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 ›

This past Saturday was the Horses Without Carriages International Day, which in New York had around 30 activists protesting outside the West Side Livery stable (pictured). The establishment was recently the subject of an undercover report by Animals'Angels USA, the results of which have just been released (PDF). The protesting group included members of the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn carriages, who asked how "the Dickensian conditions could be allowed to exist." more ›

Whoa, Nelly! The neighborhood name game continues as The Brooklyn Paper reports residents of a seven-square-block micro-neighborhood south of Prospect Park are rallying, and possibly succeeding, to rename their community "Stable Brooklyn" (as in: horses). Councilman Bill DeBlasio supports these residents, who reportedly want to "restrict the size of new buildings in the area bounded by Caton Avenue, Prospect Expressway, Coney Island Avenue and Ocean Parkway"—but not everyone is on board, even though the paper notes that "The Department of City Planning also uttered the name in recent documents about a proposed rezoning of an area that many residents know as Kensington." Some real estate agents chimed in (of course) saying it made the neighborhood sound "messy," and the CB7 district manager declared: "You can’t call one block this neighborhood and the next block another neighborhood without someone taking offense." But the Stable Brooklyn Community Group have been at this for 3 years and show no signs of stopping. more ›

Columbia University’s 17-acre, $7 billion dollar expansion plan (which was approved late last year) has some up in arms, and standing firm. more ›