Where carriage horses live

Surely West Side Livery, one of five carriage horse stables in Manhattan, is one of the worst homes that a horse could have. Most New York City residents go about their daily business not thinking about where the carriage horses live, or perhaps imagining that they are housed in a bucolic setting somewhere in the park. An Animals' Angels investigation tells the real story: tie stalls, sand buckets for fire protection, horses tethered to feeding troughs. Read the report on the website of the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages. Then take a look at the interior of the stable, which is located at 538 W. 38th Street. (You really should see it for yourself.)
Related news: A New York City veterinarian detailed concerns about the multistory stable, including its complete lack of fire protection system, poor ventilation that compromises the horses' respiratory health, inadequate bedding and cramped standing stalls. Watch a news conference co-sponsored by the coalition, Friends of Animals, and Heart for Animal Rights.

Horse in heavy traffic

Why is this driver using his horse as a battering ram? Bad enough that this horse must work in traffic near the Manhattan entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel, and even worse that the poor horses are subjected to this commute daily. Four miles, round trip. Did you know that the horses live so far from the park?

Video used courtesy of YouTube user "DriversRunninScared"

From Manhattan's wild west

On the night shift
Here we see a carriage driver leading a horse eastbound on busy 45th Street, which runs westbound. They managed to maneuver through the evening rush-hour traffic and get to 10th Avenue for the treacherous commute to Central Park. In rush-hour traffic.
Support a ban on horse-drawn carriages in New York City, a measure that is endorsed by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). Ask your City Council member to support the ban (Intro. 658).

Where do the horses live?

Getting real about living conditions
Tourists often ask where the horses live and are surprised to learn that the horses aren't housed in Central Park. Nope. Try W. 38th Street, over by 11th Avenue. Two miles from the park--20 blocks in frightful traffic.

Horses need high-quality sleep, and they need to stretch out. Here you see a New York City carriage horse who cannot lie down comfortably. This is typical of the living conditions for these horses: dirty, disgusting, and accessible only by way of a steep ramp.

Civil liberties

Horses like to roll around in the dirt to scratch their itches. That is, if they have the opportunity. That small liberty is not afforded to New York City carriage horses. For them, it's all work and no play. No respite at home, either. They're warehoused on the industrial west side of Manhattan, up to 2 miles from Central Park.
Pictured: West Side Livery. See why the nabe is called "Hell's Kitchen?"

Treats in Hell's Kitchen

For the drivers, that is
Ever find yourself on 10th Avenue in Hell's Kitchen, around 9 a.m., or 6 p.m.? These are rush hours, for motorists as well as carriage drivers from West Side Livery and Central Park Carriages. It's surely a good thing that a Dunkin' Donuts has opened on this noisy speedway, between 43rd and 44th Streets. The treat shop is a little farther down from the bus lane. This offers a bit of reassurance, because drivers have been spotted stopping for a snack in the deli just below the bus stop, leaving the carriage right on the avenue and trusting that the horse doesn't get spooked, or worse. Here you see "Rip Van Winkle" getting ready to pull over to the tried-and-true deli, and grab some smokes!
Bonus: Dunkin' sells soy lattes! Some of the drivers love that soy!

New York City's wild west

Can things get worse in Hell's Kitchen?
First, there's Shamrock Stables (pictured), and nearby are two other stables that have been in the news of late. None offers respite for overworked carriage horses.

A brave correspondent gave a hair-raising account of illegal, dangerous, and outrageous misconduct that she witnessed this week in the neighborhood. Not surprisingly, the route would indicate that this involved a carriage driver from one of two southernmost stables, either the awful West Side Livery or the dreadful Central Park Carriage Stables. (The latter, of course, is the stable owned by Cornelius Byrne, who was arrested in December on accusations of attempting to bribe an undercover officer to overlook alleged violations at his stable on West 37th Street).

The driver had traveled north on 11th Avenue, and then turned right on W. 45th Street. WHOA! That's a problem, because at this point the driver was traveling EAST on a WESTBOUND street, by way of the sidewalk!

It got worse. To get right at the busy intersection of 10th Avenue and 45th Street, the driver then decided to cut through the HESS fuel station, a block-long monstrosity of angry taxicab drivers, at-risk pigeons, jaywalking pedestrians, and automobile drivers who zigzag diagonally across the station to get from point A to point Q. Finally the driver pulled out onto 10th Avenue and went the correct way--with traffic--northbound on that dangerous journey to Central Park.
I COULDN'T DREAM THIS UP! Last year, a car knocked over a gas pump at that Hess Station! Thank God for shutoff valves. For the sake of humanity, please don't make horses go the wrong way on a way-way street and walk onto the speedway that is the Hell's Kitchen Hess station.

2 miles the hard way--on steamy pavement

Wait long enough for a break, and you may be able to catch a glimpse of carriages coming up 10th Avenue. The buses around the Port Authority Bus Terminal and Lincoln Tunnel are lined up like jetliners on the runway at LaGuardia. This is how the horses commute from the West Side Livery and Central Park Carriages stables in the west 30s. That's right, they have to go to 59th Street to get to work. This video shows the part of New York that most tourists do not see. But they should.

The questions that keep me awake

Speaking of 10th Avenue...
What's the deal with horses trying to eat out of garbage cans? Are these creatures feisty critters, or just plain hungry? Is the idea to pull them over on the way up from the Byrne and West Side Livery stables for a bite from that bucket of tasty pellet food that they share with the pigeons, so that no time will be wasted when the horses get all the way up to the park?

And why would a driver pull a horse over for a break in a bus lane???

SUPPORT A BAN ON HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGES in NYC.

Sola, perduta, abbandonata

An observation on the work horses' appearance
Could the horses from Central Park Carriages and the storied West Side Livery look any more pitiful and forlorn trudging up 10th Avenue? Probably not.
In late 2007, equine veterinarian Elizabeth Kilgallon looked at video that had been taken with a hidden camera for CBS 2 HD. Among her observations: some of the horses looked to be crammed into standing stalls so tight they can't turn around or lie down. She also noted the horses seemed to be standing in their own urine, manure, and on very little bedding. "I think the bare legal requirements have been met, but I don't think this is the best way for them to live," Dr. Kilgallon was quoted as saying after viewing the video.

Support a ban on horse-drawn carriages in NYC. Call your City Council member today.
What has City Council Speaker Christine Quinn done for horses, dogs, or cats lately, anyway?

Ed's note: There are many worse things that I could say about the one stable in particular, as readers well know. I took the high road here but may reconsider in the future. Rest in peace, Juliet.

Dismal Working, Living Conditions

Which is the worst stable for New York City's carriage horses? It's difficult to say.

After viewing video of the West Side Livery stable for WCBS-TV, equine veterinarian Elizabeth Kilgallon said that some of the horses look crammed into standing stalls so tight they can't turn around or lie down. The horses also seemed to be standing in their own urine, manure and on very little bedding, WCBS-TV reported in November 2007.

Read "Carriage Horse Industry at at Crossroad" (WCBSTV.com, November 2007)

Photo of an unspecified New York City stable; used courtesy of the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages