The proposal to ban the New York City Carriage Horses – sponsored by the mayor of New York and several organizations that claim to speak for the rights of animals – is unjust and misguided. There are many animals in our world who need help, these are not the ones. There is no evidence that the carriage horses of New York are being abused or mistreated. Most, if not all of the claims advanced by the proponents of the ban have been found to be false, exaggerated, or completely invented. You can help.
A legion of equine advocates, veterinarians, journalists, trainers and behaviorists have visited the stables, found the horses to be safe and healthy and content. Most of the horses are rescue horses, there are few good places for them to go if they are banned at a time when 155,000 horses are sent to slaughter each year. If there are places for nearly 200 large horses – dubious – then 200 other horses who truly need rescue will perish.
It is not abuse for working horses to pull light carriages on asphalt in Central Park. No less an authority than Buck Brannaman, the inspiration for the movie “Horse Whisperer” and one of the most respected horse trainers in the world, says the carriage horses are lucky, happy and healthy. The horses to pity, he says, are the ones with nothing to do all day but stand around and drop manure. That would be the fate of these remarkable working animals if the mayor of New York and his allies in this angry fringe movement get their way.
We need a wiser and better understanding of animals than this if they are to remain in our world. The New York media does not, as a rule, get it. The carriage trade needs our help. This is a just cause for anyone who loves animals or owns or lives with one.
No one who knows or loves horses believes it is cruel or abusive for them to work with people and be safe and protected and regulated. These are the lucky horses. Then there is the human issue, 300 hard-working people who will lose their livelihood. The campaign against them is outrageous – a sad story of harassment and abuse in itself. Please consider helping to stop this injustice. The people who decide the future of animals in our world ought to know something about them. You can help by going to this site set up to help stop the ban.