This woman really over reacted and made herself look like a damn fool.   But the fact of the matter is, these horses are NOT treated well.  I never realized it until I moved near two places they house these horses.  It makes me sad everytime I walk past it. 

Horse carriages should be replaced with old school cars running on electric, like advocates suggest.

Maybe the horse was just exhausted from carrying three obese tourists.

Please. If she's such a "traumatized" animal lover, why was she riding in a horse drawn carriage in the first place? Silly drama queen.

This practice is totally unessesary. There is absolutley no benefit to the horses and no real benefit for the city...it's just "cute" and "romantic" for people that aren't looking at the big picture.

Good idea.

Spare me the "new york experience" crap. The new york experience is being told to FUCKING EVOLVE ALREADY dipshits!

the Flintstones relied on animal labor and they were primitive. or are primitive. were or are?

hahaha theresa shaver. hahahaha.  go home.  she's not concerned enough to make the horse haul her fat ass in the first place, why is she so concerned now?

Helpful hint of the day for tourists:  If you forget to bring your meds, one of our many Duane Reade's can quickly re-fill your prescription in a few hours or less.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH YOU PUT HIM BACK TO WORK YOU DEPLORABLE HUMAN BEING YOUU" 

------rewind 15 mins ago ---------

"HEY EDDIE LOOK AT THAT HORSIE! WANNA RIDE THE HORSIE EDDIE? LOOK A HORSE LETS GET A RIDE ON IT I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO TRY IT! GET THE NEW YORK EXPERIENCE EDDIE!" 

------- 2 hours later ---------

"I FEEL LIKE STEAK FOR DINNER WHAT YOU THINK EDDIE?"

This idiot woman over reacted...did you get a load of her mook husband wearing only the finest wife beater? Nice work screaming and swearing in public. Fool.

wife beater? is that what its called at the store? you people are fucking idiots. tourists go to nyc thinking everything will be a great experience. until you see a horse fall down while doing his "job" and get right back in line. those motherfuckers work those animals to death. i wonder if those horses ever get to run free without being spooked by a fucking cab. how the fuck do you put an animal like that in one of the busiest cities in the world and expect it to be ok. but i dont see any of you trying to change anything. all you people talking shit are hiding in your fucking homes.

some people need to overreact because hardly anybody reacts at all and thats why nothing changes. not even you lazy fucks hiding behind technology all day with the nerve to discriminate. 
you guys wanna point fingers at people when you dont even know them, but who's gettin the shit done...

I reaaaallllllyyyyy feel sorry for that woman's husband. I imagine after a year or so more he'll talk her into become a benzo addict.

Ditto. Imagine all the other shit she overreacts to. And if she has kids... oy

"Simply" spooked by a pedicab. Why does a horse have to be subjected to a pedicab at all? Horses do not belong in traffic where they will SEE a pedicab. They belong in a place where there is open space and they are not forced to do anything. The carriage horse age in the city has been over for over 100 years now. This is too cruel and unnesscary unnecessary.

That is an over-exhausted horse working in a hot day ..like everyday.
I feel sorry for the horses .

A few facts about NYC's deplorable carriage horse industry:

* These horses are permitted to work nine hours a day, seven days a week. (But there have been reports claiming that carriage horses are sometimes forced to work double shifts.)

* 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.

* ASPCA inspections since the 1980s have indicated that hoof and joint injuries, resulting from long hours walking on hard concrete, are pervasive, and that colic and other illnesses, brought about by bad or insufficient food, also are common.

* These horses have no pastures for grazing, no opportunities to roll in the dirt, to run, or to socialize with an equine companion.

* 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, including more of traffic-congested midtown Manhattan.)

But it's not just the summer heat that these horses have to endure. Carriage horses were even sent out to work on the icy streets during last winter's snow emergency.
http://gothamist.com/2011/01/2...
.

Right on. If you love horses you can't be for carriage horses at all. It's time to retire these animals to green pastures and do away with this abusive injury. I believe that the founding of several humane societies was based on seeing horses die in the streets from overwork by brutal owners.

So to summarize, then:

Horses have limits on how many hours they can work each day.

Horses have limits on the temperatures they can operate in.

The horses are overseen by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

There is a law restricting when and where horses can work.

17% of the carriages operated during the snow emergency and all were suspended.

Take a stroll over to 37th between 10 and 11th and 38th between 10 and 11th and see what conditions these horses live.  Stables with no windows or ventilation.  Being tied to the sidewalk area and hosed down.  Living in filthy conditions.  I never realized how horrible this was untill I moved a block from these too stables and see it often.