‘You Get a Day Off. I Get Worked to Death’: PETA’s Labor Day Plea for Horses Towers Over Charleston

For Immediate Release:
September 3, 2026

Contact:
Hannah Nelson 202-483-7382

Charleston, S.C. –

Ahead of the Labor Day tourism rush, a pair of hard-hitting PETA messages towering over I-26 are calling on everyone streaming into Charleston to shun horse-drawn carriage rides and explore the city without exploiting horses. The appeal comes only weeks after a horse named Howard was spooked, causing a local carriage operator and passenger to be hospitalized after being thrown from the carriage.

Credit: PETA

“A horse is a thinking, feeling individual, not a shuttle bus to be worked until he breaks down,” says PETA Founder Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is urging everyone to give horses a break and avoid the carriage rides, leave the horses in peace, and enjoy the beauty of Charleston on foot, by pedicab, or by bike.”

PETA notes that horses can startle easily, yet those used by the carriage industry are subjected to a near-constant barrage of noise from car horns and other loud city activity. Across North America, forcing horses to share congested city streets with cars, trucks, and buses has led to numerous crashes in which horses and humans have been injured or killed.

In Charleston, even when the temperature reaches 95 degrees or the heat index hits 110, carriage operations aren’t immediately suspended: city officials must first record four consecutive readings, taken 15 minutes apart, at or above those thresholds—a process that can leave horses working in dangerous heat for up to another 45 minutes. Horses forced to haul heavy carriages through city streets, including in extreme heat, can develop respiratory ailments and debilitating injuries.

PETA’s messages can be seen along I-26—just over two miles from Palmetto Carriage Works’ Big Red Barn—facing eastbound traffic heading toward downtown Charleston, the Historic District, and the City Market.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—points out that when it comes to the ability to feel pain, hunger, and fear, a horse is a dog is a boy. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.