Carriage Horse Rant

Barbara F · Grand Prix

Carriage Horse Rant

Jackie Cochran · Advanced

Okay, Barbara. My reaction.

However bad the conditions are for American carriage horses are in the cities (and yes, I agree, conditions can be really, really bad), at least in America there is a strong and somewhat effective anti-cruelty to animals movement, watching everything and aiming to ban carriage horses in cities. Because of this there ARE a lot less abuses then elsewhere except MAYBE Canada, Australia, New Zealand and western Europe.

I lived in South America over 50 years ago. Horses pulling wagons in the cities was normal back then. Believe me, most of the horses I saw would have thought they had died and gone to heaven to be a carriage horse in the USA (and this was before the animal activists got going here.) In Uruguay, I guess to save money on feed, the cart horses would be turned loose on their off time to forage the garbage of the suburbs of Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. These horses were decently fed and shod, but their working conditions were often less than ideal. No matter the weather these horses were expected to do their jobs. Its probably changed now, but this is how it was back then.

From the pictures I've seen it was back then and now is far, far worse for cart horses in other areas of the Americas, Africe, the Middle East and any area of Asia. At least OUR cart horses are not walking skeletons with untreated wounds and bad shoeing, working often in higher temperatures, working in HORRIBLE traffic, and with no concerned group of people that could effectively change the local culture of 'use up the horse until it collapses dying in the street'. Before "Black Beauty" the conditions of most cart/carriage horses was much, much worse in the first world, now it is almost humane. Please note I said almost.

So yes, you are quite right to point out the conditions of US carriage horses. More people need to do so, and do it by not spending their money (I have never gone on a carriage ride.) But as for me, when I see a carriage horse I note its condition and its hooves and its general demeanor. And while I feel sorry for the NYC and other American carriage horses even today, I have seen much, much worse. Yeah, the carriage horses look bored out of their skulls, but they look well fed, well groomed and their feet are shod properly. But what will they do with these horses when they can no longer have a job pulling a carriage. Mexican slaughterhouses?

Barbara F · Grand Prix

Thanks Jackie, I was wondering when someone would respond to my rant!!

I haven't lived in South America, but I am caught up on the horrific working conditions of horses, mules and donkeys in developing countries and that's why I try to support of Spana, the Brooke and World Horse Welfare wherever I can.

The difference, of course, is that the animals in developing countries are needed to work and often their conditions are the result of poverty and sheer ignorance. I love the organizations that I named above because they have people in the field educating horse and donkey owners about nutrition, feet, and general health as best they can.

In somewhere like NY, horses pulling carriages through the city streets nine hours a day for entertainment is just shameful. It’s not just the boredom, it’s the heat, the fumes, the inability of the horses to simply turn around and scratch off a fly. In India, the poor horses have to work in the blazing heat. In NY or any other bustling city, it’s barbaric.

I often feel like yelling at people in those stupid carriage rides that if they want to have a lovely tour of the city and Central Park, they should do what New Yorkers do – put on some sneakers and WALK!!