A horse being carried on an El Al cargo flight from Belgium to JFK reportedly died in mid-air this morning, and representatives from the USDA are on the scene to perform an necropsy. Flight 831 left Belgium's Bierset Airport early this morning and arrived 25 minutes late at 9:35 a.m. A Port Authority spokesman referred us to El Al, and we're awaiting a response from the airline and the USDA. more ›

Yesterday afternoon, during a race at the Aqueduct, two horses collided, resulting in multiple fractures for jockey Jason Gracia and a fractured skull for horse Ryan and Jack. The 4-year-old gelding was euthanized afterwards; a veteran Aqueduct worker said, "It was the worst accident I've seen." more ›

Mayor Bloomberg's equestrian-loving daughter Georgina really appreciates how much interest and care everyone has shown since her scary fall and injury during a jumping competition a few weeks back. Nothing mends a fractured spine like inquisitive media outlets bugging her Dad for updates. But there's something else she'd really like to talk about: how much of a dick her ex-boyfriend is: "The guy I was totally in love with decided that now would be an appropriate time to break up with me, which took me by surprise." more ›

You don't often hear stories about mounted NYPD officers defending a police vehicle. Oh sure, there are plenty of stories about guys inadvertently slipping their fingers into horses, and cops shooting at people messing with their cars. But officers on horseback are not normally called upon to protect their mechanical brothers. But one Brooklyn mountie heeded just such a call early this morning. more ›

A Connecticut man was arrested this week under suspicion that he sexually assaulted a horse. Marian Wegiel, 63, was caught in a corral with three horses in Shelton, Ct. Monday. The complainant reported that Wegiel appeared to be touching the female horse in a sexual manner, and the horse appeared to be in pain. Wegiel told police that he was comforting the horses that were scared by a loud noise, but "stated that he may have inadvertently put his fingers inside one of the horses." more ›

Just after 12 p.m. today, Pee Wee Herman tweeted, "That was great! Now popping by @foursquare HQ and then HORSE at the basketball cage at 12:30 - 4th st and 6th ave." And lo and behold, there he was, right on time. Upon arrival, he dutifully checked into Fourquare, joking, "I can't wait to press this button...but it's AT&T so I'm going to have to." Ah, topical humor! The crowd that gathered was comprised of enthusiastic Pee Wee fans, and they were quick to boo a heckler who shouted, "You're the guy who touched himself in the movie theater!" more ›

A pedicab driver was arrested and charged with assault on Friday after punching a horse carriage driver. After getting stuck behind a slow carriage on 5th Avenue and 60th street, he attempted to go around, only to have his bike clipped by the carriage. Clearly realizing that the horse was going slow due to fatigue and abuse, pedicab driver Yacouba Coulibaly said he "grabbed the reins and said, 'Stop! Please stop, or I'm calling the cops.'" He and carriage driver Dermot Kelley both admit to throwing punches, but Kelley argued, "The pedicabs have to adhere to the rules same as everyone else." That means no salmoning! more ›

So, this guy Jeremy Dean converted a Hummer, latched it on to some horses, and took it for a spin around Central Park. First off: calm down... this is just a work of art he calls “Back to Futurama." Secondly, it doesn't have anything to do with torturing horses or proving any points about the cruelty of the carriage horse industry—rather, as Animal points out, it's a "horse-drawn testament to the collapse of the auto industry." more ›

The Kensington Stables owner, Walker Blankinship, is speaking out some more prior to finding out if his business will need to meet new regulations instituted by the Department of Health. The new rules may cost him too much money to keep horseback riding available in Prospect Park, and he recently told the NY Post, "If I have to go to box stalls, I have no intention of maintaining any horseback riding in Prospect Park. If I’m putting a two-foot-high pony in an eight-foot-high stall to appease animal rights activists, then I’m not wanted here. I’m going to leave.” Just like the new rules proposed for Central Park's carriage horses, other costly changes would include a sprinkler system and a 5-week vacation for horses. His fate will be sealed at a meeting in March, stay tuned... more ›

Whoa, Nellie! There's another lawsuit against one of New York's finest... horses. Last year a New Jersey woman sued after being bit by one member of the force's furry fleet, and now the NY Post reports that one of the NYPD's own is filing suit after being bucked off her horse. more ›

A 46-year-old woman, Laurie Koffler, has filed a lawsuit against Dixie Dew Stables in Queens. She broke her arm in May 2008 while riding horseback on a "gelding named Buddy," according to the Daily News. The suit claims operators should have known the horse was "ill-tempered," and her lawyer says Koffler tried to warn the trail guide that he was fidgeting. When no one came to her aid, the horse allegedly tossed her off the saddle as he took off. After sustaining the injury Koffler missed three months of work. more ›

An administrator for the sandhog's union has been accused of heisting $42 million from the labor group — and spending a chunk of the cash on high-end horses, according to the Times. Melissa King, 58, is facing charges for allegedly exploiting her role overseeing benefits funds for the tunnel borers and using their money to pay for her lavish lifestyle and her youngest daughter's equestrian pursuits. more ›

There's much controversy over the future of the city's carriage horse industry — and now Ephemeral NY takes a look back to when there were horse drawn sleighs all over a snowy Central Park. It certainly romanticizes what many believe to be a cruel industry. And check out this December 1898 video showing just how popular those horse-drawn sleighs were! Back in February of 1876, the NY Times reported over 10,000 sleighs passing through the park in one day. more ›

The horse racing organization that threatened to cancel the Belmont Stakes due to monetary woes will be subpoenaed for refusing to open its books. The state is skeptical of the New York Racing Association's claims that it doesn't have enough money to hold the final leg of the Triple Crown, because the organization was awarded $105 million in taxpayer money and had its $200 million debt erased last year, according to the Daily News. more ›

A police horse named Mr. Biggs is at the center of a lawsuit filed against the city last week. Allegedly the member of the NYPD's Mounted Unit took a bite out of a New Jersey woman last summer, and now that woman is suing. more ›

Yesterday just after noon we reported that a cab had collided with a horse and buggy on the Upper East Side. While we received plenty of photos and video of the aftermath, showing the wrecked car and carriage, there was no sight of the horse. more ›

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. more ›

Madonna was spotted back on her feet yesterday after tumbling from a horse on Saturday. While her publicist blamed paparazzi for startling the pop singer—who was "leaping over hurdles" at the time—a photographer who was there disagrees. The Daily News spoke with Thomas Hinton who said he was taking photographs of Madonna on her horse but left because he didn't have a good spot, but then he got a tip that she was injured, "I arrived more than 10 minutes after she fell, and I was shooting from the street. I don't know what [her publicist] is talking about." Maybe Madonna's publicist is covering up the Material Girl's riding skills? Hinton also told Newsday if a photographer had startled the horse, the police would be on the case, "As far as I'm concerned, the only photographer present when the accident happened was Steven Klein," the fashion photographer and friend of Madona whose horse farm is where the accident took place. Anyway, Madonna, who was suffered bruising from the fall, seems to be doing fine, asking the media who approached her, "Are you the guys that spooked my horse?" and saying she was feeling "better." more ›

Madonna's publicist is saying that the pop singer was tossed from a horse because paparazzi jumped out of the bushes and startled the 50-year-old Material Girl and her horse. The Post reports that she "was leaping over hurdles on a brown steed" at friend Steven Klein's Bridgehampton horse farm" (the Post also has photos). She suffered minor injuries and bruises but will need other tests and observation; according to the Daily News, she is "recovering at friend Gwyneth Paltrow's Amagansett estate." In 2005, Madonna broke her collarbone after falling from a horse on her British estate, an experience she called the "most painful" of her life (it may have also led to the demise of her marriage with Guy Ritchie). But in 2006, Madonna was featured in W magazine in a photo spread by Klein called "Madonna Rides Again." more ›

The New Museum unveiled its new exhibit, After Nature, yesterday. Running through September 21st, they say it's a departure from "the fictional documentaries of Werner Herzog" and instead draws inspiration (and its title) from W.G. Sebald's book...though rapture, ruins and environmental disasters also acted as muses. Bringing together 26 international artists on three gallery floors, expect to take in paintings, photographs, installations, films, writings, and living sculptures. Perhaps the most jarring piece is the headless horse emerging from the wall (created out of taxidermied horse skin). As an aside: Williamsburg clothing label Love Brigade also has a limited edition shirt from their “Love, Kurt” line, inspired by the artwork of Kurt Cobain, for sale at the museum (in conjunction with the exhibit). more ›

After getting spooked and throwing its mounted officer yesterday, Aldo the police horse managed to make its way home to the station house at 6th Ave. and Ericcson Pl. Aldo freaked out at the sound of screeching brakes in Soho yesterday afternoon, causing him to throw his rider, who was taken to St. Vincent's with minor injuries. After getting the cop off his back, Aldo ran free through the streets before ambling about ten blocks home. NYPD spokewman Paul Browne says that Aldo "knows his turf." more ›

Reader Rob J. sent us this photo taken through a window looking out on Sixth Ave between Charlton and Vandam, snapped right after a police officer was thrown from his horse. We're told the officer has a shoulder injury, the horse is okay and was brought to the stable, and there's nothing more to see here, folks. more ›

A plan is afoot to have horse drawn carriages around Central Park replaced by environmentally friendly classic cars, like the Ford Model T. The carriage horse business has come under increasing scrutiny recently as an outdated and cruel practice. Several incidents where horses were killed or injured after bolting in city traffic have galvanized opponents and some politicians to ban the use of horses in New York City. Technology remains a barrier, according to the Post.

One option would be the classic replicas that run on propane and hydrogen currently shuttling tourists around San Francisco. But Nislick said the coalition would prefer electric cars with zero emissions - technology that may not be available until 2010.

We were encouraged to hear a statue would be unveiled in Central Park memorializing the racehorse Barbaro, the Kentucky Derby winner who remained undefeated in all of his races before tragically breaking a leg in the Preakness Stakes (video). more ›

Queens Councilman Tony Avella has introduced a bill that would ban the existence of carriage horses in NYC. Another Queens Councilman, James Gennaro, is looking to preserve the practice of equine cabbies that populate the streets of and around Central Park. Manhattan council members are perhaps showing some political horse sense from bowing out of this particular fight. While wanting to preserve the tradition of the horse-drawn carriage trade, Gennaro is also suggesting a... more ›