Posted on April 19, 2010 by Alison Rowe

New York City Council Passes Regulations Affecting Carriage Industry

In 2008, I posted Should the Carriage Ride Industry in New York City be Banned? after discussing the topic casually with my brother-in-law, Adam Rowe.  The post prompted a lively discussion from both sides. Some of the comments the post received were of such a "heated" nature that I could not publish them.  This is undoubtedly an issue about which both sides are extremely passionate.

Last week, the Huffington Post reported that New York's City Council has passed new regulations requiring carriage horses to have larger stalls, five weeks off per year, and blankets in cold and wet weather. Safety requirements for the carriages are also included in the new rules, requiring carriages to have manure-catching devices, emergency brakes, and reflective signs.

According to the Huffington Post report, Mayor Bloomberg supports the bill and is expected to sign it.

These new rules may act as a compromise for animal welfare advocates, who have campaigned for years to shut down the Central Park carriage industry.

Advocates of the carriage ride industry have argued that the horses are treated well, and that the horses will be abandoned or sent out of the country to be slaughtered if the industry is shut down.

The new rules are expected to increase the cost of carriage rides from $34 for the first half-hour to $50 for the first 20 minutes.

I welcome you to share your thoughts on the new rules and how they might affect the well-being of the carriage horses.

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Posted on April 22, 2008 by Alison Rowe

Should the Carriage Ride Industry in New York City be Banned?

My brother-in-law, Adam Rowe, recently asked me what I thought about the ASPCA's and other activist groups' recent attempts to pass legislation that would ban horse-drawn carriage rides in New York City.  The activists claim that the industry as whole should be banned because the horses are allegedly overworked and deprived of proper food, water, and shelter.  If you go to the Carriage Horses-NYC blog, a site maintained by one such activist group, you see a woman standing next to a horse in harness and holding a heart-shaped sign bearing the slogan, "Give These Horses Their Freedom."

My first reaction to the activists' cause was, assuming at least some carriage operators treat their horses well, why would they want to ban the trade as a whole? The draft horses have a job and are being put to use, which in my mind is preferable to the dubious fate of the "unwanted horse", which many of these horses might become if they cannot be used for surrey rides.  Due to the recent ban on horse slaughter in the U.S., many in the horse industry predict that unwanted horses will be now be euthanized and disposed of, or shipped to Mexico or Canada for slaughter.  See USA Today article on subject.  The activists (and many other horse lovers, myself included) would probably prefer that the carriage horses be released into vast green pastures to run free for the rest of their lives (which can be 30 years or longer).  However, the activists trying to pass this legislation seem short on ideas on who will take care of the horses once they are "given their freedom."

Another thought is that the mistreatment of carriage horses is already illegal in New York.  According to New York law (McKinney's Agriculture & Markets Law Sect. 353), a carriage driver is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor if he "overdrives, overloads, tortures or cruelly beats" a horse or allows another to do so. He is also liable if he deprives a horse of "necessary sustenance, food or drink," or neglects or refuses to furnish a horse such "sustenance, food, or drink".  I assume that if a particular carriage driver is charged under this criminal statute, his business will not flourish for long. 

Perhaps the most humane thing the activists can do is involve local law enforcement in the investigation of the carriage drivers whom they suspect are guilty of animal cruelty, and let the carriage operators who properly treat their horses continue to do business in peace.

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