The New York Carriage Horses did speak to me, of course, all the way from New York. There is a beautiful draft horse who pulls a wagon – it is about five times heavier than the carriages in New York – that is filled with about 20 dancers and singers. He marches up and down Main Street a dozen times a day in the strong Florida sun.
He does not live in the wild or get to have dinner with other horses, he has a stable right on the Disney grounds with shelter, hay and fresh water. He is checked by vets regularly. Like the carriage horses, his head is down, a sign of relaxation, and his leg is often cocked, a sign of comfort. He moves up and down in a throng of people – many thousands, including many children, who rush up to him, run in front of him, touch him, stick cameras and popcorn in front of him, scream and yell for him to smile.
He is a trusted horse, calm and at ease in his work. He has walked past millions of people, and never harmed one.
He is a working horse, and he has a good job, so much better than so many horses in the world, who haul heavy loads or live without shelter or food or medical care. He is much loved, groomed daily, photographed by many hundreds of thousands of people each week, millions each year. He carries dancers and singers through the park, marches in parades carried people up and down Main Street. The New York Carriage Horses only carry a few people at a time, he carried a dozen or more.
Like the carriage horses, it is touching to see how many people love him, smile at the sight of him, gather around him to photograph him with their cell phones and video cameras.
By the lights and arguments of the people in New York City who seek to ban the carriage horses, including the mayor, this beautiful animal is abused. They say it is explotive for animals to entertain people, it is abuse for animals to work for people, it is abuse – “torture” – for them to haul a wagon through a park and to work out in the sun. They believe a horse who hangs his head is depressed, that a horse who cocks his leg is lame. They believe horses wish to live in the wild, even though there is no wild, these big horses have never lived there and would not last long if they did.
It is work that keeps this horse (Disney has several Clydesdales) healthy, alive, well-cared for and well fed, and that gives so much comfort to so many people, most of whom have never seen an animal like him and will most likely not see one again.
Say what you want about Disney, they do get the magic in the world, especially the magic in the eyes of children, big and small. If the horses are banned, the magic will die, these big horses will become ghosts, joining the tragic gallery of animals human beings won’t make room for in their world.
I went up to this big horse and brought him greetings from New York. You are lucky you don’t live there, I said, If you did, there are people who would try to banish you to city and sent you off to a slaughterhouse or horse preserve, where you would stand around for the rest of your years dropping manure and vanishing from the consciousness of human beings. I bring you greetings from the New York Carriage Horses, they and the people who own and ride them are fighting for their existence.
Then the horse spoke to me. Greetings to the horses in New York, he said. I love my work, and fortunate and well cared for. I am loved every day by so many humans, large and small. I love to pose for them and preen for them and drive them though this beautiful park. I am a lucky horse, and a grateful one. See how much pleasure I give the people here, I am sure the same is true in New York. I hope the love and magic does not die there. I wish the New York Carriage Horses the same as I have been blessed to have.