Be safe, Paddy

New York City welcomes best-selling Irish-American author Mary Higgins Clark as the grand marshal for the St. Patrick's Day parade on Thursday. In a break with the event's tradition of having the grand marshal walk the parade route, Ms. Clark will ride in a horse-drawn carriage to be pulled by a horse named Paddy. A very bad idea, indeed, although neither Ms. Clark nor the city seems to have given it much thought.

This decision immediately brought to mind the well-known dangers of putting horses into parades, especially large and noisy ones that are lined with noisy revelers and filled with pipes and drums.

A July Fourth parade last year in Bellevue, Iowa took a deadly turn when two horses spooked and bolted, killing a 61-year-old woman (the carriage driver's wife) and injuring 24 others, mostly small children who lined the parade route. One of the horses was killed. "It looked like a war zone," one witness said of the injuries in Iowa. "Backboards everywhere, kids strapped to them."

Cities and towns that put horse-drawn carriages into parades or traffic are putting the public safety at risk, since surveys have shown consistently that humans are almost always injured in carriage horse-spooking accidents. In 2010, the list of grisly carriage accidents in the United States was a long one. New York City has the highest horse-drawn carriage accident rate in the nation. Although human fatalities haven't happened yet, the 2006 accident that claimed the life of carriage horse Spotty critically injured the carriage driver (and occupants of a station wagon also were injured). Smoothie, the horse who died in 2007, had bolted in terror after being spooked by the sound of a drum in Central Park.

Tens of thousands of people have signed paper and online petitions calling for a ban in New York City of this industry. It is inhumane as well as dangerous. Horses spook easily, and it should come as no surprise when it happens in such a noisy place as a huge parade. No one in Iowa expected such a tragic turn. It just happened.

We hope that this year's parade is safe and joyous. If it is uneventful in terms of a spooking accident, be assured that it is only a matter of time until the next serious accident. Perhaps it is just as well that this year's parade route is shortened. The threat of injury, death, and legal liability make the city look reckless, mean-spirited, and foolish.

Learn more about why a ban is needed. Visit the websites of The Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages and Horses Without Carriages International.

Photo credits:
2010 NYC St. Patrick's parade photo by Richard Perry/The New York Times
2010 Bellevue, Iowa parade photo by The Associated Press/via The Telegraph Herald, Karina Schroeder

Carriage horses have it made. Right?

The reality is very different from the fairy-tale portrayal seen in ads. Get a feel for how wretched the long days are for New York City carriage horses. Hint: they don't live in the park.

Video courtesy of YouTube member "HorsesinNYC"; added October 2008

Support a ban on horse-drawn carriages in New York City, a position that is supported by The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), Friends of Animals and numerous other organizations seeking a ban.

"Blinders" Director to be Honored

Award-winning film to be screened in Toronto
Blinders, the documentary that reveals the inhumane realities of New York City's carriage horse industry, will premier in Canada on June 19 at the ReelHeART International Film Festival. Filmmaker Donny Moss will be honored by the Toronto Humane Society, which has long advocated tirelessly for New York City's carriage horses.
Blinders, Winner of "Best Film" in the Point of View category, International Wildlife Film Festival, 2008. Visit the official Blinders website

A Compassionate Visitor to NYC

Carriages romantic? Reconsider
Becky, a horse owner in Kentucky, has been following the plight of New York City's carriage horses. In a comment on The Central Park Blog, she described the way her own horses are cared for: they get ample rest after a short ride, a good cooling down, and plenty of turnout. It paints a picture that is in stark contrast to the lives of the carriage horses, who are warehoused in standing stalls or small box stalls during the precious few hours that they are not hitched to the carriage. Granted, space is at a premium in Manhattan, a situation that exacerbates the problem of the welfare of these horses--most of whom live on upper floors and must climb steep ramps inside the stables. Not to mention the traffic and the creative solutions that some drivers employ, such as U-turns on Central Park South.

"Horse owners in KY have been arrested & charged with animal cruelty for less than they’re doing there," Becky observed in her post on The Central Park Blog. "When I visit Central Park this summer I’m certain I’ll view the carriages much differently - & won’t be paying to get in one."

Do your travel plans include a visit to NYC and a ride in a horse-drawn carriage? Please reconsider, and make sure you have the facts to make an informed decision. A full ban is supported by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Humane Society of the United States, Friends of Animals, and a large coalition of organizations.
The editor also wishes to recognize the superlative gutlessness of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who could do something about this industry--but won't. Maybe he had his spine removed? Every time he speaks, I am reminded of the famous headline: "Mush From the Wimp."
Photo courtesy of the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages

Tickets online now for Blinders!

"Blinders," the documentary by independent filmmaker Donny Moss, is being screened locally this weekend. Don't miss your opportunity to see this important film, which exposes the truth behind the tradition of New York City's horse-drawn carriage industry.
Buy advance tickets online for screenings on Friday, June 6, and Saturday, June 7, at the Staten Island Film Festival (SINY).
Blinders, Winner of "Best Film" in the Point of View category, International Wildlife Film Festival, 2008
Upcoming screenings in Toronto, Great Barrington, Mass., Great Neck, NY -- more information
NEW! TRAVEL INFORMATION for the Staten Island Film Festival (SINY)

New Year's Revelers, Honking Horns, and Horses

New York City is a strange place during the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. Residents and tourists shuffle around with vacant looks, blowing on New Year's noise-makers and window-shopping. This evening, the city is in a state of total traffic gridlock; this is particularly true anywhere in the vicinity of midtown Manhattan. Main avenues are blocked off to make way for the New Year's Eve spectacle that will be taking place in Times Square. At Columbus Circle (about 17 blocks north of the festivities, and at the southernmost entrance to Central Park), horse-drawn carriages are stuck nose-to-tailpipe in heavy traffic that is being forced to detour. As ever, drivers are in a state of endless road-rage.

If you have never visited New York City, perhaps you think the horses live inside the park in Disney-esque fashion. Not so. They trudge through Times Square--"the Crossroads of the World," where avenues intersect--to and from their cramped and dirty stables on the city's west side. One such stable is at 520 W. 45th Street, the location of the sad-looking mess operated by Ian McKeever. Walk past it, if you dare. Don't be unnerved by the sprawling corner gasoline station that services all of the taxicabs, which then speed back onto the avenue to make a fare.

Visit Google Earth and see the dreadful traffic conditions in which New York City carriage horses are forced to work (search "Times Square.")
I fear for the horses. Every day, they work alongside fire engines, police sirens, buses, and angry drivers. And on December 31, a huge fireworks display in Central Park.