In support of the NYC carriage horses

[marseydoats]

One of the driving groups I belong to has asked that this email be forwarded to all the horse folks I know, in the hope that some of them might be willing to show some support for the NYC carriage trade (Mods, if this is not alright, feel free to remove) I will be writing a letter tonight when I have dh to help me compose it (he's my proof reader/fact checker)
TIA!


I am in support of working horses doing what they were bred to do: WORK.
I also know if carriages are banned in NYC the approximately 220
carriage horses and their drivers will be suddenly unemployed.

The wording of the bills introduced to ban the carriages should be of
concern to ALL horse owners because not only does it seek to ban the
carriages, it also stipulates that the horses' owners would not be able
to give or sell them to any person or group that would use these horses
for ANYTHING other than a companion animal ONLY.

As we all know horse rescues and refuges are allready packed to
overflowing. If thise ill-considered bilsl become law, it will amount to
a death sentence for these horses because they will have no place to go.
The bills do not prohibit the carriage horse's owners from having them
euthanized. It just prohibits them from selling or giving their horses
away to other people who would use the horses for "work" either as
carriage or riding horses.

Even the New York Times is beginning to get fed up with the
anti-carriage forces and published a remarkable editorial recently
called "Some carriages shouldn't be horseless" or something like that.

On Chronicle Forums some of the carriage drivers have asked for horse
people everywhere to write the Times to thank them for their support. I
did that already.

Today I was called by an editor of the Times who wanted to let me know
that my letter had been chosen for publication. She told me it was one
of the very few the paper had received in support of the carriage horses
and their drivers.

I am asking people on this list to please click on links below and send
a pro-carriage horses letter to the Times. Today the radical animal
rights activists are after the NYC carriages and actually ALL commercial
carriage companies; tomorrow they will go after pleasure drivers, etc.
Their avowed mission is to "free all animals from slavery and ownership"
by humans.

Please take time to write in support of these other horse owners who are
under prolonged and sustained attack. Thank you.

Send emails to [e-mail] <mailto:[e-mail]> and
[e-mail] <mailto:[e-mail]> .

Contact info page for NY Times is here:
www.nytimes.com/content/help/...directory.html
<http://www.nytimes.com/content/help/contact/directory.html>

[Heidi]

Why on earth would they pass such a silly bill? (Says the naive Australian). What's the motive behind it all?
H

[elnini]

I think it's concern about the mixing of cars and horses (and the horses coming off second best) and the heat in summer and cold in winter. From what I've seen though, the owners look after the horses really well.

Re the cars though, I remember when the clydesdale team that used to deliver stationary in Sydney not so many years ago were hit by a car that lost control. The horses amazingly came out with just bruises and cuts, but it could have been horrific.

I think animals add life to a place, I think working animals add something even more special, but I think there should be some seperation of horses and motor vehicles for the horses sake, whether there are zones they can work that cars aren't allowed, but I don't know enough about the geography to make a reasonable suggestion.

[ange]

Or the law could actually get out there and enforce traffic law... just sayin'. And not just for the animal's sake, but for pedestrians and other drivers.

I know that's a naive statement because it takes money and man power.

Let's (I say to myself) just leave it at, why the heck does the government have to get its fingers into everything?? Someone visiting from another country might just look and question this "freedom" that we're supposed to have...

If a person wants to take their horse to NYC and make a couple of bucks doing honest work, who's got the right to tell him he can't? As long as that person is staying safe for the sake of everyone around him.

[elnini]

OR even more pointedly, perhaps the drivers could take a deep breath and add a few seconds to their drive and not cut so close to the horses. Or the pedestrians. And then it wouldn't take money or manpower.

All it needs is everyone to exercise more courtesy and kindness in their every day life.

[marseydoats]

It's some more of PETA's nonsense. They don't want anyone to OWN animals, much less working animals, and all the drafters I've been associated with loved to work.
The carriage trade already has HEAVY restrictions about working in heat or bad weather. If they are caught out 1 degree over their cut off temperature, they can loose their license. Somewhere there is a video of ALL of them dropping their fares and heading back to the stable when they were faced with a temperature issue. Most carriage people love their horses and their work. Like anything, there are a few bad eggs in the business, but not many.
I just hope they all got evacuated in time. Poor horses died in Katrina because the powers that be wouldn't let the owners come back in for 2nd and 3rd loads, when they STILL had the time to do it. No faster than the traffic was moving, I'd have tied them all together and walked down the shoulder of the highway.

[ange]

Don't get me started on PETA. They'd be pleased to see all livestock turned into pasture ornaments. Which btw, the animals then get fat and out of shape and suffer all kinds of ailments that they don't have when exercised properly.

Ditto on what elnini said!

[pegasus]

I couldn't find that link....once having been a NYC resident, the horses there were an oasis before I could get myself to the country.