Bloomberg could actually fix this. For his children, and his "legacy", to do the right thing.One of his girls just loves the horsies. Perhaps, she loves all the beasts of burden in NYC ? This is a facebook group that advocates for a real solution. Ponder it. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=51799806230&ref=mf

Sorry, but there is such a thing as priorities. The level of histrionics some put into this little topic just boggles the mind. I'm a fan of perspective and context, and will be happy to vote in a way that discourages politicians from involving themselves in asinine pet politics so long as little things like education, housing, the economy, public transportation, gerrymandering and corruption are left significantly without attention and progress. We've enough laws addressing horses' 'needs' for the time being. Let's come back to it when there are 10% more schools, two extra train lines or there are 30% fewer machine politicians shaking hands on the city's dime. If we can agree on that, I promise to help anyone with sending the little carriage horsies to petting zoos or wherever.

Rational prioritization. Learn it. Live it. Love it.

We've enough laws addressing horses' 'needs' for the time being- Wrong, there aren't law that address the horses' needs. Also helping these horses won't hurt public transportation, education, Darfur, etc but it will make this city more humane and livable. Shame on you. I hope your kids don't end up as you - callous and uninformed.

We get to keep the ponies, right? My kid likes ponies.

http://www.ny-class.org/booth2009.pdf

progress will always be opposed by conservatives, anything that implies change is way to uncomfortable for them to even start to understand, appreciate, or even admit, in spite of all evidence proving their position, redundant, anachronistic, immoral, inefficient.

Logic is optional for conservatives.

Michaeleen Flynn is a carriage driver associated with West Side Livery and Clinton Stables who makes her living off the backs of horses and has obvious financial interests. She will defend the buggy trade and lie through her teeth at every opportunity and will go down with the ship ... er buggy. As the article stated, if there were ever a fire on the first floor, (of any of the stables) the ramps would act as chimneys and kill every living thing on the upper floors. The horses are already tied to their troughs and would not survive. Flynn's defense of this business is reason enough not to take her seriously. Flynn is also a member of the Medieval order of Inhumaniacs, a cult formed in the middle ages to make sure that animals continue to be exploited and made to suffer. One of the requirements of her membership is to be on the computer for at least 18 hours a day defending this life style. I believe she is a Knightess of the first order.

Property damage, public health concerns, physical danger to man and animal and it as been and is still grossly evident. The proposed used of electric antique cars, such as those used in San Francisco, would spare the city further pollution, eliminate equine excrement on the streets, harm to life and limb, both human and animal, and ignite tourism.

Unfortunately, neither the NYC environment nor current law can provide horses with the fundamental necessities to ensure their safety and well-being. Carriage horses were never meant to live and work in today's urban setting.

Carriage horses are allowed to work for 9 hours a day, 7 days a week under conditions that do not meet their basic needs. In addition to the dangers inherent in working in congested areas, these horses spend their days directly behind buses, cars and trucks, inhaling their fumes. They have to travel through the midtown area in which streets teeming with traffic and impatient drivers, pose numerous perils for carriage horses, drivers, and the public. They can work in temperatures up to 90 degrees F. and in temperatures as low as 19 degrees F. with no adjustments made for humidity and wind chill. They do not have access to turnout areas. They are housed in stables which are antiquated and do not provide adequate ventilation.

Have no prob with carriage horses, draft horses, tack horses. But a multi-level decrepit stable with a fire-draft problem is wrong in this time and this city. With the commercial dowturn, find a good single-level, sprinklered, healthy place for the buggers. Some sunlight & air, a little stretch space, communal mingle space. Mounted had a much better paddock over at the Chelsea Piers. Spent time as a hand and farrier in my early days. If you're gonna do it, do it right.

Here's a little more:

As far as fire safety goes - this weekend 2 people and 43 horses died in a stable blaze:

http://msn.foxsports.com/horseracing/story/10479266/2-men,-43-horses-die-in-Ohio-barn-fire-

just like the 21 horses that perished in a Queens, NY stable a few years back:

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/11/nyregion/brooklyn-stable-fire-kills-21-horses-trapped-in-stalls.html

- and guess what? THEY WERE BOTH SINGLE-FLOOR STABLES - EVERY HORSE WAS ON THE GROUND FLOOR. The difference between them and carriage stables in NYC? SPRINKLER SYSTEMS: we have 'em, they didn't. We also have ventilation systems. Like I said, outright LIES.

Give it up, you silly schmucks - we were here long before you were born, and we'll be here when you are gone. Go feed the homeless children.

Now why is this important to you? You even have a blog about this. Let me guess: you are either a horse and/or stable owner which means that you have a real financial interest in the NYC carriage horse business. Biased much?

Following is the video link which shows conditions at the West Side Livery stable where many horses are kept. Among other things, there are no sprinklers, only sand buckets. Seeing is believing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjV5TACuRLA

Thanx Dead Himmler, I appreciate you reading it. It's only the truth.

I'll try again:

Hysteria, distortions, red herrings, and outright lies - that's all these humaniacs are good for.

They certainly aren't good for the horses.

Many of the AR people would rather see a horse dead than have a job. To them, a carriage horse doing what it was bred to do, and living a comfortable, content existence alongside his driver, is no different from Michael Vick and a pile of mutilated fighting dogs or undercover horror videos revealing grotesque cruelties at factory farms.

Anybody hell-bent on putting carriages out of business should hop on down to the auction & buy a slaughter-bound horse and care for it for the rest of its natural life. That would actually be doing something to help the horses, not hurt them.

The epidemic of abandoned horses across the country is due to what is being called a “perfect storm” of a slow economy, highfeed prices, & recent national outlawing of slaughterhouses. This is a mammoth crisis - 1000s of horses being left to waste away in backyards, fields & paddocks, or surrendered to over-crowded rescues. Don't take my word for it - Google it.

Closing down a business where horses lead content & exceedingly reasonable existences will only ADD to this problem.

A well-loved, cared-for horse with a JOB is a lucky horse - and NYC carriage horses qualify in spades. Maybe the word 'work' is anathema to the humaniacs, but not to horses.

Very well put sir. In your face Felix!!

Is there some reason my comment was not posted?

Because we all hate you and wish you were dead.

...oh ok, here's a smilie :)

This whole horse and carriage ride thing is totally stupid. Who in their right mind would come to New York City and hire a horse drawn carriage to drive them through an asphalt covered pathway under an umbrella of trees when they can just stay at home and take a ride down the road under their own trees in an SUV?

There are few, very few native New Yorkers, actually probably none, that remember the Sunday afternoon rides through Central Park at the turn of the century (19th to 20th) that can say they were the good old days. They weren't. Horse shit piled waste high, dead dray horse carcasses strewn all over.

If the tourist still want that experience then make a little live pony ride in Central Park and call it a day.

+1

Aw c'mon: find a male friend from work, head over to the park and hop in a carriage for a nice ride. Midway through, start holding hands to provoke a nasty gay bash from the driver just as a rotted tree limb comes down on you. Then dial for an ambulance which will naturally go to the wrong part of the park. Legal trifecta.$$$