You may be a driver of a horse-drawn carriage.
Who the heck are all the carriage drivers talking to? Central dispatch? Jean Kim? Are the drivers planning a meet-and-greet at City Hall? Maybe they're ordering food. How many ways can you multitask while driving a carriage in NYC traffic, anyway?
I'll be damned. I see that carriage drivers are enjoying this blog. Maybe some of the stable owners will give us an update on the goings-on at their oh-so-festive stables.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
The Man Who Will Be Mayor
Status quo? No! The revolution starts ... now!
Tony Avella, the Queens Democrat who introduced the bill to ban horse-drawn carriages in New York City, will officially announce his mayoral bid this weekend on the steps of City Hall.
Join City Council Member Avella at a news conference on Sunday, March 30, at 1 pm on the steps of City Hall in lower Manhattan. Join the revolution!
CM Avella represents the interests of real New Yorkers, not special interest groups. He has displayed compassionate leadership time and time again, sponsoring Intro. 658 (the bill to ban horse-drawn carriages) and Intro. 13, the Pets in Housing bill--and addressing a host of quality-of-living issues that matter to people.
Come out Sunday and show your support for Tony Avella, a man of integrity and conviction.
Tony Avella, the Queens Democrat who introduced the bill to ban horse-drawn carriages in New York City, will officially announce his mayoral bid this weekend on the steps of City Hall.
Join City Council Member Avella at a news conference on Sunday, March 30, at 1 pm on the steps of City Hall in lower Manhattan. Join the revolution!
CM Avella represents the interests of real New Yorkers, not special interest groups. He has displayed compassionate leadership time and time again, sponsoring Intro. 658 (the bill to ban horse-drawn carriages) and Intro. 13, the Pets in Housing bill--and addressing a host of quality-of-living issues that matter to people.
Come out Sunday and show your support for Tony Avella, a man of integrity and conviction.
Friday, March 28, 2008
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
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
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Say, Here's An Idea: No More Roadwork
That's not very likely to happen
Susan V. writes about a near-miss she witnessed on 57th Street at 9th Avenue:
Horse-drawn carriages have no place in 21st-century New York City. Ask your City Council member to co-sponsor Intro. 658, Tony Avella's bill to ban horse-drawn carriages in NYC.
Not a NYC resident? Tell the mayor that you want to see this inhumane industry banned forever.
Susan V. writes about a near-miss she witnessed on 57th Street at 9th Avenue:
"As a horse lover and occasional rider, I thought I was going to see a tragic end to one of those beautiful carriage horses ("You can lead a horse to water if there is any," Feb. 21). On 57th Street and 9th Avenue, a driver tried to catch the light and has his horse bolt through traffic. The horse slipped across a steel plate covering a portion of the street while running. I believe that if the horse had skidded, it would have been quite tragic, as there is building construction at this section and a lot of steel posts and pedestrians. Aren't there any guidelines? Isn't this endangerment cruelty?"Susan V, a Metro (NY) reader from Queens; Feb. 27, 2008
Horse-drawn carriages have no place in 21st-century New York City. Ask your City Council member to co-sponsor Intro. 658, Tony Avella's bill to ban horse-drawn carriages in NYC.
Not a NYC resident? Tell the mayor that you want to see this inhumane industry banned forever.
Monday, March 24, 2008
No More Excuses Please, We Disagree
Dear Wendy,
Thanks for reading and taking the time to write. If I weren't under the weather I would have posted your comment sooner. My point is that NYC is a misery for carriage horses and cannot be made safer for these fright-and-flight animals, as you well know. The horse that is operating in a state of anxiety (as sometimes happens in NYC) is apt to balk or let this anxiety escalate into a red zone, as we both surely know. Traffic obviously doesn't favor the horses.
The industry is an incestuous and corrupt mess that would make your head spin (perhaps you know this all too well, although I believe you mentioned being in California). Even the sometime bribery defendant and industry veteran Cornelius Byrne has acknowledged in comments published two years ago in The New Yorker that the streets of the city that never sleeps are fraught with distractions for highly sensitive horses.
Byrne offered some veteran’s wisdom, won over four decades of driving a horse in the city. “One of the things horses are most afraid of is garbage trucks,” he said. “They have an odor to them and a noise to them and a size to them."
Support Intro. 658, the bill the ban horse-drawn carriages in New York City. A 19th-century anachronism involving animal cruelty has no place in a modern city. Find my City Council member now!
Not a New York City resident? Contact Mayor Bloomberg's office and make your voice heard!
Thanks for reading and taking the time to write. If I weren't under the weather I would have posted your comment sooner. My point is that NYC is a misery for carriage horses and cannot be made safer for these fright-and-flight animals, as you well know. The horse that is operating in a state of anxiety (as sometimes happens in NYC) is apt to balk or let this anxiety escalate into a red zone, as we both surely know. Traffic obviously doesn't favor the horses.
The industry is an incestuous and corrupt mess that would make your head spin (perhaps you know this all too well, although I believe you mentioned being in California). Even the sometime bribery defendant and industry veteran Cornelius Byrne has acknowledged in comments published two years ago in The New Yorker that the streets of the city that never sleeps are fraught with distractions for highly sensitive horses.
Byrne offered some veteran’s wisdom, won over four decades of driving a horse in the city. “One of the things horses are most afraid of is garbage trucks,” he said. “They have an odor to them and a noise to them and a size to them."
Byrne went on to say in the New Yorker piece that some horses are "bombproof," which is utter nonsense and reveals much about his attitude toward horses. Fire engines, wailing sirens, speeding automobile drivers, carriage horse drivers talking on cell phones--these are the elements with which the horses contend. Plus extreme weather and lack of water.
Support Intro. 658, the bill the ban horse-drawn carriages in New York City. A 19th-century anachronism involving animal cruelty has no place in a modern city. Find my City Council member now!
Not a New York City resident? Contact Mayor Bloomberg's office and make your voice heard!
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Horse Farm Owner Dies of Injuries in Kentucky Carriage Accident
Carriage horse spooked on horse farm
An owner of a Lexington, Ky., horse farm died from injuries suffered in a carriage accident on the property. The 74-year-old woman and three other passengers were thrown from the carriage after the horse spooked. Another woman in the carriage suffered a broken leg.
It is with sadness that I post this report; it appears on this blog as a tragic reminder that horses spook in various situations, and even in familiar surroundings, despite assertions by the rental and carriage industry that horses can be controlled in every situation.
Support a ban on horse-drawn carriages in New York City. Contact Mayor Bloomberg online and state your support of Intro. 658, the bill that would ban this archaic and dangerous industry.
If you live in New York City, please contact your City Council member and ask him or her to support Intro. 658. Explain briefly why it is important to you--a constituent--to see this inherently inhumane and dangerous industry come to an end. Find my Council member
An owner of a Lexington, Ky., horse farm died from injuries suffered in a carriage accident on the property. The 74-year-old woman and three other passengers were thrown from the carriage after the horse spooked. Another woman in the carriage suffered a broken leg.
It is with sadness that I post this report; it appears on this blog as a tragic reminder that horses spook in various situations, and even in familiar surroundings, despite assertions by the rental and carriage industry that horses can be controlled in every situation.
Support a ban on horse-drawn carriages in New York City. Contact Mayor Bloomberg online and state your support of Intro. 658, the bill that would ban this archaic and dangerous industry.
If you live in New York City, please contact your City Council member and ask him or her to support Intro. 658. Explain briefly why it is important to you--a constituent--to see this inherently inhumane and dangerous industry come to an end. Find my Council member
Friday, March 21, 2008
Why a Ban is Necessary? One Reason
Six months after the death of Smoothie, few answers and acute confusion
The investigation into the death in 2007 of Smoothie gives some troublesome insight into the state of affairs of the industry and its poor oversight. The first delay into the investigation, we were told in September, came because of uncertainty about which city agency had primary responsibility for doing so. “Because responsibility for this has been so fractured among city agencies,” said Geoffrey Cowley, a spokesman for the health department, “it hasn’t been absolutely clear whose jurisdiction it really fell into.” Read more
Smoothie's death came days after the city comptroller's office issued a highly critical audit that outlined lapses in the quality of care of the horses. Not enough water, infrequent veterinary care, poor record-keeping. "The agencies entrusted with oversight here have dropped the ball," comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr., said after the audit was released (pried out of the city's hands, more like it).
Why is it, for example, that the paperwork for 57 carriage horses described different animals from year to year, although the license numbers did not change? It raises disturbing questions about the motivation. Double shifts, perhaps?
Read a published account of the audit's findings
Read the audit
SUPPORT THE PROPOSED BAN ON HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGES (Intro. 658)
The investigation into the death in 2007 of Smoothie gives some troublesome insight into the state of affairs of the industry and its poor oversight. The first delay into the investigation, we were told in September, came because of uncertainty about which city agency had primary responsibility for doing so. “Because responsibility for this has been so fractured among city agencies,” said Geoffrey Cowley, a spokesman for the health department, “it hasn’t been absolutely clear whose jurisdiction it really fell into.” Read more
Smoothie's death came days after the city comptroller's office issued a highly critical audit that outlined lapses in the quality of care of the horses. Not enough water, infrequent veterinary care, poor record-keeping. "The agencies entrusted with oversight here have dropped the ball," comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr., said after the audit was released (pried out of the city's hands, more like it).
Why is it, for example, that the paperwork for 57 carriage horses described different animals from year to year, although the license numbers did not change? It raises disturbing questions about the motivation. Double shifts, perhaps?
Read a published account of the audit's findings
Read the audit
SUPPORT THE PROPOSED BAN ON HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGES (Intro. 658)
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