Posted on 12/11/2016 5:54:38 PM PST by Lorianne
All the recent talk of “fake news” has an overlooked angle here in New York — where fake news has long plagued the horse-carriage industry. Who’s responsible for elevating fabrications into fact? Mayor de Blasio.
De Blasio won office partly on a bizarre promise: He’d ban Central Park’s horse carriages. In making this pledge, he gained campaign contributions. Prosecutors are looking into whether this was bribery.
The mayor repeatedly tried to ban the carriages but lost in the City Council. At one hearing, the Mayor’s Office couldn’t give evidence that horses were mistreated or in danger. Yet in the process, the mayor did a dangerous thing: repeat bald untruths as fact.
The mayor has written that horse carriages are banned in Paris and London. They’re not. “I think it’s horrible what happens to the horses,” the mayor said, referring to long-debunked reports.
Now, animal-rights activists are seizing on these untruths as they again go after horse-carriage drivers, even more aggressively.
Since fall, activists have congregated around the horse trade’s Central Park South “hack line” — where drivers pick up passengers. What protesters lack in numbers they make up for in bullying.
Sandi Bachom, a TV-commercial producer turned independent filmmaker, recorded examples. “I voted for de Blasio,” Bachom says. “I didn’t hear anything about horse carriages.”
But when she learned, through a former driver, about the trade’s plight, she investigated.
In one of Bachom’s videos, an activist walks up to a driver and hits him, hard (he was charged with assault).
In another, a young woman targets children. Speaking to a woman and four little girls in a carriage, she says, “The horse is very sad. They drop dead in the streets. They crash into cars. The children have no seat belts. Look at how dangerous this is.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Notice all the pigeons lined up for a hot lunch.
Speaking to a woman and four little girls in a carriage, she says, “The horse is very sad. They drop dead in the streets. They crash into cars. The children have no seat belts. Look at how dangerous this is.”
= = =
And I say, “Lady, unhitch the horse and you pull us. Just don’t poop in the street ahead of us.”
DaCommieo needs to tear down the wall he had built around the Mayor’s Compound.
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Flying ‘Rats. Perfect as the NYC Bird.
To be honest, it is a horrible mistreatment of these wonderful animals and hansom cabs should be banned... that’s fact, not fiction. Their housing is terrible, their lives are brutal. With or without DeBlasio this is a cause that frankly I can get behind although deblasio IS a complete moron and I wouldn’t mind seeing him pull a few carriages.
If it is that bad, you should hit the abuse button.
What is your experience with horses? Have you ever worked with them? Cared for them? Driven a horse in harness (doubt that, because these are landaus, not hansoms)? Have you ever personally examined these horses? or are you simply going on what you've read in the news?
I have worked with horses all my life, grooming, feeding, riding, worked as an equine vet tech. Although I am primarily a hunter-jumper and 3-day rider, I can and have driven a single horse in harness (no teams - that's a skill you don't learn in a hurry). I also have observed several of the NYC carriage horses on the line and in motion (while I was there for a business meeting).
The horses I saw were sound, moved well, had good conformation, and were well shod. They were well groomed and their harness was clean and properly adjusted.
As for their housing, the photos I have seen show perfectly normal stalls. The aisles are darned narrow - but real estate is quite pricey in Manhattan.
And THAT is where deBlasio is coming from. The horse accommodations are Naboth's Vineyard for him.
I’m glad you posted this.
I know next to nothing about horses so I’m glad to hear from someone who does.
I have seen horses (and donkeys) horribly mistreated in other countries and I would not like to think these animals were being mistreated.
The Mayor’s big money donors want the land where the stable sits. That is what this is all about. Once the horses are gone, the connected developer will make a killing by building a residential high rise.
The rent-a-thugs harassing the horse drivers and passengers are a good investment. They are professionals, but they work cheap. There is absolutely nobody in NYC who would bother to protest this if he were not getting paid.
Although I will say that the little horses that carry the tourists up the mountain to King Christophe's Citadelle are tough as they come. Scruffy, underfed, illbred, not much to look at. But *extremely* tough. I shudder to think what happened to the ones that aren't tough . . .
And there isn't any Jezebel to take Ahab's punishment, so deBlasio will have to stand the music himself.
Stables don’t look that bad... and since there is more than one stable it is broad-brushing to proclaim them all the same :
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-stables-where-central-park-carriage-horses-live-2012-4
Beats the glue factory or being a chunk of meat on a French restaurant menu. They get out for exercise a lot since they have a job. They’re well groomed, unscarred, and their hooves are in good condition, which means the bedding is kept dry.
How much out of harness time they get to roll around in the dirt and grass, if any, is an issue that could be addressed without banning the business. Central Park is pretty big, perhaps a part of it could be set aside for a periodic romp and horse social interaction ... and visitors to the park might enjoy the sight of a few horses at play while the owners benefit from happier, healthier horses that have a chance to blow off steam.
Yea, hit in the head with a sledge hammer and shredded into dog food is a hell of a lot better.
We were just eating when I read your post.I kept my gravy in my mouth......barely ; )
Great photos on your site! Glad you posted, you obviously know what you are talking about. Thanks.
My daughter is a chiropractor and trained for horses after college in a western state. I was surprised at the number of horse owners who have chiropractic care for their animals.
Also lifetime involvement with horses, riding (hacking, on the flat, some jumping, pleasure).
I no longer ride as I don’t have adequate time to spend but all that being said, I have seen the cabs in Philadelphia and New York; I have also seen their stables. They are horrifying. There are horse rescues that take them and give them a lovely life after being abused, not only in the cities but also on the track. They are saved from slaughter and in many cases given to people who have lovely farms where these horses are set out to pasture, never ridden again... just let be to enjoy each day, so yes, I do have experience and yes I have seen these up close and personal and no they are not all well-groomed in a lot of cases and they do not enjoy this life in most cases riding up and down city streets exhaust in their faces and on hard surfaces. Visit some rescues online and see the real story. Thank you
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