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Video of the Day: Trailer for Blinders

Documentary filmmaker Donny Moss has produced a movie about the carriage-horse trade in New York City called Blinders. It looks to be a revealing take on an iconic feature of the city, and includes original footage as well as documentation of well-publicized accidents and interviews with carriage owners, veterinarians, witnesses to accidents, and anti-carriage activists.

Moss is engaged in the film festival application process right now, but has placed a trailer for the movie on YouTube. Queens Councilman Tony Avella has introduced a bill to ban horse-drawn carriages in New York.

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  • bridgetb

    Have you all signed the petition to ban horse drawn carriages in NYC? Please do. I would like to see this banned everywhere. It is cruel and unusual punishment for the horses. Dangerous to people too. My Mom was killed in Charleston, SC May 3, 1984 by a horse that got spooked by jackhammers. The horse broke loose from it's carriage, knocked the carriage driver off and ran through Charleston's market area eventually trampling my mother. The carriage driver was injured and had to be hospitalized. The city is not the place to have these carriage rides. Donny Moss did an excellent job on his video "Blinders." Go to his site, click on "what you can do" at the top of the page, there is a link to sign the online petition. Please sign!!!!

  • vigneauma

    Donny you are a star to do this for the horses.

  • robertgoldsmith

    This issue was all over the news yesterday. A city politician said he is introducing a bill to get rid of the carriages.

  • iralarry

    Amazing. Not one advocate for the trade posted here. If this is any indication, Horse-drawn carriages will soon be a thing of the past. I am personally better entertained by people puling me around the city for 10 bucks . Just wish they could pull four of us at a time.

    Save the horses. Slavery was abolished over a century ago for people; isn't it about time we learned compassion for other free creatures?

  • iruby

    My husband is in this movie. He and a friend from Wisconsin saw a car hit a horse on 6th Ave. The horse went crazy, jumped on the hood of the car, broke free from the carriage and ran the wrong way down 6th Ave. Police had to chase the horse. He said it was a very scary incident and now wonders why a crowded city like New York has carriages in the busiest part of town. Makes no sense at all.

  • gem3

    This is another point that doesn't come up often enough. This industry affects the quality of life of New York City residents--those who jog, ride bikes, and live in midtown (and those that have to drive with horses and clumsy carriages in the street!)

  • johnuws

    What about all of the horse crap along the lower loop of Central Park. Not only do the bicyclists and joggers have to smell it every day, we also have to navigate and swerve around it, which is dangerous. Why does the city allow carriage drivers to pollute the park with manure. I've complained to the Parks Dept, but it hasn't helped a bit. I hope this movie addresses these sanitary and safety issues.

  • roninoabuse

    Donny deserves applause for bringing this cruelty to light. These horses as do any animal deserve better.

  • gem3

    My other point is that Mayor Bloomberg seems to have no empathy towards these horses, and yet his daughter, Georgina Bloomberg, is an equestrian. Georgina, where are you? We need you!

  • gem3

    Horses are so spirited and playful. These horses have lost their spirit and have no opportunity to socialize.If you think of the difference between a horse running free in a field and rolling on the grass, and then look at these animals shackled to carriages in a city, you can see how wrong this is.

  • gem3

    Horses are so spirited and playful. These horses have lost their spirit and have no opportunity to socialize.If you think of the difference between a horse running free in a field and rolling on the grass, and then look at these animals shackled to carriages in a city, you can see how wrong this is.

  • gem3

    Horses are so spirited and playful. These horses have lost their spirit and have no opportunity to socialize.If you think of the difference between a horse running free in a field and rolling on the grass, and then look at these animals shackled to carriages in a city, you can see how wrong this is.

  • gem3

    Horses are so spirited and playful. These horses have lost their spirit and have no opportunity to socialize.If you think of the difference between a horse running free in a field and rolling on the grass, and then look at these animals shackled to carriages in a city, you can see how wrong this is.

  • gem3

    The thing that really irks me is that the horses have lost their spirited, which is exactly the opposite of they way they naturally are. They're also playful animals that like to socialize. If you think of the difference between a horse running free in a field and rolling on the grass, and then look at these animals shackled to carriages in a city, you can see how wrong this is.

  • gem3

    The thing that really irks me is that horses are so dispirited, which is the opposite of they way they naturally are. If you think of the difference between a horse running free in a field and look at these animals shackled to carriages in a city, it's very troubling.

  • robertgoldsmith

    I just have to add that the scene with the horse struggling and ultimately failing to reach water out of the communal trough is a reminder of how cruel this industry is. Seeing the horses with their noses next to the car tailpipes was also awful. The carriages don't belong here anymore. Period.

  • DavidN

    This film looks to be exactly what we need as concerned animal loves to garner attention to this horrible and unnecessary practice. It needs to be stopped regardless of the "favorable" economics and tourism appeal.

    I suggest that people take a day and go to a real ranch in West Virginia to get their fix of horse and carriage riding.

    SAVE THE HORSES!

  • arlenew

    Dbarash (3 postings above) is the same as the rest of us. If tourist realized the extent to which horses are mistreated, most would never get on a horse-drawn carriage. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the horse in the video with its head out the window of that dilapidated warehouse building. What a disgrace

  • Vicky B

    Kudos to Donny Moss for addressing this cruel practice...the trailer itself is a documentary! Horses belong in the fields of America not the streets. thanks Donny

  • DeniseB

    This film looks amazing! I walk by the horses every day and can see their obvious suffering. Horses should be in a field, not in NYC streets! I hope this film helps to ban this horrible tradition.

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