Carriage Horse Dies in New York City

Written by PETA

Posted 02-08-2008

There was yet another carriage-horse fatality in New York today. How many more horses have to die before New York realizes that this industry has no place in a civilized city? The following is PETA’s official statement on the incident.

PETA has just learned that a horse used to pull carriages in New York City died this afternoon at the Clinton Park Stables. Unconfirmed reports indicate that the horse died of colic, which causes severe abdominal pain. PETA is investigating the circumstances of the horse’s death and reminds New Yorkers as well as tourists that these horses should be in pastures, not locked in dark, damp stalls in warehouse buildings. We renew our call to New Yorkers to help put an end to this inhumane and unsafe industry and to support City Council Member Tony Avella’s proposal to ban horse-drawn carriages in the city.

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vegetarian, food, carriage horses, huskies, of, North, White Rain Carolina, UNC, tar heels, wildcats, sparty, new, york, 7-11, schedule

Recent Comments

annie commented:

Nov 1, 2011 7:11 AM

Colic can happen at any time. As an owner of 9 horses (most of them are rescues)it is most probable that this horse died from colic brought on by STRESS. My bet is it had stomach ulcers. Pulling carriages around a city is an un-natural environment for horses. It is dangerous (breathing fumes & being hit by cars) and the pavemant is hard on their hooves and bones. We need to see how many of these poor horses have developed SWEENY from pulling these carriages over terrible hard terrain. There are so many reasons to put an end to this backward practice...lets do it for the horses!
babykate commented:

Dec 5, 2010 12:06 PM

Death of an Old Carriage Horse

I was a harness horse,

Constrained to travel weak or strong,

With orders from oppressing force,

Push along, push along.

I had no space of rest,

And took at forks the roughest prong,

Still by the cruel driver pressed,

Push along, push along.

Vain strove the idle bird,

To charm me with her artless song,

But pleasure lingered from the word,

Push along, push along.

The order of the day

Was push, the peal of every tongue,

The only word was all the way,

Push along, push along.

Thus to my journey's end,

Had I to travel right or wrong,

'Till death my sweet and favored friend,

Bade me from life to push along.

George Moses Horton
HORSE ADVOCATE AND CHANNEL commented:

Jul 21, 2010 12:45 AM

I worked at EQUINE HOSPITAL for Quarterhorses racing at track and saw horses abused daily with drugs they did not need that caused them to break bones and die. I HATE what man can do to destroy this animal without ANY consciousness. CARRIAGE HORSES IS A CRUEL MONEY MOTIVATED SERVICE THAT IS NOT NEEDED AND HORSES HAVE BEEN HIT BY TAXIS ALOT AND ALSO OUT AT 4am...I SAW IT WITH MY OWN EYES...There is NO REASON FOR THIS ....We can have the bike carriages..we do not need to "entice" tourists...by killing horses.
entreat commented:

Jan 30, 2009 6:07 PM

My horse lived in a large paddock with other horses. He died of colic regardless of the expert medical attention he received. Some times they just die regardless of worklocation.
Sharon Lawler commented:

Jan 18, 2009 2:26 PM

I am distressed that carriage horses are still used in NYC. This isn't a good place for them to work among the traffic and the humanity on foot. It is not like someone who owns horses and gives carriage rides once in awhile. These poor horses are used in all types of weather and human greed keeps them out there for long hours. I will support PETA anyway possible to shut these carriage houses down. These horses should be allowed to run on grassy pastures and be a free spirit not stuck in standing stalls on the second floor of a hot stuffy building at night and then stuck between two shafts pulling a wagon during the day. When they are too old or sick to work they are not retired to a nice farm to finish out their lives they are sent to slaughter were a nail gun is used to kill them. The gun is not human and many times the horse suffers multiple shots terror and injuries before he is killed. These are GODs creatures and they deserve more than what they are getting. Tourists will come to NYC whether the horses are there or not. It isn't the carriage horses that draw tourists to NYC and the city isn't going to shut down and go bankrupt if the horses and carriages leave. Get real people take the "blinders" off and do the right thing and retire all of these horses permanetly. Sharon
t commented:

Apr 24, 2008 2:48 PM

this is terrible disneyland does the horse carriage cruelty too peta should protest against them
Hattie Hartschuh commented:

Apr 22, 2008 1:22 PM

Being an animal lover horse owner and welfare activist myself I cannot help but add as Susanna S. did on Feb 9th that horses can get colic and die from it regardless of thier careor lack there of... free range horses such as the wild mustangs here in the US are even found dead upon occasion from colic related issues... it is something that frustrates many veterinarians and horse owners in many cases it happens without warning and without a way to stop it. Furthermore many horses ENJOY having something to do. While we humans view this as "work" you will notice that several of the horses used for carriage services reach for thier bridles eager to be hitched up. A little research into campaign topics goes a LONG way... you can't hear one thing from only one source and automatically decide that it is the gospel truth.
Bird319 commented:

Mar 14, 2008 9:13 AM

I am a film student living in Chicago and am so happy with Petas involvement in banning horse drawn carriages in NY but I belive that the horses drawn carriages in Chicago are the next place to begin banning this cruel act. I truly believe that many people are simply uneducated about the mistreatment of the horses and feel that this same banning process needs to begin to take place in Chicago. I have a documentary assignment for one of my film classes and am interested in following a person who is trying to learn more about how the horses are treated in Chicago and see how this person finds ways to begin educating the citizen of Chicago. Does anyone know anyone living in chicago or coming to protest in chicago who would be interested in having a short documentary about their efforts to bring the awareness to Chicago?
selina commented:

Mar 5, 2008 11:16 AM

It is so bad for those horses to be walking on concrete and inhaling fumes. They are made to do it all day! How would you like to be wipped to do that! Something need to be done to ban horse drawn carriages!
Cherish Ireland commented:

Mar 5, 2008 1:28 AM

I don't live in NY but I was there visiting a while ago. I'm so happy to see that finally someone is trying to save these horses. I've been riding for years and it kills me to see that the issue is just being addressed now. I want to know what I can do to make sure that the torture of these horses ends finally.

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