NYC CARRIAGE HORSES - it is not what will happen to them if there is a ban. It is what is happening NOW!

I have to admit that I am very tired of this question - what will happen to the horses if the carriage industry is banned? If you are new to the issue, I can understand the question. But if you are not, it means you are not reading the proposed legislation that has been out for almost four years – first Intro 658 and then Intro 86! This is important if you are to be fully educated about this issue.

HISTORY: In 2006, the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages began the campaign to put an end to this inhumane, unsafe and frivolous carriage trade in NYC. But one would think that we went into this without any thought to the horses, considering some of the questions we get. This is the only reason we are involved in this issue at all.

It was and remains our desire to save the horses. Period.

NEW DISPOSITION LANGUAGE: In 2007, we worked with former Council Member and present NYS Senator Tony Avella to introduce Intro 658. This bill was historic, the first ever bill to ban the carriage industry. The language to deal with “horse disposition” as it is referred to, was considered very carefully by the City Council’s attorneys because the horses are privately owned. The “A” section addressed horse disposition. For those of you who have never read this section of the bill, it is included below.

The purpose was to amend the existing Administrative Code. The text in brackets [ ] means it is removed. The italicized sections indicate new language. The intent of this amended section would require that the owners be held accountable for all the horses in their businesses and make sure they were either adopted into a good home or a sanctuary. They would not be allowed to be sold to work in another carriage trade.

The present law states that a horse must be disposed of in a ”humane manner,” which is meaningless because it never included an explanation. The law also does not require that sales or transfer records be submitted to the Department of Health if the transaction is made outside of New York City as most are. This means a horse can be taken to auction and the owner is not required to provide this information to the Department of Health. This is where many horses fall through the cracks. When one studies the existing carriage horse regulations, it is quite apparent that they were written to protect the industry -- not the horses -- and to secure the veil of secrecy.

Section 1. Section 17-329 of title 17 of the Administrative Code of the city of New York is amended to read as follows:
§17-329 Disposition of licensed horse. a. The department shall be notified of the transfer of ownership or other disposition of a licensed horse within [ten] five days thereafter. Such notice shall include the date of disposition and [if sold in New York city,] the name and address of the buyer or other transferee and such other information as the commissioner may prescribe.
b. A horse shall not be sold or disposed of except in a humane manner, which, for the purposes of this subchapter shall mean one of the following:
1. The owner shall sell or donate the horse to a private individual who signs an assurance that the horse will not be sold and shall be kept solely as a companion animal and not employed in another horse-drawn carriage business or as a work horse and will be cared for humanely for the remainder of the horse's natural life; or
2. The owner shall sell or donate the horse to a duly incorporated animal sanctuary or duly incorporated animal protection organization whose president or executive director signs an assurance that the horse will not be sold and shall be kept solely as a companion animal and not employed in another horse-drawn carriage business and will be cared for humanely for the remainder of the horse's natural life.
c. Records indicating the name, address and telephone number of the private individual, duly incorporated animal sanctuary or duly incorporated animal protection organization to whom the horse was sold or donated together with the assurance specified above shall be sent by the owner to the department within five days after such sale or donation. A copy of such record shall also be maintained at the stable.


VINTAGE CAR BILL: Intro 86, the vintage car bill, which was introduced in 2010, did not include anything about saving the horses. They would still continue to fall through the cracks on their way to auction in upstate New York and Pennsylvania. We asked the sponsor of the bill, Council Member Melissa Mark Viverito to add this same section to her bill, which she did.

But the City Council is never going to pass a bill without seeing a prototype of this “vintage replica electric hybrid car.” And because the sponsors of this bill know that and have been supposedly working on this “car” since 2008, we wonder why they have not produced a model car. Some Council Members brought this up over one year ago at the Council hearing of Intro 86.

And while all this inaction continues, the horses continue to disappear – approximately 1/3 - about 70 - disappear from the Department of Health rolls each year. Carriage horses have an average working life on the street of only four years. Because of the way the existing law is written, favoring the lack of transparency by the industry, they keep falling through the cracks on their way to the slaughter auctions. Sure some of them – the favorites – are saved and find good homes. But the majority probably do go to auction. There is simply no real proof because of the way the law is written. The industry can claim they adopt every one, but they are not required to show any proof.

SLAUGHTER STATISTICS: On their web site, the Equine Welfare Alliance (source is USDA) cites 112, 904 US horses slaughtered in 2010 – up from 106,542 in 2009. 53,104 went to Mexico and 59, 693 to Canada. Surely some of those horses were from the carriage trades all over the country. There are too many horses because people unconscionably still breed them. As with cats and dogs and the emphasis on spaying and neutering over the last 20 –30 plus years, we need to make the breeding of horses unacceptable until none are sent on to the slaughter auctions. Considering the price of horseflesh – approximately 60-80 cents a pound, a 1,000-pound horse can bring about $800; 2,000-pound horse (large draft breeds) can bring about $1,600.


In 2010, the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages, along with Equine Advocates and Friends of Animals, rescued Bobby II Freedom from the slaughter auction at New Holland, Pennsylvania. Bobby, then called Billy, was a discarded NYC carriage horse who had been owned by two people from West Side Livery stable on W. 38th St. Bobby’s story is truly heart warming and he was recently immortalized by Peter Max in a beautiful painting that was auctioned off at the Armory’s art show in NYC. He is now living the Life of Reilly at Equine Advocates Sanctuary in upstate New York.

I cannot stress upon you enough that if you care about these horses, you must care about what happens to them now. Intro 86A addresses what will happen to them if the industry is banned.

But we want to take that section and make a stand alone bill and convince the Council to pass it now.

Recently, we put up a petition on Change.org that addresses this issue. The petition generates letters to the City Council asking them to pass a stand-alone bill that would address the issue of horse slaughter now. It would make the owners accountable for their horses.


If you have not done so yet - read and sign the petition on Change.org




SOURCES

Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages
http://banhdc.org/

Horses Without Carriages International
http://horseswithoutcarriages.org/


Equine Welfare Alliance
http://www.equinewelfarealliance.org/


Mary Nash's Horse Meat Website
http://kaufmanzoning.net/

Animals Angels

http://www.animalsangels.org/

photos credited to Animals Angels, Equine Welfare Alliance, Equine Advocates

MIRACLE ON THE HACK LINE or What I did on my Summer Vacation ... or NYC carriage horses to be treated slightly better.

3/14/10 - New York City carriage horses won a great victory today when it was decided that they would each receive one square inch more in their stalls. Hardly believing the good news, the excited horses neighed and whinnied -- some letting lose a barrage of poop, which unfortunately missed the diaper tied to their rear, landing on a park road right in front of a runner who quickly stepped out of the way. The cyclist behind him was not so lucky. They would have peed, but there had been no water for them in the troughs, which had been turned off.

However the big drafts grumbled at the injustice complaining they will still not be able to stretch out fully, cramping their legs. "Damn" said one, "This is an injustice. Who can I complain to? WTF - Do they think we are ponies or something? I'm tired of standing up to take a damn snooze." Some thought about reaching out to the Teamsters to see if they would take their case and initiate some collective bargaining.

Bruno, a horse from the WS Livery, asked Roger if he was happy about the bigger stalls planned for his stable. “Common, Bruno, don’t be naive." whinnied Roger. You know that most of the stalls were small boxes anyways. This is not a hardship for the owners. They will never give us what we really need to be comfortable."

“Wow, small box stalls ... sweet ” countered Bruno. “Oy Vey! You should see the sh-t hole we live in – if you can call it living. Oh wait, you can, by clicking here. You have access to Youtube, don’t you Rog? Yeah - I suppose they can move walls around to make bigger stalls but the place will always be a hell hole. You should see the fire protection system we have -- sand buckets! I hear they took out the requirement for mandated sprinklers from the bill. That really sucks."

But not to worry, the bill thought of almost everything. As a reward for slaving 9 hours a day, 7 days a week, the horses will be rewarded with a 5-week vacation - weeks not to be taken concurrently. It was thought that the horses might get too used to relaxing and refuse to come back if one week extended into two or more. Most of the horses are so worn out by the time they take a "vacation" that they are in a catatonic state for the first 3-4 days, only beginning to enjoy themselves by the time they are ready to be brought back to their cells to begin the grind all over again.

The horses asked for daily turnout, but the City refused saying that they would prefer to build another stable rather than to give the land up to pasture. "Suck it up" said Speaker Chess Quibly and "stop complaining. " Just remember that I can still make you disappear since I did not change that section of law. Remember I know where Canada and Mexico are," she sneered. "And don't even think about the Teamsters -- or I will get you my pretties. Besides, they have their hands full pretending this trade is really a union. Don't confuse the issue. Besides, how could you even pay? in hay? I don't think so. LOL"

But not to be outdone since he was, after all, the bill’s sponsor, Council Member Gene Roe spat out - "Turn out, turn out?!! You don't need no stinkin' turnout! You still don't get it, do you. It's not about you, you selfish steed. It was never about you. It's about your [slave] driver - he needs more money ... if for nothing else then to line my pockets. Keep this up and I will report your kind to the City Clerk for illegal lobbying."

Some of the horses gave in and were planning on which set of swim trunks to bring on vacation and hoping there would be a big enough swimming pool. "Gee, i hope these horizontal stripes on my trunks don't make me look fat" said a plump Percheron --" I haven't worn them in a year." Others began to brush up on their tennis. "don't forget to bring sun screen" said a dapple gray - "there may not be any shade. And you know how we have to work in NYC when it is reeeeeally hot and humid. I hope they give us spending money for water.”

Many of the horses were very disappointed when they learned that the Department of Health decided not to pursue changes to existing regulations, introduced in January. Pressure from Quibly, they heard, who wanted all the glory. They were particularly upset with the elimination of the section entitled "Drivers Behaving Badly" -- a section that they had anonymously submitted to the Department of Health Commissioner. "It is embarrassing to have your driver reading a comic book, playing video games or talking to his bookie on the phone when we are trying to work" said one of the horses. "They never pay attention. And when they push me into making a u-turn on Central Park South, I just hope that the jerk driving me gets a ticket before he gets me into an accident. The next time this creep stands up in the driving seat while working, pretending to be king of the road, I will jerk him so he falls back on his ass. Hee Hee. He'll think it was a bump in the road. "

The horses also tried to get a weight limit on the customers being pulled in their carriage, but it was considered discrimination. "Take it up with Jimmy Hoffa," snorted one of the drivers. "If you can find him."

Still, it is better than nothing, all the horses agreed - even if it was just to raise the rates for the drivers. "I hope we at least get fresh carrots out of this," said one ..."and maybe some oats without pigeon droppings would be nice. I'm tired of getting limp carrots only when a potential mark comes by. I also wish they would do something about turning on the water troughs in Central Park in the winter."

"Too expensive to add year round piping" said CM Gene Roe. "As I said, any extra money comes my way,MY WAY, dummy. Besides, you do not need water" he said - "you pee too much as it is. Keep this up and I will personally buy you a ticket to Canada."

Roger, a handsome steed, told his stable mates- "keep the faith, my horsey friends. We have never had so much attention showered on us.

There has never been a time in the history of this business that so many people have been fighting to free us from bondage. This is just a temporary setback. I feel it in my withers.

It is only a matter of time, my equine buddies, only a matter of time.

In the meantime, have an apple. They're Fujis."

##

Roger suggests trotting over to http://banhdc.org/ for more information.