the cramped and substandard stables at West Side Livery and Central Park Carriages. Both of these are on the far west side of Manhattan, below the Lincoln Tunnel. At 42nd Street, the scene is chaos--two bus lanes feeding eastward into the Port Authority, cars coming up Tenth Avenue, either via the tunnel or from lower Manhattan. This video from "HorsesinNYC" tells the story and shows the traffic and dangerous conditions that are a fact of life for the horses.

Bucolic Central Park? Not exactly

Central Park is one of the most beautiful places in New York City. Its pastoral settings pay tribute to Frederick Law Olmsted, who together with Calvert Vaux, designed the park in a simpler era. He had a great deal of foresight yet surely could not imagine how crowded parts of the park would become. Ironically, the most congested part of the park is section in which horse-drawn carriages are largely confined--the so-called "lower loop." See the first photo? These guys are about to make a left turn--in front of the horse.

This 1.7-mile oval stretches from the park's southern boundary at 59th Street to the east-west transverse at 72nd Street. And make no mistake--there are dangers to pedestrians, bikers, skateboarders, and horses in this part of the park.

The junction immediately southeast of 72nd street is easily the most hazardous part of the park in terms of collisions, which often are associated with injuries to people. Runners and bicyclists are aware, if not always mindful, of the risks, and accidents occur here--on this hill--with some regularity.

Car, pedicab, and carriage traffic moves around this loop in a counterclockwise direction, and car and taxicab traffic feeds into the park at 72nd Street from Fifth Avenue.


Skateboarders swarm the area, loving its hills.

Runners, walkers, skateboarders, and bicyclists have the option of going left on 72nd Street toward the west side, or continuing north on East Drive up the hill toward the Metropolitan Museum or Great Lawn. All the while, cars and carriages are bearing down and making a left turn as people either cross 72nd St. to go north, or bear left.

Decisions are made quickly, and often a horse-drawn carriage will be cut off abruptly. That is unwise.

Nearly 5,100 runners took part in a New York Road Runners Race on May 8, and they poured out of the park at E. 72nd Street in droves, as they typically do on any given weekend. Tourists were out on rented bicycles, maps in hand. Fast racing-type bicyclists are always out.

I observed this junction for about 10 minutes and saw a runner very nearly get run over by a pedicab (which, like carriage, can't exactly stop on a dime!). In this dangerous mix, the carriages are working, and the drivers often have their back turned so that the can chat with the passengers (as I have documented on this blog). Among all the many near-misses, a serious accident is waiting to happen. The many recent horse spooking incidents, including a runaway horse who tossed his rider during the royal wedding procession, underscore the danger of putting horses into loud and chaotic situations.

Get the facts about carriage rides, carriage accidents, and what you can do to help the horses.
Did you know? There's a global coalition called Horses Without Carriages International
Horses Without Carriages International Day is June 4, 2011

And...they're off!

The slave drivers are gearing up for another steamy summer. This is Tenth Avenue, around 44th Street. The general vicinity of one of the most gruesome carriage horse spooking accidents in recent memory, the accident that killed a young horse named Spotty in 2006. I've got plenty of spies in Hell's Kitchen and the one who snapped this photo tells me that this horse was making very good time making his way up the avenue. Hope the driver is watching out for those post-winter epic potholes.

A blight on a beautiful city

In the week since Elizabeth Forel's opinion piece (Let carriage horses run free) was published in the New York Daily News, the letters have been pouring in to the newspaper. She raised some fundamental questions, namely, "Aren't we a better, more compassionate people than to continue to allow these horses to be exploited for profit?" Carol D. from Ohio wrote in to say: "Please ban carriage rides. I will not visit New York City again until you stop this inhumane practice." From Ossining, New York, a reader commented: "I get depressed and angry every time I walk by the horses near Central Park." Compassionate people from near and far see that this is wrong. Why do the decision-makers in New York City turn a blind eye to the inhumane treatment of the horses? Why do lawmakers condone such a mismanaged, out-of-control industry?
The ASPCA and Humane Society have deemed New York City's carriage industry to be inhumane. The mayor thinks he knows better? We know he's arrogant, but that is ridiculous.
Tourists by the busloads are deposited at Central Park, where they're likely to be hustled into taking a ride--at any price. Sadly, most of these tourists think the horses live in Central Park.
Photo credit: Donny Moss

And another tragic death

Tourists watched in horror as Birillo suffered
A beautiful horse named Birillo died recently in Rome, after spooking and losing his footing when a truck sped close to him near the Colosseum, perhaps even grazing him. A crowd of tourists watched in horror as Birillo suffered and had to be put down. Those sad images brought to mind the painful memory of Smoothie,the New York City carriage horse who died in September 2007 after spooking.
Larger photo: Birillo, 2008, Rome. Inset: Smoothie, 2007, NYC.

Even as Birillo lay dying a few days ago, a global movement was gaining strength--an international coalition that seeks to ban horse-drawn carriages. On Saturday, December 6, activists in cities around will world will mark "Horses Without Carriages International" day, a united effort to bring this issue to the forefront in cities around the world. Anti-carriage activists in Rome, New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Charleston, S.C., Annapolis, Md., Dublin, Florence, Tel Aviv, and Victoria, Canada are planning peaceful demonstrations to make it known that putting horse-drawn carriages in the midst of city traffic is irrelevant, cruel, unnecessary, and simply wrong.
Take action wherever you are on December 6, 2008, and all throughout the coming year, to unite with others who want to put an end to horse-drawn carriages in cities. Learn more about Horses Without Carriages International and the NYC day of action, sponsored by the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages.
More information to come...

Sign up for the Coalition fundraiser!

Have you signed up yet for the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages fund-raising party? I finally did! (What a deal -- $30 in advance, $40 at the door). And I got around to checking the silent auction items. I know what I'm bidding on ... a vegan organic chocolate gift basket! Helping the horses and getting vegan chocolate--does it get any better than that? I don't think so. And the entertainment is stellar. Mantra 986 may be my new favorite restaurant. I'll see you there, on Tuesday, October 14, at Mantra (986 Second Avenue, between 52nd and 53rd Streets, in midtown Manhattan). If you're bidding on the vegan chocolate, be forewarned: I'll race you to the "Buy It Now" bid! Stand back, I'm a chocolate fiend!
Special guests will include City Council Member Tony Avella, Donny Moss, Joy Askew, Nellie McKay, comics Liam McEneaney and Ann Design, and our emcee, Fiona Walsh. Very cool!

Staying on topic

Irrelevant industry, crude tactics, suffering horses
More proof that the industry is irrelevant, ridiculous, and circumvents the law came this week, when threatening phone calls allegedly were made to a pub that was to have been the setting for a fund-raiser in support of a ban. The intimidating calls, of course, which were described to a member of the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages by a pub manager, are believed to be from someone in the carriage industry. The pub pulled the plug on the venue, the manager saying he feared for the safety of his employees. Drivers are already dismissing the entire incident as a lie. However, the pub manager reiterated his account (he himself used the word "riot") to a second coalition member, and also to Councilman Tony Avella, in phone calls.

Lest you think this is a first, consider that a well-known NYC business that has been running ads in support of an industry ban received intimidating phone calls before the campaign started--and the caller did identify himself. This was heard by a number of people.

Avella, a mayoral candidate and the sponsor of a measure to ban the industry (with the idea of providing a reasonable alternative), denounced this week's thug tactics at a hastily arranged news conference on Friday.

The idea that some scary phone calls would derail efforts to ban the industry is laughable and pathetic at the same time.

Don't ask an officer to help a horse

The treatment of the horses in Central Park in summertime is an absolute disgrace, and few people give a damn about it. Suppose you are a compassionate person who wants to report mistreatment or abuse, at 11 p.m., or midnight, or even later. You would tell a police officer, wouldn't you? Sadly, most don't care and most don't know the laws pertaining to horse-drawn carriages.

Last night in Central Park, at 1 a.m., a horse's legs were buckling under, no doubt after a long shift or two in the heat with not enough water (lack of water was one of the problems disclosed in the city's audit of the industry in 2007). The police officers were told and did nothing, and even acted indignant. The night before, at the request of tourists, a driver whipped a horse to gallop. Did you know this is against the law? This was news to the individual who returned the call from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). Animal protectors? Pardon me while I puke.
Is this provincial China or New York City? It's becoming difficult to tell the difference. Corrupt politicians, complacent police officers, and ignorant employees of an organization that has a mission to prevent cruelty. ASPCA founder Henry Bergh must be spinning in his grave. And cops here are known for their ignorance of law. I've seen them say it's illegal to feed pigeons, for example. NOT.
READ "A Day at the Hack Line" (2007)
DON'T just stand there, do something! Volunteer for the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages
HOLIDAY weekends? Not for the horses. Learn more about Bud's accident (2007)
Note: THE ASPCA supports a full ban on horse-drawn carriages, and this can't come soon enough because the organization obviously is ill-equipped to do much about the plight of the horses.
UPDATE: The New York Police Department has a mandate to uphold all laws, including those pertaining to carriage horses. Officers generally choose to look the other way when they see violations in the horse-drawn carriage industry. Summonses can be issued also by the NYC Department of Mental Health and Hygiene and the Parks Department, as well as the ASPCA.

Strike up a conversation about horses

Dog tags are here!
Show your support for a ban on horse-drawn carriages by wearing a dog tag embossed with the name of a current or former New York City carriage horse. Great conversation starters! Some tags honor a working carriage horse (Scarlett, Romeo, Trottolino, and Prince) and others immortalize certain horses that were casualties of the job (Smoothie, Juliet, and Spotty). Your tag will have either the working carriage horse's ID#, or the former carriage horse's date of death and the letters "R.I.P." All tags have the URL for the website of the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages (NYC), which is making the tags available. These are great gifts and wonderful to wear.
Each dog tag includes an 18-inch bead-chain (you can also attach your tag to a keychain). Each tag is $10. Your purchase shows the world your support of a ban on horse-drawn carriages in NYC, and it also helps the horses by making possible the work of the coalition. PayPal or check accepted. To get your dog tag, click here to make a donation to the Coalition via PayPal (be sure to specify that you want to receive a dog tag).

Springtime: a hard rain's a-gonna fall

Tuesday was a washout, with an on-again, off-again chilly rain. The photo was taken during a brief respite in the drizzle. This poor guy was out in the rain, shivering and looking miserable, although the "hack line" was closed, as you can see and as authorities confirmed. The horse looked unwell, and the hack line was shut down--but there he is. The driver? He was dressed in foul-weather gear, seeking shelter nearby. Keep in mind, this photo was shot during a break in the rain.

Does this seem right to you? Seems wrong to me. The line was closed for a reason: this was a gray, rainy day. New York's "acid rain" isn't that great on the eyeballs, either. The horse was soaked; its veins looked prominent, I guess because of the blustery chill in the air. It makes me feel sick just to look at it and remember what a mess my own commute was. (OK, my feet were wet and my umbrella not that great, but nothing like this horse's day). A soupy day also heightens the traffic risks.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION. Let your City Council member know that you vote--and you support a ban on horse-drawn carriages. Please ask your lawmaker to co-sponsor this landmark legislation. It is fully supported by the ASPCA, the Humane Society of the United States, and dozens of other animal welfare organizations. But your voice must be heard at City Hall if this measure is to move ahead. Please don't assume that your voice does not matter: that is a dangerous assumption.
Be the change you wish to see in the world.--Mahatma Gandhi

Get to know a carriage driver

Say, what's it like to be a carriage driver?
'Ask a New Yorker'(TM) spoke with Brandon, who in 2006 had been driving a carriage for 25 years--long enough to get the hang of the job, apparently. He described it this way:

"I can't think of another job where I can sit on my butt all day, bull****, and make a reasonable amount of money. Unless I was a politician or lawyer."

Nice, isn't it? That's the gist of it. The "New Yorker of the Month" threw in the standard insults about tourists asking silly questions--your basic New York attitude. Seriously! Read it
Susan d'Arcy makes a pointed observation of her own (HorseWatchNYC, May 12, 2008)

SUPPORT THE PROPOSED BAN ON HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGES--ASK YOUR CITY COUNCIL MEMBER TO CO-SPONSOR THE BILL (INTRO. 658) TO BAN THIS INHERENTLY INHUMANE INDUSTRY. Read an Expert Opinion on the horses' grim living conditions.

A full ban is supported by: American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Humane Society of the United States, Friends of Animals, and dozens of other mainstream organizations working together through the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages.

More horse cruelty, part 2

Apologies for going off topic yet again
I'm anticipating a few will ask, "What's wrong with horse racing?" When humans view animals as commodities, especially for greedy enterprises such as gambling, things become gruesome. Rather like the gladiators. A bit like dogfighting. Animal cruelty is not entertainment.
Read more from CHAI
Read more from AnimalAID (UK)
Why do Tennessee Walking Horses having the distinctive gait? Soring.

Horse-drawn carriages do not belong in New York City. Support a ban. This 19th-century conveyance is inhumane as well as irrelevant.
Visit the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages to learn more.

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.

Support a ban on horse-drawn carriages in New York City. Support Intro. 658, and ask your City Council representative to do the same. This measure cannot move forward without broad support.
Not a NYC resident? Make your voice heard. Contact Mayor Bloomberg's office

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

Special Shoes, Indeed

Are these the kind of "special shoes" that you were talking about, Carolyn, when you responded to Pink's "Buck Cruelty" billboard in Times Square?

Chester Elliot has a happy ending but used to be a Boston carriage horse. Like the horses in New York City, Boston carriage horses wear 1-inch thick heavy steel work shoes with a cleat at the heels and toes for grip. Notably, this steel shoe lends the distinctive "clip clop" sound that apparently generates tourist dollars. Chester's hoof (seen in photo above) suffered from thrush, which is not uncommon in carriage horses who don't get turnout, stand in filth all night, and pound the pavement repeatedly.

The thrush, which occurred inside Chester Elliot's hooves, was worsened by poor grooming during his carriage horse days (his belly was also matted with urine stains). His steel shoes restricted the circulation to his hooves; his pavement-pounding work further complicated the condition, creating a microbial soup inside his hoof. (ie, "hoof rot.")

Chester Elliot photo is used courtesy of the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages (Happy Endings).
Although Chester Elliot was not a NYC carriage horse, his condition is a common one and the photo of his foot ailment is descriptive. Lameness and hoof deterioration are commonly seen in carriage horses, equine veterinarian Holly Cheever, DVM, has written. Chester Elliott's story is similar to that of so many rescued carriage horses. Read more

Ice Doesn't Count as Drinking Water

No public water readily available, poor hoof care

The treatment of NYC carriage horses is disgraceful for many reasons, apart from the fundamental danger of putting them into traffic.

Holly Cheever, DVM and renowned equine expert, has inspected the horses at work and in their stables, after which she advised Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council on what she found: a comprehensive and alarming inventory of poor treatment. Notably, she found that the horses were deprived of adequate water and proper hoof care (although Carolyn Daly has made the smarmy quip about their "special" shoes.)

Here is a portion of Holly Cheever's letter about the care of NYC carriages horses:

"During the several years that I inspected New York's carriage horses on the street and in their stables at the request of the ASPCA and the Carriage Horse Action Committee, I noted repeated violations of basic humane equine husbandry and care principles, as follows:

• The horses were not given adequate water during their work shifts since no public water is readily available to them, and most were denied the basic presence of water buckets in their stalls.
• Many horses were afforded inadequate hoof care and shoeing, adding to their likelihood of developing or exacerbating lameness."

Even more recently, the New York City comptroller's audit in September 2007 found similarly distressing problems. The audit specifically noted a lack of drinking water for the horses and said they were forced to stand in their own waste because of inadequate drainage.

Time to ban horse-drawn carriages, as many major cities worldwide have done. Call-in days are coming up on February 19, 20, and 21. During these days, it is critical that you let your City Council representative hear from you. Ask them to support Intro. 658, the bill to ban horse-drawn carriages.

Find your New York City Council Member
Read Holly Cheever's letter to Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council (2006)
Read about the NYC Comptroller's audit of the carriage-horse industry (2007)
Photo used courtesy of The Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages

A Mouse, a Horse, a Great Idea!

Support the historic effort to ban horse-drawn carriages in New York City. Great-looking merchandise is available from Cafe Press, and your purchase helps the horses by supporting the work of the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages.

The tote bags, mugs, T-shirts, and other items speak volumes without saying a word. The mouse pad is a must-have. It features Teddy, a handsome former carriage horse who was destined for slaughter auction before he was rescued and found a home at the Central New England Equine Rescue (CNEER). In the snowy mousepad photo, Teddy is all smiles.

Photo courtesy of CNEER.
Click here to read Teddy's story.
Visit the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages shop on Cafe Press