The New York Carriage Trade is fighting for it’s existence against some wealthy and very powerful interests that would drive this historic business and way of life from New York. At the moment, their greatest threat comes from the mayor of New York, who is asking the City Council there to ban the horses in July.

I asked the people in the carriage trade what would be the most helpful thing for horse and animal lovers to do that might help stop this unjust and unfounded assault on honest and hard-working people, and beautiful draft horses who have been working with human beings for centuries.

They responded, they are asking for your help and my help. This is when it matters, this is when everyone reading this can really make a difference. You can  use the mails and the  gift of social media to help make it clear to the mayor of New York, who has never owned a dog or a cat, to stop persecuting honest and hard-working people who have suffered greatly but broken no laws, violated no regulations and committed no crimes.

There is now a massive amount of professional and independent information showing that the carriage horses are safe, healthy and treated well. There is no evidence that work is abusive or unhealthy for them, or that they are being mistreated in any way.

The carriage trade is frustrated by the mayor and his representatives. He has shunned the carriage drivers as immoral people,  refused to meet with any representatives of the carriage trade, visit their stables, talk to their lobbyists or lawyers. He and his staff meet regularly with representatives of the animal rights movement seeking to ban the horses. From the first, the carriage trade has been denied equal treatment or justice under the law, the mayor was given many thousands of dollars in  his campaign by the leader of the movement to spearhead the ban.

Political observers in New York say Mayor deBlasio is ambitious and wishes to head a new populist and reformist movement. He has been traveling the country and the world to establish himself as the most progressive political leader in America. He would rather not be exposed as a hypocrite and if he bans the horses, he will regret it, animal lovers have long memories and some deep pockets. I have written many times that the mayor’s campaign against the carriage trade is anything but progressive.

A progressive is generally defined as a liberal political leader who favors social reform, income equality and a better life for working and poor people. I would generally define myself both as a progressive and a supporter of the idea of quantified rights for animals. I find deBlasio’s irrational and dishonest campaign against the horses – when taking office he promised to ban them in his first week – to be both hypocritical and revealing of a flawed characer. If this is what being progressive means, I’ll take a different bus.

The mayor has lied about his motives, evaded questions about his political contributions, demonstrated the most profound ignorance about the horses and their real needs. Whatever he is doing, he is not doing it for the benefit of the horses.

There is nothing progressive about the campaign against the horses. It threatens hundreds of good jobs for working class people. It has been especially  cruel, the abuse of the carriage drivers has been far worse than anything the horses have suffered. It is not progressive to target people and their way of life for no proven reason; to threaten their property; to pressure them into taking jobs they do not want (driving green cars in the outer boroughs), and to take their freedom from them. Government exists to protect freedom and property, not to take them away.

If the mayor is sincere about being progressive, he surely can find some real victims to help in New York City, not animal victims manufactured by greedy real estate developers.

It is not progressive to support the campaign of these real estate developers to take over the carriage horse stables on the West Side of New York and replace them with giant condos and office towers. It is not progressive to deny the carriage drivers due process and equal justice under the law.

I have been to New York City a dozen times and written a hundred pieces on the carriage horses, talked to a score of behaviorists and veterinarians who have seen the horses. They are well cared for, healthy and lucky. I have no doubt about it, I would never support the carriage trade if this wasn’t beyond any reasonable doubt.  If they are driven from New York, many of them will die in slaughterhouses or lead idle and unhealthy lives on rescue farms, where they will have no work to do, no people to see or work with, no stimulation or work. There is no natural world left to send them to, and draft horses have never lived in the wild, they would not last there, even if there was a wild to go go.

The mayor wishes to replace the carriage horses with giant, ugly and expensive electric cars. The Central Park Conservancy has rejected that idea, the beautiful park was designed for the carriage horses, they are an integral part of the city’s history and soul. Progressives favor environmental concern and reform, electric cars are not more eco-friendly than horses.

So you can now help, you can really make a difference by sending a letter to the mayor. The City Council is soon to vote on the carriage horse ban.  The letter should be addressed to Mayor Bill deBlasio, City Hall, City Hall Park, New York, N.Y., 10007.

I can tell you on good authority that the mayor is very sensitive to the way in which national “progressives” look upon his tenure. I would not presume to tell anyone what to say, letters are individual expressions of feeling and opinion. My letter notes that he is exploring interesting and progressive ideas in New York City but that his campaign against the carriage horses and the working people in the carriage trade is disturbing, and anything but progressive. I urged him to stop the campaign against the carriage horses, as all three newspapers in New York and the vast majority of city residents have urged him to do.

People are  not powerless any longer to stop the hysterical movement to remove domesticated animals from our world and save them from an uncertain and dangerous fate – 155,000 horses were sent to slaughter last year, there are few places for large draft  horses to go, do not believe that all of these horses will lead happy and healthy lives if they are taken away, that is a big lie.

I thank you for your support. New York City is our biggest stage, it is important we save the remaining animals in our world, and honor and respect the extraordinary bond between human beings and the horses. They belong in the park as much as we do. The mayor is paying particular attention to what people outside of New York City think of him, his national ambitions may be much larger than his creepy assault on the carriage trade.

We know now that the campaign against the horses is not an isolated one, it is part of a movement that does not believe domesticated animals should work or live with people. That includes horses, dogs, cats, ponies, elephants. If they can do it to the horses, they can do it to you.

If the mayor of New York wishes to be known and respected as a progressive, he can begin by  saving hundreds of jobs, keeping hundreds of healthy and safe horses in New York, standing against the cruelty an abuse of the animal rights movement there, supporting the environment, helping rather than destroying a small business that has been popular and successful and fed and houses thousands of people and animals for 150 years. If he were progressive, he might be working to make the lives of the horses even better and safer than they are now. It would be easy and inexpensive – and progressive – to do.

Thank you, if you choose to help the horses. This one is for real. We can do this.  We are helping Blue Star Equiculture. We are helping Joshua Rockwood keep his farm in Glenville, N.Y. We can help save the horses. I will keep it up on this end. If you are comfortable sharing this request, please do so. The horses have sparked a new social awakening, we seek a world in which people and animals live in harmony, both treated with dignity and respect. People have rights too.