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There's a really sad story about a Central Park carriage horse that died Thursday night in the NY Times today. Antonio Provenzano had be driving his horse Juliet and carriage on Thursday night, when Juliet collapsed, he called his vet who instructed him to strike her "repeatedly in the flank with his thin five-foot whip to get her to her feet again" which he did. The thinking was that Juliet, a 37 year old horse, had colic and the whipping would make her get up and walk around to "rid herself of gas and waste." But a crowd of people and gathered and yelled things like "Stop beating that horse; you’re going to kill it" and a police officer told Provenzano to stop or he would be arrested.
“I’ve been around horses 30 years and I love my horse,” he said. “They think I want to hurt her?” When the veterinarian and officers from the mounted unit showed up at the park Thursday night, Mr. Provenzano was told he could resume the whipping.The ASPCA took Juliet's body away to investigate the death. Provenzano, who drove Juliet and the carriage six nights a week for the past year, told the Times, “That horse was a member of my family. I told my mother she died and my mom started crying. I have no money to get another horse. I have a wife and two sons to support. Two things I can do: make pizza and drive a horse.”Juliet climbed to her feet several times but promptly collapsed again. An employee from the Ritz Carlton nearby brought over a rug for the horse, and with great effort Juliet was placed on it, dragged into a police trailer and taken to the stable on 38th Street. After several hours of treatment by Mr. Provenzano and his veterinarian, Juliet died about 5 a.m. Her owner curled up in his carriage and tried to sleep.
Photograph of hansom cab, Central Park, and the city from isaiaht on Flickr
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Big surprise, more know-it-all rich manhattanites interfered with something they know nothing about: taking care of horses.
Another small example of how the elite of this country is completely clueless as to how the world works. Now this poor guy is out of a job because his horse is dead.
Sad story. But 37's fairly old for a horse, isn't it?
Sad story.
Can't wait for PETA to chime in...
37 is pretty old for a horse. Colic is a common, but tough illness to treat. It happens a lot to older horses. Colic happens when a horse's large intestines get backed up. It's like being really badly constipated. Horses will lie down or try to roll to stop the pain. If a horse is colicking, the worst thing for it to do is to lie down. It can cause their intestines to get twisted. They need to be kept walking until the blockage passes. It's very hard on them. I had a horse last three days and then collapse from exhaustion. That poor guy was doing the right thing. Such a sad story. Like right out of a Dicken's novel
You do need to get a foundered horse to its feet, but you don't do it by beating the crap out of it. If it can do so by itself it will do so with a little urging and a halter; if it can't, you get people to help you pull it up.
The "know-it-all rich manhattanites" were right and the guy's an asshole. Or his vet is incompetent. Or both.
Poor Juliet. I think the driver needs to go back to making pizza. Sounds like he didn't get much sympathy from others at the stables-were they too busy or do they not feel bad for the guy? Some reckon that 40 is average old age limit for a horse and based on 2 horse yrs/1 human year, how well would a 74 year old work if someone were beating him/her with a 5 foot whip?
Whether this guy was just beating a doomed horse or not, the long and short of it is that a 37-year old horse is no long-term career option. If he didn't know that eventually he'd need to invest in another horse, then he's got blinders on!
Most of those poor carriage horses around Central Park like they're just a step away from the glue factory anyway.
But the tourists who ride in the carriages don't seem to notice that.
Why are there even these horses forced to do this nonsense?
They should just ban the bloody hansom cabs, tourists be damned!!
I wish GW Bush would get a colic and die.
Nice job, Dan. You really are a shining beacon for the dissent. Well thought out and articulated. You must be one of the smarter and better educated half of America I hear so much about. It's a real shock people like you haven't rallied more voters to see the light.
I agree with Toby: why do we have these old horses pulling people around in circles in Central Park anyway? What the hell, let's bring back dog & chicken fights, and torture bears so they "dance" for us. This isn't "the way the world works" (Eryximachus), it's just dumb people doing dumb things that normal people think are stupid.
I don't know about you, but I don't hit Central Park for the stink of horse shit anyway.
Plus, if all you know how to do is make pizza and drive a horse, it's time to learn a new skill. To most people that would be a no-brainer. I know the guy says he was fond of the horse, but I'm not in the habit of forcing things I like to tow a carriage around all day.
"but I'm not in the habit of forcing things I like to tow a carriage around all day".
Well said Interlard.
"but I'm not in the habit of forcing things I like to tow a carriage around all day".
Well said Interlard. Particularly when the thing one likes is the equivalent of 74 years old.
Interlard, I'm worried you haven't given that habit enough consideration. Forcing things you like to tow a carriage could prove to be a really rewarding aspect of your life.
not to beat a dead horse....
someone had to say it
I spent a few years as a carriage driver ( it's not a hansom. A hansom has the driver behind the passengers, and is 2 wheeled).
Most of the horses in our stable were quite young and in excellent health. They were very well taken care of.
37 is unbelievably old for a horse. 20 is old for a horse.
I don't see how tourists can think that being pulled around Central Park by a geriatric horse while they sit on their fat asses is entertaining.
As for Provenzano, hasn't he ever seen Black Beauty? If you truly loved something, wouldn't you let it retire (the phrase "put out to pasture" comes to mind)? Can't the city force a retirement age for these horses?
The sorry thing is, I think that pulling carriages in Central Park IS retirement for some horses. What horrible jobs did they have before this?
sah, I beg to differ with your statement: "Most of the horses in our stable were quite young and in excellent health. They were very well taken care of."
Now most of the horses are most likely younger than the 37 yr. old Juliet, but I doubt that the Central Park carriage horses are in excellent health. Some of these horses even appear to have some degree of swayback. Carriage horses are forced to stand in the beating sun on hot days and weave through congested traffic with honking cars spewing out fumes.
Just look at the horses of the NYPD mounted patrol in Times Square! There's a world of difference between those patrol horses and the carriage horses. Can it get more obvious than that?
Juliet was previously a farm horse that was bought at auction in Pennsylvania. So I guess that once these horses are not suitable for heavy farm work anymore, they're sold for use as carriage horses.
This is what the ASPCA has to say about the Carriage Horse Industry in New York City:
* There are now 204 carriage horses in the city and approximately 300 licensed operators.
* These horses are permitted to work nine hours a day, seven days a week.
* There are no pastures for grazing, no opportunities to roll in the dirt, lie in the sun, run or socialize with an equine companion.
* When not working, the law requires that these animals only be kept in four-foot wide “straight” stalls. This does not provide enough room for the horses to lie down or turn around.
* Carriage horses are disposable commodities. Typically, they are purchased from farms in Pennsylvania for $600 to $1,200. At the end of their careers, they are often sold by the pound to slaughter- house buyers for approximately the same amount of cash. There is little financial motivation to tend to ill or lame horses or provide necessary veterinary care.
* It is illegal for a driver to operate a carriage when the temperature is 90 degrees F or above, or 18 degrees F or below. No adjustment is made to account for wind chill or the humidity index.
* After three carriage horses died during a heat wave in the summer of 1988, New York City Council members approved a law that greatly restricted when and where these horses were worked. But in 1994, the law was weakened by lengthening the hours that the horses are allowed to work and enlarging the areas in which the horses are permitted to travel to include more of traffic-congested midtown Manhattan.
I was so glad to see what ASPCA had to say about the Carriage Horse Industry in New York City. These are, in fact, the truths about the horses that are "chosen" to be carriage horses by their drivers. The drivers treat the horses as products/equipment for their profession, not as living, breathing, intelligent mammals that they are. NYC and every other metropolis in the country should ban the use of carriage horses within the city confines for all the obvious reasons. If tourists knew the reality of life as a carriage horse, they would not think of carriage rides as "romantic". City leaders should do the humane thing and stop the use of horses for carriage rides in the city. The horses deserve a much better life than what they are subjected to in the city ss a csrriage horse...being stuck in front of a carriage in weather extremes for long hours every day among polluting cars, buses, and trucks and the loud noises of the city. If Mr. Provenzano loved Juliet as much as he professed, he wouldn't have put the 37-year-old horse through what he put her through every day in NYC. Whether she died because of colic or not, she deserved a better life and to be treated better than the way Mr. Provenano treated her. It's too late for Juliet, but not for all of the other horses that are used to pull carriages in NYC. It's time to save all of them!
I don't care if thewhipping was meant to make her get up, I feel that whipping near death is not very compassionate. This guy was w/his incredibly old "family member" that he "loved" 6 nights a week & claimed to have been around horses for 30 yrs. What did he think she was going to do? Spring to her feet, fart a little, and continue being his "cash cow" indefinitely?
He called his vet who diagnosed her with his assumption over the phone. If Mr. Provenzano was a compassionate horse owner he could of called the vet and asked him to euthanize her!
Carriage rides are assinine. I hate that some tourists think it's some sort of authentic NYC experience. These horses are abused, have open sores, and are "stored" at night in four foot wide stalls underneath the FDR! When I see them plodding miserabley along, I am saddened. Not to mention the unbearable scent of horse urine and waste in that area of Park.
But I'm sure some idiotic Post reader will find out that another horse costs $600 to $1200, and buy him one or something. Seeing as it's presented as a HUMAN interest story. Oh, poor Mr. Provenzano has a wife and two kids to support. Wah, wah, my extremely elderly horse died after enduring a thankless life of whipping and providing me a pay check!
A lot of us have families to support, but you don't have to abuse animals to be a provider!
Consider supporting your wife and kids making pizza, Mr. Provenzano.
Dear Mr. Provazano, just make pizza. That's a productive job & satifies everybody in New York & not just the tourists.
nice picture on top of page its making it really nice
It is really sad story about park and should not be done in future.secured loans