By West Side Rag
For the first time in its history, the Central Park Conservancy on Tuesday publicly called for the end of horse-drawn carriages in the park.
“After many years of maintaining a neutral stance, the Central Park Conservancy is writing to formally express its opposition to the continued operation of horse-drawn carriages in Central Park,” Central Park Conservancy President Elizabeth Smith wrote in a letter to Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. “We do not take this position lightly, but with visitation to the Park growing to record levels, we feel strongly that banning horse carriages has become a matter of public health and safety for Park visitors.”
The letter from the Conservancy comes one week after a horse pulling a carriage collapsed and died in Hell’s Kitchen, which reignited the conversation around banning the form of transportation in the city.
Horse-drawn carriages have operated in Central Park since its creation in the late 1800s, when the animals were still the primary mode of transportation in New York City.
The Conservancy pointed to three primary reasons it believes horses should no longer be allowed in the park.
- Public Safety: The Conservancy referred to two incidents this year where horses broke free from their handlers in Central Park and ran uncontrolled. “These events underscore the unpredictable nature of horses in an increasingly crowded and dynamic urban environment, and the risk to public safety can no longer be responsibly overlooked.
- Damage to Park Infrastructure: “The City has invested millions of dollars over the last four months to repave a four-mile section of the Drives, but the new asphalt and striping is already being degraded by the heavy carriages and the horses’ steel horseshoes. It is not fair that this relatively tiny subset of commercial operators is allowed to do such damage to the Park at the expense of the millions of joggers, cyclists, walkers, and other visitors to the Park each year.”
- Failure to Abide by Existing Regulations: “Carriage operators are required by city regulations to clean up after themselves. In fact, horse manure is left behind daily on the Drives and continues to pose a sanitation and public health concern.”
The Rag looked into this excrement concern in an investigation this spring, and found 14 clear-cut examples of horse manure in an afternoon walk along West Drive from West 72nd to 59th streets.
The Conservancy also announced its support of Ryder’s Law, which is a bill pending in the Council that would prohibit horse-drawn carriages from operating in New York City. Upper West Side Councilmember Gale Brewer is one of the many sponsors on that bill.
Horse-carriage riders and stable workers are part of the Transport Workers Union.
Mayor Adams and Speaker Adams have not issued a response to the Conservancy’s letter as of Tuesday afternoon.
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Thank god – it’s about time. How many older horses have to die in this heat and pollution?!! Enough. The stables are hot, the horses are not all treated too well. They’re ignored. Let them live out the rest of their lives without the yoke or standing all day in traffic on hot city streets. Let them breathe fresh air with a scent of clover on a farm upstate or in New Jersey. I’m certain someone would be more than willing to allow them to live out their lives with dignity. Enough is Enough
Please all horse Rescues let them know you are able to take, make healthy and rehome or give the last act of kindness if need.
I agree but I fear they will end up in auction & sold to slaughter. Why no one wants a horse that is sick or can’t be ridden or hasn’t been taken cared for properly.
Sadly they will end up being auctioned off and will probably head to slaughter houses in Mexico. A horse without a job, is sadly in this day and age – with the cost of hay and care – is not usually around for long.
Best Friends Animal Society NYC/Utah and Farm Sanctuary upstate may be able to take them, or recommend other rescuers.
They can be sent to sanctuaries whose purpose is to take care of abused and neglected animals. There are animal sanctuaries all over the country. They did his for Ryder but it was too late by then and he died shortly after.
There is rehab.
Definitely time past due to ban horses drawn carriages. The city is no place for a horse today! Too many injuries and deaths and abuse of these old horses. And that is only what we hear. Who knows how many else have suffered . Please stop the carriages. Use a different form of transportation. Put the horses to green pastures
It’s high time this barbaric practice is retired. Those horses live terrible lives, and their handlers are verbally abusive to anyone who disagrees with their industry. Why not replace the horses with electric cars that resemble leisure vehicles of the past?
Retire the carriages and replace them with nothing.
Absolutely!
No way!!!!!!!
Please don’t’ replace them with cars. We just spent 50 years fighting to get cars out of Central Park, now is not the time to let them back in.
That is the master plan for the whole urbanism schtick. Get rid of personal cars, get rid of everything else but bikes and electric rideshare cars. While everyone else suffers with bad transit.
A limited number of electric antique cars would not be an issue.
It’s already crowded with walkers, joggers, and bikers – what is the benefit of adding any number of cars to that mix? If you want to drive around use one of the many streets we have dedicated to cars, not Central Park.
Exactly…would like the park to be e-vehicle free for safety reasons
It literally makes me sick to my stomach to see those horses literally BAKE in the heat, amid the smell of burning street tar from the sun, their dark hair probably hot to the touch. All so that some guys can make some money. These horses are suffering so badly. Standing around, unable to move, for hours in the hot baking sun, or in the windy freezing dry cold. Whoever let this go on this long should be ashamed of themselves. And the fact that not a single reason given for the ban has to do with the care for the horses also makes me sick to my stomach. What nerve to give reasons for banning this and to leave out the life of the horse.
Very good point and you’re right!
How can we find out the lifespan of an average NYC cart horse and how many of them died the past year, reported or unreported?
Also, is there a NYC law where a veterinarian has to inspect them for health problems semi annually or annually?
(Maybe Gus at WSR could investigate)
Absolutely there are laws requiring regular vet exams. Both riding and carriage horses require veterinary exams every four to eight months, in addition to the yearly examination. You do not need to rely on WSR to answer questions like this. Try Google. New York City has a whole website dedicated to health, including the health of horses:
https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/horses.page
YES to this entire comment, especially the last two sentences. I’m with you all the way!
So glad i.moved down south NY has become a joke!!
Horses in the heat and cold oh my god the humanity,get real horses been doing it for centuries under worse conditions,and far worse medical treatment!
I’ve seen wild horses out west numerous times truly beautiful intelligent creatures yet to see one in get out of the heat or run into a warm barn voluntarily so please get a life and let these people work but crack down on clean up
This isn’t the South – it’s a sophisticated, urban, norther City with a heart. Sure there are some who don’t want things to change. But change MUST happen, everywhere, all the time. We are intelligent human beings who are responsible to bringing these horses into the City. We must be responsible enough for finally giving them what we owe them. A good life. Left them feel grass under their feet. Run free or walk slowly but without a bit in their mouths. They’ve served us well. Not let’s give them the retirement they deserve.
It is obvious that you do not care about these horses at all. Horses are not indestructible. Standing still for hours without moving under the kind of heat and sun we experienced these past weeks is the very definition of torment to ANY animal. At least to most reasonable people who actually care about animals.
Your last sentence especially resonated with me, Fran. The well-being of the horses was NOT a primary reason? What a glaring omission! Well, hey, that’s humans for ya, right? Top o’ the food chain! We’re No. 1! No other sentient beings can be of primary concern above, or even along with, us. Sad, just sad.
I imagine it’s a purposeful omission as when you touch on animal welfare it essentially becomes a subjective, political discussion.
Focusing on clear cut issues of danger to humans makes it a lot harder to argue against.
In winter, horse-drawn carriages seem to be something out of a storybook or movie. Hoves stomping in the snow, their breath rising in the crisp air, their pace slow enough for visitors to take in every detail of the park’s beauty. Yes, I understand they can be hot in the summer sun and require proper care. But if the conversation is about safety, the reality is striking: in the park, it’s not horses but bicycles that have caused far more serious injuries and even deaths.
Please enough with this corny dated narrative regarding carriage horses. They suffer in the cold months too. There’s nothing romantic or anything about these animals being forced to drag wagons and lazy tourists around the park. Walk or pay for a Pedicab
Not anymore, when you consider the well being of the horse! And we are taking about horse drawn carriages not bicycles, please find another thread to post your bicycle concern
“But if the conversation is about safety, the reality is striking: in the park, it’s not horses but bicycles that have caused far more serious injuries and even deaths.”
Safety of who? We’re talking about the horses. You know, the ones that are dying from the abuse? Those ones.
Thank you my thought exactly. Why cant people stick to the topic
Are you serious??? You really want to put the beauty of horses’ breath “rising in the crisp air,” their “storybook” hooves stomping in the snow, above the lives of these animals?? Carriage operators and the horses’ owners are not required by any regulatory body to keep them in good health. These horses are often old, they are often sick, and they do NOT receive proper care, are not overseen by any medical personnel or animal welfare organization.
Ryder, the horse that the bill is named for, was elderly and dying of cancer. He died a few months after his collapse. It’s not a matter of simply being “hot” in the summer. They are in traffic all day breathing in exhaust, surrounded on all sides by cars, buses, trucks…would you want to work in those conditions? Would you be willing to do that just so 200 people could have jobs and people could enjoy their “beauty”? Please do some research.
https://aldf.org/project/ryders-law/
And as for bicycles causing injuries. that is humans causing injury to other humans. It’s a different conversation altogether. Domestic animals are utterly dependent on humans for their welfare. Making horses do this is a barbaric practice and it has to stop.
If people actually respected the rights of cyclists, there’d be far fewer incidents.
Oh Lydia, you’re adorable.
Not true!-i live in NYC all my life and bike riding-especially electric bikes-break rules all day and nite and drive at speeds unheard of before. The amount of injuries are not reported so we are not aware of how many people daily are badly injured and traumatized by errant bikers. Many times its children that are hit also.The only thing reported is deaths,which gives an incaccurate report and also a majority of bikers leave the scene of the accident and are never found,police do not even investigate unless there is a death…Ridiculous!
Very true, no reports on what happened on W. 4th St. by an E bike in the bike lane and a nine year-old kid who was hit and severely injured yesterday!
It’s true, many bike injuries in a day go unreported every day.
Someone in the News took an estimate about two years ago… “That in one day 130+ injuries happen in bike lines go unreported”, I believe it was NY1 who did the report.
The other day, I got off the bus and a delivery bike riding on the sidewalk, sped around the shelter to park next to another delivery bike (W. 69-70) and nearly hit me. I had zero space to exit the bus and walk on the sidewalk. One second difference and I’d be in the hospital now.
I think I know the place. It is Wonder delivery people. Wonder is mostly take out and offers multiple choices so they have crazy number of delivery people who ride in sidewalks.
Re: “Yes I understand they can be hot in the summer”: No, Michael, as Fran perfectly described it: “those horses BAKE in the heat…these horses are suffering so badly. Standing around, unable to move, for hours in the hot baking sun or in the windy freezing cold. All so that some guys can make some money.” And no, the conversation is not about safety-or bicycles-it’s about the terrible suffering of these wonderful animals. Get a clue!
Two things can be true at the same time. Horses pose both a safety issue (they clog up major arteries of the park) and a public health issue. I am frequently in the park at night and their waste attracts so many rats. The horses have to go.
It isn’t one versus the other. We’re discussing horse carriages, and not just their safety issues.
Storybook isn’t real life. Time to leave some of those old stories behind in live in the real world. You can’t just say, “Oh but it is hot in the butal summers — But winter is magical, for ME”. It’s cold out there for everything. Horses feel cold. Their hooves covered in the brined, salted winter streets. Bicycles are the problem.
REALLY?
Lots of “magical” experiences happen to ppl who exploit humans, too.
People who can afford to ride these carriages can afford to get an education in humanities, which should include the notion that if we are the top of the food chain, we can learn how to treat animals with care.
In fact, animals do not hurt other animals for no reason, like we do. Forcing these living beings to wear blinders while deeply inhaling behind car fumes in the heat is nothing less than ABUSE.
Good. Ban them. The park is supposed to be a place for New Yorkers to get fresh air and instead it smells like a poorly maintained horse restroom. Just so tourists can get a $150 selfie?
The prices for a ride are outrageous .
Good.
So the Silent Cal of Central Park Betsy Smith speaks out on an issue “affecting the health and safety of park users.”. She has yet to do the same concerning banning e-bikes and e-scooters from Central Park Hypocrite is too tame a word to describe her.
because ebikes and escooter should not be banned.
Maybe not, but they should , along with cyclists, adhere to the rules. There are stop lights. Red stop lights are often ignored by many cyclists , without exception by the speed cyclists.
Why shouldn’t ebikes/scooters be banned? Motorized vehicles were NEVER allowed in the park ever. Just because electric motors don’t make sound or burn fossil fuel, lol?
If these vehicles had engines that burn gas and make sound, everybody would be up in arms. But the reason why such vehicles were banned in the park in the first place, since time memorial, had nothing to do with burning gas or making sound. It had to do with safety.
Sure, it’s the liberal way to allow for a certain number of deaths because “it’s not going to be me who gets run over, it’s always going to be someone else”. Same approach to crime. It’s always going to be someone else who gets a brick to the face for no reason, not me, so I’ll vote without any regard to law and order.
Why are you making it political? Surely you can make your point based on facts, no?
Haven’t we read that several cities offer electric bike pulled “carriage rides” in place of formerly horse drawn ones? Lighter, quieter, cleaner? I love horses and respect those who make a living with them, but the current changed climate, it does seem a job not fit for the noble creatures. Thank you, CP Conservancy.
The hypocrisy is staggering. Betsy Smith, President of the Central Park Conservancy, now calls on the City to “turn the page” on horse-drawn carriages — a position that rightfully seeks to end animal suffering — yet she refuses to take a stand against the very real, ongoing harm and deaths caused by e-bikes and other motorized vehicles now tearing through all of our parks, including Central Park.
If horses deserve protection from cruelty, why don’t pedestrians deserve at least the same consideration for their safety? Recently an e-biker was killed after crashing into a pedestrian, as well, an illegal electric unicycle rider was critically injured in Central Park. These vehicles are dangerous, fast, and heavy. And despite unicycles being illegal in NYC, they’re in our parks — because once something is permitted, it will always be exceeded. Smith knows it…do not be fooled!
Whether allowing motorized vehicles -or the abuse of horses-pulling carriages into our parks, the Parks Department — and the Conservancy —along with the DOT which never met an ass-backward scheme they didn’t love, and have betrayed New Yorkers. Our parks are supposed to be sanctuaries from city chaos, not high-speed corridors for reckless riders who blast through red lights, stare at their phones, and weave across pedestrian pathways nor a location for the ugliness of exploited horses barely able to survive. This is not what the majority of New Yorkers want.
Parks are the only spaces left where people should feel safe from traffic and where those who purport to be environmental champions need to have as much respect for people as they purport to have for NYC’s horse population.
This isn’t an “either/or” situation. We ‘re talking about horses – not bikes, e-bikes or any other form of transportation on wheels.
We’re just discussing HORSES.
There is a time an place to discuss bike, riders, runners, motorized vehicles, e-bikes, pedi-cabs and people on roller skates. ONE THING AT A TIME.
Let’s applaud movement on the horse drawn carriages issue. When I first moved to the City way back in 1973 we started this discussion. They were just about to close the Clairmont stable on W. 87th Street (about 2 years later). Then a horse fell out of his stall, (located on the second floor of a rundown building) it died. Next a horse dropped dead on the street. Then a horse collapsed in the park drawing a carriage and had to be put down. It’s only getting worse with time.
Let’s just put a period at the end of that “storybook” chapter and move on.
It’s not just e bikers. I have seen many e bikers stop at lights. Speed bikers just never seem to. I’m not sure that they could. They are going too fast and think nothing of yelling at people in their way. Let’s get cameras up at the lights and ban or fine repeat offenders.
If Betsy Smith had to lose her job the next time someone gets seriously injured or dies by getting run over by an electric motorized vehicle in the park, I bet she would feel very differently on the issue. But people are expendable these days and bureaucrats are insulated from the impacts their decisions have on the peasants. Which brings up another point: why are such vehicles allowed to roam freely in the park when the majority of the citizens are against them?
https://www.westsiderag.com/2019/12/19/bicyclist-killed-on-road-crossing-central-park-where-activists-want-a-protected-lane – it’s been six years since this happened and still no cross town bike lane. It would make both bikers and pedestrians safer.
Designated bike lanes are a nice idea but where exactly would they go on the narrow Central Park transverses? Riding through the park yesterday, the M86 articulated bus I was on met another going in the opposite direction. They squeezed by each other in slow motion with only inches to spare between them. The sidewalks along the transverses are also narrow as well as hazardous and in places almost non-existent. Cyclists still use them to get through the park, endangering pedestrians on the same paths. If you have any thoughts on how to fit separate bike lanes in the transverses, let’s hear them.
There simply isn’t enough space of the trans verses to add a bike lane. If there is an easy way to do this please educate me.
Good point. It is stressful just to be a pedestrian in Central Park these days. Some crimes are down since the old days. Other stressors are just beginning to bloom. Disappointing.
The bottom line is that the Mayor and the majority of the NYC Council are beholden to the powerful bully that is TWU 100. This is why this industry, despite the misery borne by these horses, has been allowed to persist for so long. This, in light of the fact that nearly 3/4 of New Yorkers would like to see the industry, one that wholly caters to tourists, gone. Kudos to the Conservancy for finally taking a stand. Should Ryder’s Law pass, measures must be taken to ensure the horses are retired and prohibited from being auctioned off to Mexico and Canada where they will be killed for their meat. The SAFE (Save America’s Forgotten Equines) Act to protect horses from export to slaughterhouses is currently under consideration in Congress.
Good comment. But, THIS skewed Congress pass a humane act? We can hope, and perhaps make a difference, though.
Actually, the only reason the trade still exists is that, after promising to end it, DeBlasio took a huge campaign donation from a private group that supports the trade. And it wasn’t a union. But for that, the trade would have ended during DeBlasio’s term.
Source, please.
Wow nowhere is the life of the horse mentioned by the Conservancy —we’ve all seen these poor creatures in traffic going back and forth to their stable with cars inches away—the noise and the smells and the danger all around them—at least sweet Lady’s death may have been the last straw—this barbaric practice has gone on far too long—and for those that think Curtis Sliwa is a clown know that he is against this practice and would reform the city kill shelter as well—big into animal welfare
Amazing how in listing their 3 primary concerns, this Rag failed to mention ANYconcern by CP Conservancy for the welfare of the horses. Their silence here speaks VOLUMES, re where their interests lie.
This makes zero sense. Why are you blaming the Westside Rag for failing to mention any concerns? The WR is simply reporting what every other news outlet is reporting.
It’s disappointing that the Conservancy didn’t add the fourth concern, cruelty to carriage horses.
No, it’s not. People have been trying to end horse drawn carriages in Central Park for years based on animal welfare concerns. That has not succeeded. Fortunately for those who have that view there are other reasons to end horse drawn carriages in Central Park which the Conservancy has ably articulated. That may motivate new people (who don’t necessarily care about cruelty to carriage horses) to join your effort. Perhaps, together you will be successful.
You are missing the point. The point is that the well-being of the horse is not even mentioned AS ONE OF THE FACTORS, not THE single factor. Certainly adding horse welfare as one reason is not going to harm the effort.
It’s too bad that the Conservancy and others feel they must decide that decrying obvious cruelty doesn’t “sell,” isn’t it?
“Together ‘you’ will be successful” — not “we”?
I agree that the horses pulling those carriages, especially in the heat, appear to be strained. But I really do miss seeing the individual horseback riders on the bridal path. Those horses were treated well. And the stable was very strict. A rider had to train for at least six months and certify that they could control the horse. It’s a shame that stable closed down during the Great Recession.
I’m VERY pleased that the Conservancy and more-progressive city officials finally are doing this. Even better: may the Conservancy find the courage to add the 4th concern, unreasonable treatment of carriage horses, that should retire upstate.
Carriages are not transportation as such, but meant for tourists seeking an unthreatening, “romantic,” “authentic” nature excursion in famous Central Park. Pedicabs make more sense; their participation is voluntary.
About time, the damage to infrastructure and excrement caked all over the park should make this an obvious choice. Tourists can take a pedicab.
Dog poo smells way worse, imo, and is better hidden–the better to surprise you when you sit or slide.
no we should ban the stupid pedicabs too.
yes, the pedicabs, another unsightly thing that never existed until this city became a lawless mess.
Cyclists who think the park drives are a stage of the Tour de France, E-Bikes, electric scooters, and the cretins blasting Bluetooth speakers are a far greater problem than the horses.
this is false
Proof (or at least details) please!
Transportation Alternatives I presume. They’d like us to believe that ebike riders are blameless for the life changing injuries they cause through just not giving a damn. But everyone in this city can see it every day. Even Betsy Smith.
Enforce the rules and this won’t be an issue. Put in speed bumps! Ban all electric biles and scooters would also be a solution.
I hope all of these posters never visit an Amish farm and see these draft horses really working while smelling the clover of course. They would never shop a farmers market again.
The recent horse death from an aortic rupture would have happened pulling a plow also. The horses are not being worked to death. They’re actually doing what they’re bred to do.
But why aren’t these posters stepping up with the money to buy the horses, furnish the land, pay for, insurance, food, vet care etc?
NYC had 1000 jobs created in the first half of this year. A truly pathetic number. So let’s eliminate 200 jobs!
If the consevancy cared about the safety of park users they would ban electric bikes, get dogs on leashes and support the jailing of criminals and the committing of the mentally ill.
Oh god, come on. Do you seriously think the Amish abuse their horses and decrease their lifespan? Seriously, what is it with people?
You leave out that the horses on Amish farms (and elsewhere) are working on solid “earth,” not on concrete. As well, their owners know to keep them out of high temperatures, and treat them not simply properly, but even respectfully.
Your comparison is as phony as a four-dollar bill.
As for jobs, the carriage drivers have already been offered two alternatives – BOTH at the same pay rate. So that, too, is a bogus justification for allowing horses to continue to die.
As for e-bikes, you may well be right, but this is NOT an article about e-bikes (of which there have been many). So take that argument elsewhere.
You seem to be the only other person on this thread who has ever seen a horse in “real life”. Or been outside the city. Draft horses are bred to work. Pulling plows or otherwise. Should they be properly fed, cared for, and maintained? Of course. But to suggest that these animals are being tortured is asinine.
NYCE has been try for decades to ban the carriages and retire the horses. Plans have been in place for years,. Money collected, sanctuaries identified. But these two hundred jobs apparently must be protected at all costs. Why? There’s endless history about the work to try to get these animals retired to better locations. Just google it.
Because Manhattan and Amish country are the same. Bill, you’ve outdone yourself with this one.
I think they need to ban all bicycles and motor bike-type vehicles from Central Park. They are a hazard to pedestrians.
this is false.
Again deegee, assertion without proof or detail
I can’t believe that not one reason to ban the carriages in Central Park had to do with the life of the horse. Shame on you.
IT IS ABOUT TIME !!!!🙏
Putting the cart before the horse – The New School Free Press
The Central Park Conservancy, the organization that manages Central Park, is now advocating for a ban on horse-drawn carriages in the park. This marks a significant shift, as they have historically maintained a neutral stance on the issue. The Conservancy cites public safety concerns, infrastructure damage, and the incompatibility of the practice with the park’s modern, heavily used status as reasons for the ban, according to a letter sent to Mayor Eric Adams and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams.
I am not against banning the horse carriages. The workers are TWU local 100 members and there are enough places to put the workers in the MTA if need be. What I am concerned about is how the Central Park Conservancy is unwilling to clamp down on e-bikes in Central Park but are quick to do this. Also the same monied interests pushing the horse carriage ban are the same ones behind the anti personal car lobbies.
Hopefully this will be the beginning of the end for this barbaric practice. When it’s 100 degrees outside, the horses are out there schlepping overpaying tourists. When it’s 20 degrees outside, the horses are out there schlepping overpaying tourists. Those poor creatures.
If only there were a stable INSIDE the park. And the horses NEVER had to sit next to street side traffic or ride behind and in front of toxic fumes for hours, in all kinds of weather. But that’s not reality. They belong in nature. They are NOT bred to work in these conditions, as some wrongly say.
Remember, highway toll collectors die right after retirement. Why?
Winnie the Pooh: THINK.
It is high time and these are great reasons. But isn’t public safety also an issue from e-vehicles in the park? Willing to bet that many more deaths and injuries in the park result from those e-vehicles than the carriage horses.
About damn time!
It’s time. It’s been time.
I love the carriages and find this charming. The horses are well cared for and doing what they were created to do.
I hesitate to even bother because literally no words in your second sentence are true, but – where is your evidence that they’re “well cared for”? There is an overabundance of evidence to the contrary, and literally no fact-based, impartially researched evidence to your statement.
Do you find this image charming?
https://www.westsidespirit.com/news/carriage-horse-dies-in-hell-s-kitchen-sparks-animal-rights-debate-CM4934466
You think it’s charming that the majority of these horses are malnourished? You can see their ribs. And have you actually seen the condition of their stalls? A well cared for horse has a large CLEAN stall and room for PASTURE time, which these horses do NOT have in the city. This coming from someone who has loved and interacted with horses their whole lives. If you love the Gilded Age so much please hop back into your time machine. The city drives and streets are no longer a place for these poor animals to “work” so you can revel in their “charm”.
Horses were created to be free, not your personal transport slaves.
I like to have you replaced for a day by one of those poor suffering, senior horses, which are one step away from the grave and see how you feel about what you just said!
Shame on you!
Horsesh!t
About time.
Next – electric rickshaws
This is the best news I have heard in some time. Next up – remove the zoo!
Yeah, remove everything from the park. Let’s start all over.
Erase the board clean, start bringing back the Cow pastures. 🐄🤠
Yay! Now do bikes!
E bikes must go!
One reason not mentioned is ,and as a New Yorker for most of my life ,presently summers have consistently been hotter in daily temperatures than say last century or when this horse carriaige thing was started in the 1800’s. So that heat is detrimental in health to horses forced to pull carraiges . Along with that bike riding,not only Citi Bikes but electrc bikes of all kinds proliferate nowadays unlike ever before and certainly affect the horses demeanor. Horses in Central Park is an old out-dated concept and should be ended. If you want to,there is a place in northern Bronx where people can actually ride horses andit is well managed .
Supporting the horse ban on the grounds that it’s more humane for the horses is idiocy. Pulling carriages in Central Park is a second career for these animals. Without the availability of this second career, guess where they’ll end up? Ask any horse which he or she would prefer — Central Park, plus a paid vacation every year in rural pastures, or the glue factory.
you can’t be serious
False narrative.
I’m very disappointed that the parks does not center the animals wellbeing and history of maltreatment.
Deblasio promised he’d do it and collapsed like a lawn chair cause the Teamsters said keep em. This is great. The Teamsters are dead wrong on this one. We’ve been waiting for a long time for this to happen. Please place the horses safely so they could live out their lives in safety and peace.
Improve, not close
Enhance, not abandon
Improve what and why? The 21st century has moved beyond using animals for stupid things like pretending it’s the 1800s for tourists
Yes, this latest incident proves how little care and concern these poor creature receive, it’s time to shut them down.
Sad end of a NYC delightful tradition – memorialized in countless movies over the course of many years. I guess the Conservancy prefers those obscenely expensive bicycle carts blasting horrible music, robbing tourists of their money.
i really wonder how it is that people pass these horses and don’t feel sorry for them. i guess we are not all the same.
Not a delightful tradition for those who know about how the horses are treated.
It’s long overdue and I hope the ban is enacted in a timely manner. At the same time there has to be more regulation of the pedicabs. There are far too many of them and the entrances to the park…particularly Columbus Circle are so unpleasant with the pedicabs “sales force” accosting everyone who tries to come into the park. Finally the proliferation of unlicensed vendors and in particular the dozens and dozens of fruit cup sellers spoils what should be the tranquility of the Park.
So, what shall we do with the horsies?
There are many farmers and others in NYS and other States who have already offered to take one or more of them. In fact, several former carriage horses are already on farms elsewhere.
Don’t worry – as soon as the commenters realize that most of them would be sent to the glue factory, they’ll demand a law to prevent that too.
can’t imagine anyone being upset with a group of people that don’t want to see horses bake standing still for hours in the hot sun, but these days, nothing surprises me anymore.
Put them out to pasture to enjoy their rest of life’s in peace 🙏🐴
There are groups that have been working for decades with sanctuaries, farms, etc. I believe the plan is or was to slowly retire them to those locations.
I’ve always heard that there were horse sanctuaries so I looked it up and there are quite a few. Someone here mentioned that carriage horses get a paid vacation in rural pastures, so I’d be curious to know if those same farms would take them permanently.
Bill DeBlasio lives!
These horses need better legal representation. So for, their advocacy has been garbage.
Thanks Conservatory for stepping up.
Also what desperately needs to go are the pedi cabs. They are the scourge of our beautiful Park charging outrageous o
prices to our tourists and overnite parking
of their cabs behind The Dakota on W73
They must GO away immediately. They jam
up the entrance at 72 Street snd look terrible !
yeah, when you look at the excuses, they don’t even really say because of the animals they’re looking at the safety and the manure but oh well whatever it takes to meet the horse is the number one priority
Call for Elizabeth Smith to revise her letter to include the health and wellbeing of the ANIMAL first and foremost!
With the Conservancy now in opposition, we may finally see an end to this archaic and barbaric practice. Over 30 horses have been injured or (mostly) killed since the trade began. ONE should have been one too many.
Let’s hope the City Council finally does the right thing here. The $15 million that the trade brings in is a mere drop in the (oat) bucket in a $115 BILLION budget; it can be made up in other ways, including alternatives to the horse and carriage trade. (Those opposed to the trade long ago suggested electric antique cars. They might not be as much fun (though, then again, they might be), but they would keep the drivers working (the City has promised the same rate, so they would not lose money.))
Horses do not belong on City streets (I even believe this about the NYPD – though that would be a much bigger “fight,” and one we would be certain to lose).
Bravo to the Conservancy for finally seeing the light!
I guess I am really in the minority here but I don’t think the horse carriage people are horrible abusers of their animals. The carriage business is actually highly regulated and in fact the horses have better working conditions than a lot of humans working in this city. Their working hours are limited, they get at least 5 weeks vacation outdoors every year, they do not work if the temperature is above 89 degrees or below 19 degrees. I suggest you speak to some of the carriage drivers to learn a little more before you condemn them. The recent death of a carriage horse apparently had nothing to do with age or temperature and could have happened anywhere.
Can you please cite your source(s)? Other than what carriage drivers and TWU 100 members say (who are highly motivated to say whatever they want to keep their jobs)? Like, outside sources?
Well, the New York City regs on health of horses is one:
https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/horses.page.
I could cite more but clearly many people commenting do not wish to have their views challenged.
There IS an alternative to simply shutting down the trade. In New Orleans, when there was a huge outcry after a horse died (and this was only the FIRST horse to die there), the City switched from horses to mules. Now, mules may not be as “romantic” as horses, but they are better suited for higher temperatures (and humidity), and also happen to be cheaper to feed.
So we could keep the trade and simply switch out the horses for mules. I have no idea what the cost might be, but it can’t be THAT much. And the horses could be given to farmers and others in Upstate NY and elsewhere, as they have been in the past.
That’s a very bad idea: eliminating the suffering of one kind of animal (horses) and replacing it with the suffering of another (mules), which supposedly “are better suited for higher temperatures and are cheaper to feed.” How about just having greater compassion and caring for all of these animals? Central Park is a beautiful place in itself–no need to make other living , feeling creatures suffer a miserable life and death.
A just solution for the horses might be to carve out a large enough corner of the park where a small herd of mostly mares, with one or two stallions (mimicking their natural state), could run around free. If people wanted to interact with them, they could feed them oats, apples or carrots for a small fee at stations along the fence. They’ve earned a respite from carrying our weight. (Better they be given a home in the country, I suppose, but a horse is a wonderful animal to be able to look at.)
Finally! Living by the park led to constant reminders of animal cruelty for a quick joy ride that can be easily enjoyed with other commute methods. Knowing where these horses are contained only makes matters worse. And if I can be selfish, I’d say the smell of horse dung wasn’t my favorite about Central Park walks.
I am opposed to animal cruelty. Horses are animals and not to be used for transportation.
I also opposse the use of animals for food. We should abolish meat from New York restaurants and groceries. We can use the Beyond Burger and cultured meats grown in a lab. That is the ethical way.
If this effort is successful, I hope the Conservancy will begin replacing its (polluting) gasoline-powered carts with clean electric-powered vehicles. Ecology now!
This was really about cruelty to animals. That should be the first reason. We protested in mass. Not about horse manure and danger to whatever.
I’ve been protesting these horse-drawn carriages for a very long time. Rather than worry about the damage to the park’s streets and the poop left behind, the poor animals should be our first concern. They are literally being driven to death. I saw a piece on the news of a driver whipping his horse who had fallen down. These creatures have feelings and should not be pulling carriages with tourists around a very busy and hot trafficked city. They belong roaming in a field with no awful human whipping them. Please, at long last, get rid of these horrible carriages and the creeps who drive these magnificent creatures to death.