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Oh dear. Word just came in over the newswire that a horse and buggy has been struck on East 60th Street and 5th Avenue. The report says there are "2 aided at this point," and we'll update as soon as more information becomes available. Hopefully the horse is okay, but either way this will surely give animal rights activists more evidence that horses shouldn't be lugging tourists around the crowded streets of NYC.
UPDATE: Elizabeth Forel of the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages writes in, saying "A taxi going south on Fifth Avenue turned into Grand Army Plaza and plowed into a carriage, knocking it over and smashing it. It is not known if there were any passengers. The taxi continued, crashing into a short wall and causing damage. The horse bolted but is probably OK. The carriage driver looked 'severely injured' according to one bystander—removed to an ambulance on a stretcher with a neck/head brace The taxi driver was also hospitalized." We'll update when we get further details on the conditions of the horse and humans.
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"this will surely give animal rights activists more evidence that horses shouldn't be lugging tourists around the crowded streets of NYC."
Yep.
According to the details released so far, it's another argument for banning cars in the area of Central Park. It's a park, not the Lawn Guyland Expressway.
Or another argument for fat assed lazy tourists to finally realize the "ye olde" new york tradition of riding in an illegal cab only to realize that the guy driving it wants thirty dollars for a 5 minute ride. So sweet were the days of yore!
Some people find it romantic riding a horse in NYC.
tourists
What about the part where the horses ride along 9th ave with horns honking in their ears and taxi cabs whizzing past them? What about the part where the horses are hit by cars and die. Do some people find this romantic too?
Those who defend horse and buggy rides in Manhattan because it's "romantic" need to grow an imagination.
They find it romantic from probably seeing it happen in movies or on TV shows. The way tourists see NYC as.
Horses don't belong on the city streets of NYC. This isn't Disneyland - as much as tourists would like to think.
Do they have horses in Disneyland? Other than for Cinderella's carriage, of course.
They should put in an aerial tram or a monorail. Then it'd be like Disneyland.
i dont really like the idea that there are horse carriages in nyc. but i'm rational enough to realize that it would be hypocritical for me to ask them to be banned but not hot dog vendors, shoe stores, or any restaurant that serves meat.
Paging Felix...
Paging Felix...
Seriously, though -- hope the horse is ok. I really liked that Model T idea that someone had -- I'd much rather chug around the park in a fun old car than behind a sad old horse. I don't have any sort of vegetarian, animal rights objection -- I just don't really like the horse-drawn carriages. (For one thing, I'm tired of all the horse shit in the park. For another, they make me nervous as hell when I see them on Ninth -- I'm always sure something like this is going to happen.)
The one thing that I'd say, though, is that if we did make that change, someone needs to start a humanitarian farm somewhere -- so that the horses don't just wind up being slaughtered.
Animals have pulled carriages for thousands of years, for work and entertainment purposes, and humans will continue to use animals for those reasons for several more. What is really so bad about the carriages and tourists desire to ride in them? And lastly, I hope the horse is ok? What about the driver and his/or her passengers?
one hopes the horse is okay cause the freakin thing doesn't have much power to control its own fate. it does what it's told and its welfare is dependent on people.
I'd make a deal to keep the horses but get rid of private automobile ownership. Otherwise, let the tourists stick to pedicab rides.
YOU RAN OVER MY PONY!!!!!!!!
The horse was injured, don't know how badly. No one cares. People still riding the carriages at this moment
You know you're starting to get our respect with your increasingly mature posts.
Honestly, good post.
Join ny-class.org to help end this cruelty
get some class...and get a life.
Most of those carriage horses are older, hard-worked Amish farm horses purchased at the large horse auction in Pennsylvania. The horses not purchased at the auction are usually destined for the horsemeat and pet food market which should give you an idea of their condition.
Life as a carriage horse for them isn't better. When not on the street, these horses are kept in small cramped quarters. Those scumbag carriage drivers line the poor horses up on Central Pk. South in the early morning hours and keep them there until after midnight (I was surprised to see the horses out so late). It's a long dreary existence for a Central Park carriage horse.
At the very least, these horses should be confined to Central Park. They don't belong on the dirty congested streets of midtown Manhattan.
The horses are rotated all day long, are well cared for, and well fed and would be KILLED if they weren't working and providing joy to visitors to New York. New Yorkers live ins mall cramped quarters too and consider themselves lucky. Central Park South and 57th Streets should be made one-way streets and those lovely horses should have a lane of their own.
and also, as far as i can tell, those horses dont actually work too hard. especially compared to a horse on a farm (especially an amish farm where most of them come from) where they pull a plow through a field for 10 hours a day. it seems as if they pull a carriage slowly around a loop for about 10-15 minutes, then get back in line and wait another 30-60 minutes to get in front of the line and get another trip.
is the life of an nyc carriage horse ideal? of course not. but definitely better than the hundreds of millions of animals that are raised in horrible squalid conditions on corporate farms and end up in the cheeseburgers most of us eat on a daily basis.
Do you have some proof of this? Not being an ass, but my inlwas are in Amish country and I have seen many a live stock auction. Just cuirous if this statement has some data behind it.
I mean in-laws...
The horse auction in New Holland, PA is the LARGEST horse auction east of the Mississippi and is well known as a place to buy horses very cheaply. It is also well known to many equine protection groups who are outraged by the deplorable conditions they have found there.
Here are just a few links and you can find a lot more by doing a search.
http://www.angelfire.com/ny/NewHollandOffensive/NewHolland.html
http://errphotos.tripod.com/id2.htm
http://equineprotectionnetwork.com/cruelty/seen.htm
The carraige horses are one of the nicest things about Manhattan. Reckless asshole cab-drivers are one of the worst. They should ban taxis before they ban the horses. And horse shit smells a lot better than most hacks...
The difference is that taxicabs provide useful transportation while horse-drawn carriages are strictly for pleasure. If you got rid of all cabs tomorrow, thousands if not tens of thousands of people would have problems getting around the city. I don't like them and I don't take them, but there are people who can't or won't take subways or buses. Get rid of carriages tomorrow and some tourists would complain but they would survive and could quickly find other diversions.
I meant I don't like cabs and don't take them.
Why does every issue have to devolve into a choice between the most extreme examples of 2 absolutes? How about responsibility all around so we can live and let live? How about hacks slowing down? And horse-carriage operators treating their animals humanely? Wouldn't that commons sense approach make the issue go away?
Would disagree - horse-drawn carriages are one of the most useless stupid and cruel institutions in the city.
"Monitoring by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the Department of Consumer Affairs at the Central Park South carriage stands is inadequate, the audit found, and lax veterinary care in the field and infrequent inspections have created health hazards. In addition, horses are not provided with enough water, risk overheating on hot asphalt and are forced to stand in their own waste because of inadequate drainage, the report said. And though licensing is an important tool for tracking horses, the audit found that the paperwork for 57 carriage horses described different animals from year to year, though the license numbers did not change."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/nyregion/06horses.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin
No snow days either for NYC carriage horses.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRvVpx5U6A&feature=player_embedded
Stable owner bribed city inspectors to overlook violations at Central Park Carriage Stables.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/regional/unbridled_bribery_4gTJ5yYIRK1GEOu2oOGKVL
The first video didn't come through. Here is a better video of the carriage horses in an ice storm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRvVpx5U-6A
More horses, less cars! Love carriage horses. Shut up animal liberation nuts. No one is listening. No one.
Apparently you're listening or you wouldn't have registered at gothamist just to post your stupid comments on this story.
One more thing, the scumbag carriage drivers also blatantly overcharge their clueless passengers. Anything for a fast buck.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSun_1Ly6ro&feature=related
sounds like you are the scumbug...get a life loser.
And you sound like one of the drivers. Guess this is an easier gig for you than the 3 card monte scam.
The price of a ride is posted clearly on every carraige--despite what the self-righteous animal "activists" say. The totally unregulated, dangerous and out of control bicycle-rickshaw drivers on the other hand, clog the streets and charge whatever the market will bear. How come none of y'all are concerned about hose poor poor HUMANS who also work for their daily bread, eh? Yeah, kill the horses...that'll give them a better life!
Look at the video previously posted above. The carriage drivers quote their passengers a price different than the one posted on the side of the carriage. They've found out how easy it is to fool many clueless tourists. In fact, it's the activists who point out to the tourists the legal posted price.
Here's the video again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSun_1Ly6ro&feature=related
I would like to introduce something slightly new being contributed about this: it hurts my heart to see these poor animals living their lives like this. Truly does. They're such beautiful animals.... Slaves. You guys that can't find a reason for helping these animals have better lives, we put harnesses around your necks and make you stand in your own shit. I wouldn't feel bad about seeing a heartless beast of a human that would cause another living being such gloom and pain. You want to call me a bleeding heart? It wouldn't bleed for you.
UES or Brooklyn? Last I heard, Grand Army Plaza was in Brooklyn...
Welcome to New York. The Grand Army Plaza is that old school-looking plaza between the Plaza Hotel and the General Motors Building. We enjoy regular subway service, and yes, please use protection.