NYC Mayor to ban horse drawn carriages...

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Horse-drawn carriages could soon be a thing of the past in New York City's Central Park after Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio announced plans to outlaw the popular tourist attraction once in office.

"We are going to get rid of horse carriages, period," de Blasio said at a news conference Monday, saying that the practice is inhumane.

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Oh boy. Animal activists are starting get their foot in the door... Not that NYC isn't already known for crappy laws, because everyone knows that NYC politicians suck.

For those who care, the CNN article can be found here.

Why is it that people who know nothing about the topic they're discussing always seem to think they're the authority on them? HSUS suddenly comes to mind...

Nooo my dream about going to NYC in the winter and riding a horse-drawn carriage with a gorgeous man in Central Park is ruined forever!

I'm curious what they think will happen to those horses when they ban the horse carriages... They aren't exactly cheap animals to keep around as hay burners!

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Originally Posted by sorraia

I'm curious what they think will happen to those horses when they ban the horse carriages... They aren't exactly cheap animals to keep around as hay burners!

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Or what will happen to the carriage drivers, the stables who house the horses, the grooms, the feed suppliers, the carriage repair specialists (because that's not a common skill), etc. when the horses go?

I wonder if it's also inhumane to have mounted police in NYC?

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Originally Posted by Badgemash

Or what will happen to the carriage drivers, the stables who house the horses, the grooms, the feed suppliers, the carriage repair specialists (because that's not a common skill), etc. when the horses go?

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Yup, that too! So much more than just the "poor" horses involved.

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Originally Posted by MarkS

I wonder if it's also inhumane to have mounted police in NYC?

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Someone has to be the strong arm to enforce the laws they are pushing....

Otherwise they are just annoying gnats with no philosophical rigor to their beliefs and positions.

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Originally Posted by MarkS

I wonder if it's also inhumane to have mounted police in NYC?

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If they decide that I'll be making a LONG drive to go pick up some of those horses, those guys are worth their weight in silver at least.

I'm telling you. People that are letting these idiots come in and try to ban everything are just letting the government take away our freedom and rights one law at a time. Then by the time people realize what's going on it'll be too late. Screw that. I dare somebody come in and try to take anything I own.

One thing that I have noticed in the past few years is how disgustingly 'fluffy' animals are being portrayed and viewed.

Yes, there are certainly cruel carriage practices out there in the world and definitely in the past. But the ones in NY are hardly 'cruel'.


I am a believer of using animals for what they were purposely bred for.

What many people forget is that many domesticated animals were bred for work and those animals *do* want to work. The drive and desire to work has been bred into their genetics for hundreds of years.

I admit that I know close to nothing about horses, but I can bet they don't want to keep idly still.
And as long as the horses are treated/worked within certain parameters(for example, can only work such and such hours with this much mileage or something), I see no reason why not to use them.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

One thing that I have noticed in the past few years is how disgustingly 'fluffy' animals are being portrayed and viewed.

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I'm telling you, it's all about the feels these day in the media. That's why kitties are fluffy, friendly, noninvasive house pets and that's why pythons are killer aliens waiting to invade and abduct your children, two kids at a time, across the U.S.

I am appalled at some of the things that "animal activists" do to "help the animals" when, in turn, they are just creating a larger problem. I, personally, am a PETA member and was a vegan for eight years. I now eat meat and I own animals that eat other animals. I will stand up for the cause when a circus comes to town, I don't eat at or shop at certain places, etc, but it's people that do things like this that give everyone who stands up for animals a bad rap (and PETA obviously doesn't have a good one). I went out and brought our outdoor dog in today because it was 30F out but she was no where near shivering. Animals have lived outside for thousands of years and I promise you that horses have been in snow before. While we may have domesticated some animals to the point of that not being okay, (small dogs, such as Chihuahuas come to mind immediately) a majority of our domesticated animals are MUCH stronger and resilient than we give them credit to be. Does that mean you should drive these horses into the ground, having them pull ALL day EVERY day in extreme conditions? No. It should be regulated closely but not completely eliminated. :twocents:

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Originally Posted by sorraia

I'm curious what they think will happen to those horses when they ban the horse carriages... They aren't exactly cheap animals to keep around as hay burners!

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I know, I have two horses and while they're not drafts, they're not cheap to keep either.

A few may get picked up by rescues or private owners, but I suspect many will be purchased at meat price and shipped to Canada for slaughter.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

One thing that I have noticed in the past few years is how disgustingly 'fluffy' animals are being portrayed and viewed.

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That's a big complaint we have in the biology field. The media is all about cute and fluffy, anything that isn't doesn't get the time of day. It's all about save the panda, save the tiger, save the invasive house cat that's destroying wildlife in record numbers. But no one cares about saving the Delhi Sands flower loving fly, or the mountain yellow legged frog, or any other non fuzzy, non cute critter, even if it is a cornerstone species.

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I am a believer of using animals for what they were purposely bred for.

What many people forget is that many domesticated animals were bred for work and those animals *do* want to work. The drive and desire to work has been bred into their genetics for hundreds of years.

I admit that I know close to nothing about horses, but I can bet they don't want to keep idly still.
And as long as the horses are treated/worked within certain parameters(for example, can only work such and such hours with this much mileage or something), I see no reason why not to use them.

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Yes, many horses do enjoy working, and will get bored and look for trouble if not given a job. One of my horses is lazy as they come, but even he wants a job. He was bred, trained, and shown as a rodeo horse (outside the states even), and the job is still there even though he hasn't been in a show for years.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

I know, I have two horses and while they're not drafts, they're not cheap to keep either.

A few may get picked up by rescues or private owners, but I suspect many will be purchased at meat price and shipped to Canada for slaughter.

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That's what I suspect too. I know around here it's still very hard to even give away a horse.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

What many people forget is that many domesticated animals were bred for work and those animals *do* want to work. The drive and desire to work has been bred into their genetics for hundreds of years.

I admit that I know close to nothing about horses, but I can bet they don't want to keep idly still.
And as long as the horses are treated/worked within certain parameters(for example, can only work such and such hours with this much mileage or something), I see no reason why not to use them.

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You are absolutely right, they have been bred for the job of pulling things for hundreds of years. And horses really like having a steady routine, heck when you take racehorses off the track (which is a VERY scheduled and controlled environment) you have to be very careful to actually keep them in heavy work for a while. They're so used to having a job and a routine (and being in a little stall) that if you suddenly stop training and toss them out in a big pasture they tend to develop mental issues (compulsive chewing etc) and ulcers.

And as a carriage driver, you have a very big incentive to take very good care of that animal. Most horses are not mentally cut out to work in that kind of environment, there's car traffic, loud noises, slick surfaces, loose tourist children running up to them to pet their face... It takes a very special kind of horse to stay calm and relaxed in the middle of Manhattan (much like the police horses), they really don't come along every day and there's a lot of desensitization training with it. So as a driver you gain nothing by overworking or abusing your well-trained valuable horse other than endangering the very source of your income.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

I know, I have two horses and while they're not drafts, they're not cheap to keep either.

A few may get picked up by rescues or private owners, but I suspect many will be purchased at meat price and shipped to Canada for slaughter.

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I'd hope that since they're bombproof that they'll get rehomed, but I suspect that most of them are very well broke to drive and hardly any to ride, and driving is not as popular as it once was. Basically, I agree, I just hope so much that we're wrong, they deserve better. :(