Yet ANOTHER NYC Carriage Horse Captured on Video in Extreme Distress. Why is This Still Happening?

On Friday, February 10, just before 5 pm, NYCLASS witnessed a carriage horse in extreme distress, sweating profusely and displaying fear behaviors in Central Park.

Despite pleas to his handler to get the horse help, the driver started a ride with the horse that was clearly in need of emergency assistance. This choice not only endangered the life of the animal but also the passengers and bystanders.

Just a moment later, the horse was spooked so badly that the two passengers had to jump out of the carriage to escape while the driver took off at a fast pace yelling that the hose was “in training.”

The video captured by NYCLASS, an Animal rights organization, shows the horse spooked while the driver gets out and tries to stop the horse with passengers still inside.

After the video, another witness came forward and said that they saw the same horse that day in traffic and said “It was a busy 4-lane intersection on Central Park South, the horse was clearly spooked by all the traffic coming from both directions and balked at a street bike doing wheelies past it. He was covered in foamy sweat, likely from being overworked, or both. It was literally an accident waiting to happen. Why on Earth do we need horses pulling carriages in the middle of 50 vehicles?”

Edita Birnkrant, Executive Director of NYCLASS, said,

“I witnessed a terrified horse in an emergency state, being forced to give rides by a driver who was putting the animal, the passengers, and everyone in Midtown in serious risk. Despite several pleas to get help for the horse, the driver started a ride, which ended in the horse spooking so badly that the passengers had to jump out of the carriage. To my utter shock, instead of pulling over and calling a veterinarian – or at least a trailer to bring the horse back to the stable – the driver took off at a fast pace with the terrified horse into Midtown traffic.

“This horse needs an immediate veterinary examination and must be taken off the streets. Too often, horses ‘spook’ and crash into vehicles in New York City – and this horse is a tragedy waiting to happen. To make matters worse, the carriage license plate on the carriage is completely illegible, as our video shows – an ongoing problem within an industry that regularly breaks rules and violates laws. Enough is enough. The City Council needs to urgently pass Intro 573 (Ryder’s Law) to end the constant dangers the horse carriage industry creates every day.”

Horse-drawn carriages and horse rides are not quaint and romantic! These poor horses are subject to walking for hours on end in sometimes extreme weather without adequate breaks. We need to work toward banning carriage rides and protecting these animals from being exploited!

If you are a resident of NYC, please make a call or email to your NYC council member and ask them to “sign on as a co-sponsor to Intro 573 to replace suffering, dying carriage horses with cruelty-free electric carriages.” NYCLASS says to make sure to tell them what district you live in, and the list of Council members can be found here.

NYCLASS says that if you don’t live in NYC, please call Council Speaker Adrienne Adams at 718-206-2068 or email at SpeakerAdams@council.nyc.gov and ask her to use her voice and power as the head of Council to “END horse abuse by supporting Intro 0573  to replace deadly horse carriages with cruelty-free electric carriages!”

While you’re at it, please sign this petition and tell New York that it’s time to end horse-drawn carriage rides.

Speak Up Tee By Tiny Rescue: Animal Collection

Related Content:

• Advocates Call to Fast-Track Bill to Phase Out Horse Carriages After Yet Another Overworked NYC Horse Violently Collapses on Pavement
• Can Horse Carriages Ever Really Be Romantic?
• Petition: Tell Savannah and New Orleans to Ban Horse Carriages
• Carriage Horse Found Dead in His Stall Amid NYC’s Record Heatwave
• NYC Introduces Bill to Replace Horse-Drawn Carriages with Electric Ones
• Spooked Carriage Horse in NYC Runs into Oncoming Traffic and Collides with Two Vehicles

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