End the Carriage-Horse Industry--and Bring on the Model Ts

One important issue I'm guilty of not yet having talked about on this blog is horse-drawn carriages, New York's horse-drawn carriage industry in specific. People tend to think of the rides in these carriages as romantic, traditional, and quaint but don't consider the practice from the horses' point of view--and "romantic" and "quaint" don't apply there. Highly stressful, exhausting, depressing, dangerous, and even deadly are more like it.

The mission of the New York-based Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages is obvious by its name. New York residents and visitors who want to know how they can help--whom they can contact to register their support of a ban--should follow this link: What You Can Do for Carriage Horses.

Beyond the safety issues even for humans is the inherent wrongness of forcing the horses to live (and serve) the way the industry does, day after day. For example,

On the streets of NY, these horses are constantly nose-to-tailpipe and often show corresponding respiratory impairment. Because they are not given adequate farrier care, lameness is often a problem, especially walking on pavement. Horses must work in hot humid temperatures and in the brutal cold – nine hours a day, seven days a week and go back to stuffy stable where they have no opportunity for turnout. Many of the stables are firetraps with inadequate sprinkler systems and fire protective devices and only one means of egress. Most house the horses on upper floors, which makes it even more difficult to evacuate them if there were a fire. It is not unusual to see urine and feces stains on the horses. Because of their previous uses on the racetrack or on Amish farms, many of the horses come into this industry with preexisting injuries or arthritis and are forced to pull carriages containing heavy tourists – upwards of 7-800 pounds. When these horses are no longer fit to work the demanding streets of NYC, they are “retired” – many go to auction where their fate is unknown. “Killer Buyers” often buy these horses by the pound for the slaughterhouse. Horsemeat is a delicacy in some European countries.

And I have to say that I absolutely love the idea of using electric or hybrid Model T replicas in place of the cruel carriage-horse industry, to provide residents and visitors with an old-fashioned, nostalgic, romantic experience without exploitation and cruelty. PETA deserves criticism when criticism is warranted, but when they have a great idea, they deserve kudos for that too.

The documentary Blinders is embedded below. Please watch. You may also view it here.