Susan Wagner from Equine Advocates gave a wonderful talk about our collaborative rescue of Bobby II Freedom. She showed many images of Bobby via a powerpoint presentation, including the one where he is rolling on the grass. This was the first thing he did when he got off the horse trailer at Equine Advocates sanctuary. People were very moved by this image. NYC carriage horses do not get turnout to pasture and the only grass they see is out of reach as they pull tourists through Central Park.

To finish off the evening, Jane Velez-Mitchell arrived after her show on HLN and brought the house down with an electrifying and inspiring speech. She also joined in our raffle calling out the winners' names. We enjoyed Jane's description of a very cold NYC day seeing the horses waiting at the hack line. She noticed that one of the drivers was wearing the horse's blanket around his shoulders. Walking up to him, she yelled out "Give the blanket back to the horse where it belongs. "

I spoke about the current situation with the carriage horses and asked people to stick with us in this campaign -- that we cannot give up the horses even if we have to wait for a new administration. To quit is to fail. We are all in this for the long haul. Edita Birnkrant did a great job as MC.

Instead -- GET UP EARLY AND WALK THROUGH CENTRAL PARK The park is at its most magical in the morning, when the crowds are thin and the green lawns are fresh, and you'll want to wander off the main roads and explore its 843 acres at your own pace. You might even want to, you know, stop and smell some flowers-or at least something more aromatic than horse poo. So get up early one morning, grab a cup of joe and a roll from a street cart, and eat your breakfast walking some of the park's woodsier byways. Enter the park from either Fifth Avenue or Central Park West in the mid-Seventies, and head toward the center: This latitude offers easy access to some of the park's best features. You can drift around the marshy shores of the lake, climb Pilgrim Hill near the Conservatory Water, or stand still with a view to the east and watch for Pale Male and Lola, the famous red-tailed hawks who use an apartment building on Fifth Avenue as a launchpad for their own Central Park explorations.-Siobhan Adcock. And if you are visiting New York - check out the Central park Bloggers web site Top 10 Greatest Places In Central Park.

For more information contact his campaign by clicking here.

Following the awards, you will hear about LOHV's goals and guiding principles. We hope that you will politically take charge of your own district or join an existing affiliate. Join LOHV and become a part of an important political movement to end animal abuse. Contact Peter Muller at 877-LOHV-US-7 OR 914-388-5224 - or by e-mail Peter@LOHV.org

Donny can be contacted at donnymoss@me.com

All photos by Christine Berk

See our Facebook page called No Walk in the Park. And while you are there, please join another anti carriage horse page by a colleague called 212HorsePower