By Lily Seltz
Alexus Lawson’s favorite time to work is at night, when Central Park gets quiet and she can hear the clip-clop of the hooves of her horse, Starlight, on the pavement. But Lawson’s last mild summer nights as a carriage driver might already be behind her.
In recent months, momentum has shifted in the years-long campaign to banish horse-drawn carriages from Central Park. Supporters of Ryder’s Law, which would phase out the carriages by next June, hold that the practice constitutes city-sanctioned animal abuse. Activists cite the length of the horses’ workdays (horses can legally work up to nine hours a day, seven days a week) and exposure to traffic fumes and extreme temperatures, especially as New York’s summers get hotter.
With support from at least 20 of New York’s 51 City Council members, all three major candidates in the upcoming mayoral election, and, as of August, the Central Park Conservancy, the activists now seem poised to win their battle. But lost in recent coverage are the voices of the carriage drivers who make their living from this centuries-old business.
Lawson, a Central Park carriage driver for four years, insists that the animal-rights activists who oppose the industry are misguided. “If you truly cared about horses,” she addressed them, “you’re fighting the wrong fight.”
Lawson, now 27, began riding horses 20 years ago as a child in New York. After completing her associates’ degree, she did stints as a horseback riding instructor and an operations manager for a restaurant supply company before pivoting to full-time carriage driving. “I went from handling $10,000 a day in cash to getting my horse drooling all over my hair,” she said. “And I’m happier.”
Carriage drivers are represented by Transport Workers Union Local 100. While Lawson doesn’t have a formal media role in the union, she admits that she has been “one of their favorite faces to use lately.” She is one of the few female carriage drivers of color (of the approximately 200 carriage drivers in New York, only seven are women, according to Lawson). She is also young, highly articulate, “professionally put-together,” and, because she owns the animals she drives, “my horses always look good,” she said. But she doesn’t appear to resent being asked to speak on behalf of the union, whose cause she adamantly supports.
Lawson says that carriage drivers don’t choose this job because it’s lucrative. Many, like Lawson, own and maintain their own horses—an expensive proposition, with monthly costs running into the thousands of dollars. Prices for carriage rides are capped by city law at $72.22 for the first 20 minutes and $28.89 for each additional 10 minutes. Drivers share their profits with the owner of the medallion license that allows them to operate the carriage. (The city hasn’t issued new medallions since the late 1940s or early 1950s; there are 68 of them total. According to Lawson, a single medallion sells for upwards of $300,000 today.)
“It’s not the most glamorous lifestyle,” Lawson said. “You don’t make a lot of money. Most of your profit goes to take care of the horse.”
Nor do drivers land in the industry for lack of other options. Lawson described the cohort as highly educated. She herself has an associate’s degree in psychology from LaGuardia Community College and is currently pursuing bachelor’s degrees in psychology and forensic anthropology from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. One of her close colleagues, Lawson told me, is a former veterinary technician.
“We come here because we love being with ponies,” she said.
“I’ve dedicated my life toward [horses],” Lawson said. “I’ve seen horses with scars all over their bodies, horses that tremble when they hear a human voice.” That, she says, does not describe the Central Park horses.
Lawson reeled off a list of the protections that carriage horses receive, including legal caps on daily hours, mandatory yearly five-week furloughs outside of the city, frequent visits from veterinarians, access to food and filtered water, and requirements that horses’ hooves be fully covered (shod) before they can work on pavement or park roads.
“The horses have more laws protecting them than the drivers,” Lawson said. (Drivers don’t receive mandatory time off, for example, and their companies often require them to work multiple 12-16 hour days during the holiday season.)
In a message to the Rag, Lawson also described how drivers tend their horses: combing their manes, cleaning and oiling their hooves, making sure their stalls are free of dangerous objects, and cleaning and adjusting their harnesses to avoid discomfort.
In a 2023 op-ed for the New York Daily News, Dr. Gabriel Cook, an equine veterinarian who has conducted regular check-ups at the stables in New York, also dismissed the claim that the Central Park horses are poorly treated. “Widespread abuse or neglect does not exist,” he wrote.
Not only are the Central Park horses not being abused, Lawson told the Rag, her industry is helping them avoid a much worse fate. Many of the carriage horses in the park come from Amish or Mennonite farms upstate where horses work more demanding jobs pulling plows or buggies. Once the farms no longer have use for their labor, Lawson said, they either come to Central Park or are sent to auction, where they run the risk of being sold for dog food.
Jane Meggitt, a “lifelong horsewoman” and a journalist who has written and reported extensively on the Central Park carriage horses, concurred: “A horse with a job is the least likely to go to slaughter,” she told the Rag.
“These are working animals. That’s what they’re bred to do,” Meggitt continued. In her mind, people who foundationally object to the practice of humans using horses for labor—regardless of the conditions in which they’re kept—are engaged in a pointless critique of animal domesticity. “It’s like saying, let’s take all the dogs out of the city, because an apartment’s not a natural environment,” she said.
Other supporters of the ban, including the Conservancy, are ambivalent on the animal abuse charges. But while Meggitt holds that New York was “built by horses and for horses,” the Conservancy sees the industry as a relic that’s incompatible with modern city life. The horses’ manure is a smelly nuisance, they point out, and carriages can pose risks to pedestrians and cars and damage park roads.
“We don’t have telegram operators anymore, and there’s no need for us to continue this antiquated method of entertaining tourists,” said one speaker at a September 12 rally held by NYCLASS, an organization that advocates against horse-drawn carriages.
Lawson thinks the solution to collisions between carriages and other vehicles is better education for automobile drivers about how to share the road with horses. Most New York drivers aren’t aware of the laws surrounding horse-drawn carriages on trafficked roads, she said—including prohibitions on honking, which can cause horses to spook and run.
Ryder’s Law contains a proposal to replace the horse-drawn carriages with electric alternatives.
But Lawson doubts that electric carriages will ever be designed safely enough to land on roads. Without the weight of the horse on the front, she said, the vehicles will be prone to tipping.
Defenders of the electric carriages maintain that they’re safer than horse-drawn carriages, because they avoid the horse’s unpredictability. An electric carriage program is being piloted in Philadelphia, with no safety incidents reported so far. But a number of “regulatory hurdles” remain before the carriages can operate at scale.
Lawson says she would quit and return to working in the restaurant supply industry before she drove an electric carriage. “I’m no better than a pedicab if I drive an electric carriage,” she said. “There is no backup carriage for me… The whole point is the horse.”
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I feel kind of bad about it, but I have little sympathy for this industry. Move on. Horses don’t belong here. Anyone who’s ever gone up to them in the park and really examined them can easily see that.
Exactly this. I didn’t have much of an opinion about it until the pandemic, when I was in the park much more often and I saw every day the conditions that these horses are subjected to. Twenty-first century Manhattan traffic is no place for horses — plus these people aren’t workers, they’re owners of an outdated sideshow attraction. Don’t know how the TWU got saddled with them (see what I did there), but it works to the detriment of the actual transport workers.
Why has the ASPCA never spoken about this, as far as I know? For me the most important issue is whether the horses are abused or not.
Simple Google search. I’m sure there’s much more. https://www.aspca.org/blog/speaking-carriage-horses-new-york-city
“But lost in recent coverage are the voices of the carriage drivers who make their living from this centuries-old business.”
What are you talking about? The carriage drivers are backed by the Transport Workers Union (TWU), one of the most powerful and politically aggressive unions in the country. They’ve picketed and pressured politicians who dared to challenge this archaic, abusive industry. Their influence is a big reason Ryder’s Law has been stalled for years. It’s taken far too many dead and injured horses splashed across the New York Post to finally shift public opinion. Appreciate the TWU talking points, though.
Exactly, I suppose the union is supposed to fight for their members jobs but we are not obligated to make NYC worse for the benefit of these 200 workers (something like <0.001% of NYC's population). Instead lets make the city better for all and ditch the horses.
I see both sides. I get why the horse carriages should not be in Central Park and I don’t think tourists should be wasting money in NYC like this, but also would banning them consign these horses to a worse fate? The TWU local 100 does not have the juice it used to have and they are more than willing to sell their workers down the river given that it is not as Irish dominated as it once was.
If the City and Central Park Conservancy’s main concern is safety for pedestrians, then the City should eliminate bike riders from the park. They rarely yield to pedestrians and frequently fail to stop at red lights. There have been significantly more bicycle-pedestrian collisions than horse-drawn carriage accidents. The Central Park horse-drawn carriages contribute to the charm of the park, pose little to no danger, and the horses are treated well.
The whole point of the fight is not danger to pedestrians – that’s a deflection — but that horses are not treated well, despite what quotes in this article say. There are frequent collisions with cars and reports of neglect and mistreatment. See the NYclass site.
You are incorrect. The reason Betsy Smith,President of the Central Park Conservancy, gave for supporting a ban on carriage horses in Central Park was that the horses pose a danger to park visitors She said nothing about the treatment or condition of the horses. She spoke out in favor of the city council bill to ban the horses, but continues to refuse to take a position on banning e-vehicles from the park saying that she cant interfere with legislation before city council. Hypocrite is too mild a word to describe Betsy Smith.
He’s correct. Horses are a quibbling concern in lieu of larger safety hazards like cyclists. Horse-drawn carriages are just a low-hanging-fruit issue, and the REAL deflection. Accept reality and move on.
Completely agree. I dislike the horses because of the manure but, as a daily walker in Central Park, I have zero safety concerns with the horse carriages and significant safety concerns with the cyclists.
As a non-expert layperson who sees these horses at work every day with their blinder thingys on so they can’t see left and right, I can’t help but worry about their well being. Are they ever given access to freedom to run in pasture? I would like to know more about where the horses go during their “mandatory yearly five-week furloughs outside of the city”
They go to a farm upstate where they run free through gorgeous meadows filled with wild flowers. They are fed every day. Groomed, get new shoes, are examined by qualified vets.
That guy with the jackhammer digging up the street to install fiber optic cable for your WiFi, ask them how much paid vacation time off they get, medical care, and food they’re given on an as legislated basis. How many hours does the ditch digger work? Without a break on the hottest day of the year?
Stop thinking of work horses as photo props. Stop blaming tourists. Stop thinking you know how these poor animals think. Time to worry about humans and how we treat each other.
The Ditch digger can go for a run down the street after work, have a picnic in the park, hang out at the pub, etc. These horses go from a small stall where they barely have room to lie down and no view outside to working the streets and that’s it. That’s all they see all year round until their 5 weeks of pasture time. Horses are meant to have DAILY pasture time outside, not annually. Additionally they are social creatures who feel best when they have a regular herd to hang out with. In Norway for example the legal minimum is 3 hours of pasture time every day for a horse.
Last guy who installed my cable btw had a union job that paid well and gave him vacation.
Maybe we can find out where the thousands of dogs (who barely leave their apartments) go for their annual vacations. Get real if the horses are well treated let’s focus of the cyclists and e- bikers who threaten New Yorks every day
Could there be a stable made for the horses within the park in order to spare them from city traffic?
That’s my wish. The manure smells better than the dog poop and it’s not on the grass where you run and sit. But these horses–they walk with their noses and lungs saturated in motor vehicle exhaust all day, all season. It’s horrendous. And the blinders. The vacation does not alleviate that toxic and extremely unpleasant (and probably painful–I’d have a continuous headache daily) environment they are forced to experience. Why we would do this to a living creature is beyond my comprehension.
NYCLASS founder Steven Nislick is a real estate developer who wants the horse stables on the west side which is very valuable property. With all the problems this city is facing, the last thing we should address are horse drawn carriages which do no harm other than ripping off tourists who are dumb enough to ride in them.
Well, John, they actually do a lot of harm, TO THE HORSES. But of course to many people, including a number of commenters here, that isn’t important, all that matters are humans, and catering to their whims.
Please! They’re horses that have been pulling carts, carriages and heavy machinery for hundreds of years. Would you rather see them put to death for dog food or glue factories?
Don’t you think we should concentrate on “whims” such as affordable housing, feeding the poor, helping the mentally ill, better schools and other human needs?
All good things, but that doesn’t mean we can’t also be concerned about the horses, and other creatures who suffer. We can walk and chew gum at the same time, as the expression goes.
These horses are not suffering. If you really care about horses, take a hard look at the race tracks. That’s animal abuse!
The best use of Manhattan real estate in 2025 cannot possible be a horse stable…. maybe in 1825…
The historic structure at 618 W. 52nd St. was built in the late 1800’s and was originally a stable for the NYC Sanitation Department horses.
I guess you would rather see luxury condos there instead…
Is that supposed to be a difficult question….? I absolutely would rather see new homes for hundreds of new yorkers instead of a “historic” stable.
So you would like to see luxury condos there.
Who gets to decide which businesses are “the best use of Manhattan real estate”?
That’s a slippery slope we shouldn’t go down.
Columbia University wanted the MTA to give up a bus depot on 132nd Street and Broadway for their Manhattanville campus.
EXACTLY
It’s disingenuous to argue that NY was built for horse transportation when the roads then were dirt and cars did not exist. It’s also absurd and unethicial to say we must have carriages or the horses would suffer a worse fate. Death or collisions with cars and overwork are not the only alternatives.
Further, I have spoken with some drivers; none were educated, all worked for maximum profit which typically came at the expense of care for the horses. I have seen them hit horses in the face when waiting in the line on Central Park South if, for example, the horse put a front leg up on the curb.
No animal deserves to breathe car fumes 9 hours a day, 7 days a week, walk on hard pavement not made for their legs, and stand exposed in extreme heat and cold, live in a tiny stall, and finally be hit by a car or truck.
This is completely unnecessary cruelty for tourist photo ops of a fantasy city that no longer exists.
Agree 100% their talking points are ridiculous. Enough is enough. Get the horses out of NYC. Tourists can find something else to do.
I find it hypocritical that those who think it is cruelty to horses to pull carriages seem to have no problem with humans bicycling pedicabs throughout the city in hot and cold weather, charging ridiculous fees for their service – some at $6.99/minute!
Humans make choices, the horses cannot. They have no voice.
Humans choose to do this and have the capacity to complain or quit. The pedicabs have proliferated because most drivers like the exercise, are self-employed, set their own hours, and make decent money (up to $60,000-80,000/yr). Fees are what traffic will bear. Don’t like them, don’t take them, but they are a friendly, environmentally clean, charming, viable alternative to animal abuse.
Pedicabs are the worst. Get them out!
Their loud music is annoying but not worse than the cars and motorbikes with exhaust pipes that sound like a barrage of bullets–worse than the “illegal” broken mufflers.
And the cars full of speaker systems… Don’t get me started. And it’s stupid. Wear earphones and break your own eardrums. The fact that a few of us like the songs… LMAO. So do I sometimes. But not when I’m trying to relax (while dodging bicycles;)
Let them ride only in the park.
Good, horses don’t belong in NYC period. The pedicabs can do the same tours for tourists with the excremental all over the park.
Are cars next? Sounds like it. Cars replaced horses and bikes did not.
Central Park Conservancy has the nerve to be talking about banning horse carraiges when there is a SERIOUS e vehicle accident every day in Central Park. FACT. I have 12 photos of 12 different accidents in past 15 days. FACT. If WSR would contact me, i can sharw the photos. I can also share a video of 43 e vehicles speeding through a c park pedestrian crosswalk while pedestrians WAIT for a long time to cross. People Baby strollers weaving the e bikes.
E VEHICLES DO NOT BELONG in CENTRAL PARK! Always get a police report if involved in accident. And contact your council member to sign bill 0060-2024 prohibiting e vehicles from NYC parks. Gale Brewer already signed it! So you can thank her!
We can be concerned about, want to mitigate, and oppose more than one thing at a time! Horse carriages, e-vehicle regulation, cars — they all must be seriously addressed. EVSA and Gale Brewer certainly are doing their important part, but the horse carriages also must go promptly also.
This crusade against e-bikes is so misguided. Of course there are accidents. Of course some bikers are rude or reckless. But if hypothetically everyone stopped driving and started biking, can you imagine a safer mode of transportation? Look at the statistics on cars, buses and trucks. NYPD has a public map of injuries and fatalities. But you must know this. Those heavy vehicles are 100 times more deadly and injurious than all the e-bike-on-pedestrian injuries put together. The drivers escape with virtually zero consequences. I wish you would apply your zeal to a more worthy cause.
The reality is biking is a niche mode of transportation.
You know what would be a worthy vause? Getting bikes to obey the ryles of the road. If we never saw them in sidewalks or going to wrong way, they wouldn’t be hated. Yes, cars sometimes go through red lights but it is usually a second or two after the light thry are trying th neat has changed. Bukes sometimes go through 10 sevinds after the light has changed while pedestrialns are in the middle of the road.
If you spent your efforts getting bikers to be good citizens maybe we could stop this fight.
No, the majority of cars obey the traffic signals. The majority of two-wheeled vehicles DO NOT. In the case of quality of life issues, I’d prefer NOT to get almost hit ALL DAY LONG. It’s damned stressful. And supposedly illegal, to start before the light changes and to speed up after the light is against them, and to ride the wrong way. ENOUGH.
e-Bikes are a public hazard precisely because they are unlicensed and therefore the riders are unaccountable. .
“Of course”???
Jon,
We are talking about Central Park
There are 0 cars hitting oedestrians in the park because cars are banned. There are many e-bikes hitting pedestrians. We’d like that number to go to 0 as well. Let’s ban the e-bikes from Central Park.
This is what our political leaders worry about? Ridiculous.
Maybe if you love animals or were a horse, you’d care. We’ve seen them collapse and work 9 hrs, 7 days a week like slaves.
Even you started with a dinghy before commanding a fleet, Blackbeard.
This is outrageous. I have been hit twice by ebikes and am terrorized by all evehicles everywhere in this city, and THOSE SHOULD BE BANNED FROM THE PARK! Never had an issue with horse carriages!
Yeah the drivers are respectful and cautious… pedicabs and e-bikes are a different story.
This is not an either/or!!
It is not either horses or e-bikes. But it is curious that the CP Conservatory has come out against the horse (supposedly on the basis of publicn safety) but has said there is nothing they can do about the e-bikes. Then they removed the stop lights to the detriment of pedestrians trying to cross the roads. Why was it either/or for them?
Kind of scary, that people do not comprehend your point…
No one needs electric carriages in Central Park. There are more than enough pedicabs for tourists. Let’s not substitute a clearly outdated practice of horse-drawn carriages with yet another electric problem. The park is for people, not electric vehicles. We got rid of the cars and now are stuck with motorized bikes. Let’s get rid of the horses, which deserve a break, and let’s do something for the pediatricians who are trying to safely enjoy the park. Enough is enough.
Why is anyone signing on to ban these carriages? As a daily disabled pedestrian who walks their dog everyday, these carriage operators alway stop and yield for me at crossings. Whereas e-bikes who ar allowed to zip at high speeds never yield. The yellow light does nothing to deter these e-vehicles from going too fast and recklessly all over the park.
Give the horses the respect they and their drivers give to us.
Ban e-vehicles from park leave the horses alone
I hope all of the activists are happy when literally all of these horses get sent straight to slaughter when this ban is imposed
There are a lot of horse sanctuaries out there in New York State alone, I wouldn’t assume that the horses would automatically be slaughtered just because they don’t have carriages to pull anymore.
According to your logic, maybe we should take all the animals out of the shelter system and tie them out to be dragged in the street behind poisonous car exhaust all day long, bc at least they wouldn’t…
So you would rather see a horse, potentially (I would say chances are slim and huge funding is needed for this) go to a horse sanctuary than live a good life, in horse terms, in Central Park. You have very rose tinted goggles on
I’ve actually confirmed that there are already spots available. Multiple sanctuaries have committed to take in all central park horses when and if the ban goes into effect.
I can’t speak about funding, although it is a relatively small number of horses compared to the number that get taken care of at sanctuaries and other facilities . But I can say that I’m quite confident that a horse would be much happier there then pulling carriages in the city.
Of course they would. And I would be much happier living on the beach for the rest of my life. But it doesn’t work like that and horses are not born and bred to go into sanctuaries. What about all the other working horses in the country? They don’t have the ‘privilege’ of going into sanctuary. I’m from a farming background and I can tell you, when horses are of no use to farmers, racing, show pony’s etc, they are costly and therefore slaughtered. That’s not in question here, we can debate all day if they are necessary in the city but the fact remains the majority of the horses in Central Park are cared for adequately and much better than most horses in USA. It’s just the eyes on the very small incidents trump all the good or normal horse behavior
I’m really only debating your statement that banning carriages would cause the horses to be slaughtered, which we’ve determined is false. There are already spots in sanctuaries set aside for those horses.
I’m not necessarily saying I think the animals are being abused by the drivers. I suspect that’s more of a gray area. I’m just making sure that false arguments are not being made to justify keeping the carriages. The horses will not be slaughtered, regardless of what you have seen happen at farms you used to work on.
You have not provided any evidence that they will not be slaughtered! And if someone told THESE horses won’t be, then surely that means other horses will be? And for sure horses that would have come to Central Park in the future, will be slaughtered. So it’s not really an argument at all.
The excrement and urine at the staging area on Central Park South is absolutely horrible. Smells the whole block up, and for those who use that entrance to access the park, it’s so pungent. Not to mention the ‘uncurbed’ horses all along the road as we run by. These horses are miserable and this ban is so overdue it’s ridiculous. There is hardly any pride in the crappy carriages and they’re an eyesore.
Someone mentioned the concern for e-bikes and that is so so true! So many near misses! Realize that is secondary to this article but looking forward to that getting addressed as well
The horses in Central Park are not ill treated. If you want to see abuse go to any racetrack in the world, rodeos, shows, fairs, horse auction, Many though not all Amish farms. I have owned and lived with horse all my life. I now live on the UWS. These animals are well shod, well groomed, well fed, calm and not overworked. 8 hours of occasional trotting is not difficult work for a horse. I only worry about the diseased pigeons in their grain buckets. They have evolved and been conditioned to being around people and working. It is when they are happy and in their element. Most people love horses, especially children. Yes to a stable in the park. Give me the space andI will run it only for the enjoyment of children. Let’s take all this energy and get rid of e-bikes and inappropriately trained pit bulls. Those are so much more dangerous. I was almost killed a week ago by an e-bike as I was getting out of a cab. How many of these close calls happen everyday and go unreported. They are a horrible menace and everyone seems to agree. Who makes money from e-bikes?????
Many children would love to stare at crippled people in a circus side show, but those displays of cruelty ended. Hmmm.
The horses are not the dangerous thing in Central Park. The E bikes are And yet the Central Park Conservancy and its million dollar president and CEO Betsy Smith and her lackey David Saltonstall speak out about the “danger” of carriage, horses, and remain silent on the real menace—E bikes and E scooters running people down in Central Park. But don’t take my word for it go up to Central Park and try to cross the loop. You won’t be able to without risking severe bodily injury. I blame Betsy Smith and her Central Park Conservancy for remaining silent even though they know full well that this is the problem. Visit NYCEVSA.org
I grew up in Amish country. Lawson makes a good point: the life of a working farm horse is no picnic.
I wouldn’t mind if the horses didn’t pee/poop……
I have to close my eyes when I pass those poor horses. In spite of the drivers saying they are well taken care of, at least once a year one drops dead in the steet, runs crazy or we find out the horse vet was lying about their care. Take them to a farm where they can munch grass and just be horses. NYC is tough on humans, imagine how it is on horses.
If the City and the Park Conservancy are concerned with regard to safety, they should prohibit bike riding in the park. Those on bicycles pose a far greater threat to pedestrians than any problems created by horse-drawn carriages. Bike riders cause collisions, rarely yield to pedestrians, and hardly ever obey the traffic signals in the park.
The city environment is no worse for horse than it is for humans. And, as was pointed out they are cared for both legally and personally far better than many Human NYers. (Just like dogs, here. Many dog breeders won’t sell To people who live here. )
Personally i don’t have a position on this, but most of the arguments ring hollow.
I love horses and I love to look at Central Park Horses. I think they are really classy and the passengers – overwhelmingly tourists always look so thrilled to be taking a carriage ride through the park. i have been on 2 carriage rides in the last 50 years and I loved them.
I am in the park several times a week. Although I love the horses it is horrid to have to walk in the park and avoid the horse s–t that has covered the soles of my shoes more than once. The smell is horrid. This article was very informative about the cruelty issue.
I have been all for continuing the horses but I think the question is not cruelty but safety. If there is a way to clean up cponstantly from the horses along the streets the poop on then I’d surely be in favor of keeping them. I don’t know what it would cost nor do i know who would volunteer for that type of job. But otherwise my opinion is there is a health and safety hazard. When I encounter horse poop on the streets of the park and inhale the odor or find some on my shoes when I get home the wonderful feeling of being in the park starts to leave – until the next day when I want to take a walk again.
It’s a quandry but I think the answer is to put the horses out to pasture. Give them a fenced off section of the Sheep Meadow to run around in and for people to watch or send them to a farm upstate. They can’t help pooping but it’s not good for us.
So we’re supposed to take the word of ONE driver, – who has admittedly been SPECIFICALLY chosen as a “face” (or voice) for the industry? A few things need to be cleared up here.
First, the union is lying when it says that drivers will lose work or income; the City has consistently (at least since deBlasio, and possibly before) promised the union that its driver will get first dibs at whatever replaces the horse and carriages, at an equal pay rate.
Second, in that regard, electric antique cars have been in use for tourism for years, possibly decades, in theme parks, resorts, and even other cities around the world (e.g., see what they are doing in Vienna). They are safe and efficient. In fact, electric antique buses were used in NYC in the early 20th century. So it is not even new for NYC.
Third, there are at least three, and possibly more, horse farms around the country – including one in Upstate NY – that cater specifically to former carriage horses, and give them good lives of either light work or tourist riding. The fear-mongering about being killed and turned into glue is utterly bogus. As well, the horses will be on actual “earth” as opposed to concrete, which is both safer and healthier for them.
Finally, lest we forget, over 22 horses have been killed or injured (and a few drivers injured as well) in NYC in the past couple of decades. That is 22 horses too many to justify this industry.
It needs to be ended asap, and the horses sent to the existing horse farms that will welcome them and give them a “normal” life.
I once heard a PETA member insist that no one should own a dog or cat as it is unnatural and unfair to the animal. I feel the same argument is being made about horses that work in the park. I have seen real abuses of horses in the show horse business. Also in thoroughbred racing. And I have talked to drivers and looked at carriage horses up close. I know I am now in the minority but I think this obsession with ridding the city of carriage horses (as opposed to e-bikes) is based on a lot of ignorance and hypocritically overlooks real issues with animal well being and safety of New Yorkers and tourists in Central Park.
It’s very hard and painful to lose a job, but this had been coming for a few years. Jobs and careers change all the time…..What happened to shorthand or cobol? I hope they find better, more secure jobs
Here we go again. Steve Nislick really wants the stables property, it’s why he formed NYCLASS to harass the drivers & tourists. all those years ago. They’ve been banging this electric carriage replacement for over a decade, from before deBlasio’s failed effort to ban the horses – which Steve & his ilk paid(donated big time) to spur Bill on.
Exactly! NYCLASS painted Christine Quinn as an animal abuser.when she would not take a stand against the horse drawn carriages when she ran for mayor. Quid pro quo – de Blasio’s first act as mayor was a bill to do away with the carriages. Seriously? This was his priority when he became mayor?? Fortunately the city council voted against his payment to NYCLASS.
I support horses in the park. Me too I grew up with horses and these horses are very protected. Without a job, many of these horses will become glue for no reason. There is no romance to tour the park in a pedicab. Let Nee york be New York. Let the tourists dream!
The carriage driver in the article is correct! Horses get much better treatment in their carriage jobs than they would in any other. And these horses would have to be trained to be suitable for a leisure rider. They are so much better off than in the slaughter pens!
BAN E-BIKES first! They’re the menace! And they endanger human life. There aren’t enough tunnels under the roads and no one can cross! And if you have a stroller, dog or assistive device like a walker- we’ll forget it! You better just stay on your side of the road to keep alive!
ABSURD!
You can say all you want about tradition and beauty and all the reasons to keep horses in the park, but If the horses were being abused, it wouldn’t matter. The fact is, they are not. “Widespread abuse” and “just don’t belong” are VERY different metrics. Anybody from any part of the country who knows the first thing about horses can take a look at the ones in Central Park and confirm that they are properly cared for. End of story.
It’s ridiculous to say that, if not for their “jobs” pulling carriages, these horses would be slaughtered. Eventually they WILL be slaughtered. But in the meantime, they live lives of drudgery, if not misery. Every living thing dies. It’s their lives that matter.
And comparing them to Amish farm horses or pet cats and dogs is specious: this is a discussion of horses pulling carriages for the amusement of tourists on an asphalt road in the middle of a crowded city. There are plenty of other examples of animal abuse. None of them exempt this situation from our concern.
Horse rescues are overrun. Harness trained horses are not saddle horses or pets. The large draft horses did heavy pulling in amish country and would go straight to slaughter if they weren’t working here. The slimmer built standardbreds are former race trotters or pulled amish buggies, and likewise would go to slaughter. No bucolic pasture retirement awaits them. Most of the carriage horses I see look to be in fairly good condition, given that some old injury scars were likely acquired in their previous environments. They are also domesticated animals who need the constant care from humans. They would not survive in the wild or pastured untended. It is an interdependent relationship between horses and humans.
I just think they are pretty. I don’t see any abuse. Just pretty horses/carriages. For me it’s fairly simple. They make CP look nice and peaceful. I find it odd that people would be so upset by them. I hope they stay.
Even if this continues, the very least they could do would be to return the horses to the stable in Central Park, where they had previously been housed for years. Moving through heavy outside traffic continues to be a great danger.
AW……come on now. it’s time to go!!!
The street grid of Manhattan was laid out for horses, wagons and horse-drawn carriages, not for traffic jams of honking cars, trucks and buses squeezed in by parked cars. Central Park was designed as a pastoral respite with horse carriage drives, and not as a magnet for millions of tourists and thousands of bicycles and ebikes. We can’t go back to what it was, but we can amd should preserve the small reminder of old New York and the old Park.
I’ve never understood the argument that banning horse carriages somehow hands the stables over to real estate developers. Does the union own these stables or have a right of first refusal to sell them? And even if they don’t own the buildings outright, couldn’t they use their union treasury to cover the rent while the space transitions to support another revenue-generating venture—potentially something even more profitable, like electric carriages? As the article noted, owning a horse is very expensive. This could be a great opportunity to widen profit margins for the employees.
The proposal is straightforward: ban horse carriages. There is no relinquishing of real estate written into Ryder’s Law.