6-48/282 November 27, 2011
 
 

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HORSE SENSE
Periodic updates about issues and actions concerning New York City's Carriage Horses +
Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages www.banhdc.org

Horses Without Carriages International www.horseswithoutcarriages.org

PLEASE FORWARD TO FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES - Horses Without Carriages Demo ** Carriage Horse Wars Coverage ** Support Bill to Ban Industry ** NY Daily News Poll Results ** plus More
NOTICE: Please follow us on Twitter @BanHDCarriages

HORSES WITHOUT CARRIAGES INTERNATIONAL DAY
Demo - Saturday December 3rd at 1:00 pm
HWIC logo Please come to a demo against the inhumane and unsafe horse-drawn carriage trade as we start off the holiday season:
  • WHEN: Saturday December 3rd at 1 PM
  • WHERE: north/west corner Central Park South and Fifth Avenue
  • Posters provided

Horses Without Carriages International is a global coalition of activists around the world who are working towards banning this exploitative business in their cities. On the first Saturday of June and the first Saturday of December, we stand in solidarity with them. This year, to date, Dublin, Montreal and Vienna are participating.

UPDATE ON NY DAILY NEWS POLL
Final Result is in -- 85% say YES to a ban.
The Daily News published this article on Saturday, November 19th - it included a poll. Calls grow to ban carriage horses, but owners defend iconic rides Since 2006, every poll that has asked if the NYC carriage business should be banned has resulted in at least 75% of respondents voting YES. This time, perhaps with the added spotlight on the inhumanity of this business, the Daily News poll has resulted in even more amazing results. It appears that the poll is now closed.
  • Poll Results [You can only vote once.] Do you think carriage horses in Central Park should be banned?
  • Yes: 85%
  • No: 13%
  • I'm not sure: 1%

Recently, the Wall Street Journal asked the question in a poll "Should NYC ban horse-drawn carriages?" The results were 76.2% Yes and 23.8 No.

SUPPORT NY STATE BILL TO BAN HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGES
Sign petition and call your representative
Please help us make this petition viral. Sign it if you have not done so already and pass it on to friends and colleagues.Click Here.

The bill to ban horse-drawn carriages in NYC is S5013 in the NYS Senate and A7748 in the NYS Assembly. It is referred to as the bill that PROHIBITS THE OPERATION OF HORSE DRAWN CABS IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK.

  • IN ADDITION TO SIGNING THE PETITION - PLEASE CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES.
  • Senate - Click here for the Senate site; find your Senator and call the district/local office.
  • Assembly - Click here for the Assembly site; find your Assemblymember and call the district office
  • Everyone has one Senator and one Assemblymember representing them.

For all those who live outside NYS, please call these offices and show your support as tourists:

  • Senator Tony Avella - 1-718-357-3094
  • Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal - 1-212-873-6368
  • Let them know that you are a potential tourist to NYC and that you support their bill to ban horse-drawn carriages.

THE BATTLE FOR NYC'S HORSES
continues .....
traffic What a week it's been. On Monday, November 21st, the Horse & Carriage Association held a press conference announcing that they would file complaints with the Attorney General's office and several city agencies against the ASPCA and NY-Class. However, at the same time, the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages and In Defense of Animals sent a letter to the ASPCA asking them to release information about all carriage horse accidents since January 1, 2009. Six of the last seven incidents involving carriage horses were made known to the public by the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages. Because of this, we believe there to be many more accidents of which the ASPCA is aware and that has never been publicized. The public has a right to know just how unsafe this industry is. We have also asked the ASPCA to review all decisions made by Dr. Pam Corey concerning suspension of the carriage horse trade relative to weather conditions. The blog, Blinders: the Truth Behind the Tradition documents several of these incidents in which the ASPCA enabled the industry. Click here.

Coverage

CARRIAGE HORSE "TERMINOLOGY"
some clarifications
carriage horse in traffic
  • TURNOUT TO PASTURE - Horses love being turned out to pasture - i.e. grasses. Besides offering physical and digestive health benefits, it allows them to freely graze, play, gallop, roll, and as herd animals, hang out with other horses - often mutually grooming each other to relieve stress. Horses would benefit from a few hours a day or even a few days a week. They get none of this in NYC. Experts suggest at least one acre of pasture for each horse and sometimes more. This does not exist in NYC. Therefore you will find carriage drivers saying that the horses do not need turnout and we do not know anything about horses.
  • BOX STALLS -- this is a type of stall configuration. It does not suggest size. Experts recommend a 12' x 12' (144 sq. ft.) stall for standardbreds and at least 14' x 14' (196 sq. ft.) for the larger draft breeds. The NYC law requires a stall to be a minimum of only 60 sq. ft. up from 48 sq. ft., which is totally inadequate. It does not even meet the requirements of the government operated NYS Horse Health Assurance Program, which sides with the experts. Clinton Stables has been described as having box stalls of only 80 sq. ft. -- still inadequate because the space is simply not there to accommodate the appropriate size. A horse should have the ability to lie down, stretch his legs out fully and be able to get up and down comfortably. Yet the industry defends this inadequacy charging anyone who does not agree with them as "knowing nothing about horses."
  • FIVE WEEK "VACATION" -- the law passed last year requires that horses get five non consecutive weeks of furlough each year. This is supposed to be in place of daily turnout to pasture. But horses are not people and do not need a "vacation" per se. They do need daily turnout, which they cannot get in NYC. Besides, five weeks of "vacation" is no substitute for the balance of the year - 47 weeks - when they have nothing but 9 hour a day, 7 days a week work. There is also no way to enforce this law. The ASPCA officers do not have the time to go the farms where these horses are supposed to be relaxing. In a NY Post article, dated 11/2, the suspended ASPCA veterinarian, Dr. Pam Corey, was quoted as saying "We have observed some horses returning to New York City after furloughs on a farm in worse condition than when they left." This was never explained. The ASPCA needs to explain this since they are/were her employer.
  • HORSE SLAUGHTER - one of the scare tactics industry supporters are taking is to say that if the ban bill passes, the carriage horses will go to slaughter. There are several things wrong with this. First of all, there is a very high turnover of horses in the business - at least 60-70 horses per year that are taken off the rolls. Because of the way the law is written, there is no accountability for what happens to them. Every proposed bill - whether City or State - has a clause, which would amend the disposition section of the present law and prevent the horses from going to auction. A separate stand alone bill - Intro 670 - was introduced by Council Member Melissa Mark Viverito but has not been promoted. A September 20th press conference to publicize this bill was shut down the evening before by Speaker Christine Quinn. I can only speculate that she did not want me to discuss what may be happening to the carriage horses horses now! Click here for the text of that bill. Click here for my article in One Green Planet.

WE NEED TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS
since the "cat is out of the bag"
chateau horse underweight Was yet another NYC carriage horse being sold at a PA kill auction? Philly.com - 11/26/11 - Just three weeks before a New York City carriage horse collapsed and died on a busy Manhattan street, another unfortunate horse was being dropped off at New Holland auction in Lancaster County by a van labeled with a NYC carriage company logo. For many unwanted horses New Holland is the last stop before the slaughter house. On Oct. 2, an investigation by the Maryland-based animal welfare group Animals Angels showed a van bearing the name of Chateau Carriage Horse Stables - one of about five licensed carriage operators in New York City - dropping off an underweight Percheron-cross at a horse dealer near the infamous New Holland auction. When investigators looked at the horse's left front hoof - where the license numbers are recorded - they saw no number but the hoof looked different from the other three. It has been documented before that some operators have sanded the numbers off hooves. The horse did not turn up at the auction the next day and it was unclear what happened to him.

The carriage horse industry took considerable heat in New York following an Oct. 23 incident when a 15-year-old Percheron named Charlie dropped dead on the way to his stable. Calls to ban the carriage trade were renewed. Letter writing battles ensued on the pages of daily newspapers with anti-carriage activists calling the industry inhumane and pro carriage forces arguing that the horses are well cared for and that the industry is vital to tourism and a city tradition. A necropsy was inconclusive but the ASPCA, which enforces city animal cruelty ordinances, later dismissed its veterinarian after she changed her assessment of Charlie's condition, news reports said. The carriage industry has fired the latest salvo, filing complaints with the state attorney general against the ASPCA, citing conflict of interest because of its alleged financial relationship with a clean streets group and for making "deceptive" statements about the carriage industry. Meanwhile, a move is afoot in City Council to ban the sale of retired carriage horses at auction. Photo/Animals Angels

[So to sum up. -- why was this grossly underweight horse in a Chateau van and why did his left front hoof look like the ID number had been sanded off?]

ARCHIVED HORSE SENSE E-NEWSLETTERS
We archive all old newsletters on our website the same day they are published. You may access them by clicking here.

SOCIAL MEDIA
Yes we are on Twitter and Facebook -- please join us
facebook twitter We are also in the middle of getting our web site revamped so do not have links to Facebook and Twitter -- but we do have very active accounts. Both Facebook and Twitter are great complements to our weekly e-newsletter and we encourage you to participate with us. Are you on Twitter? If not -- it is easy to sign up. Click here. The Coalition tweets, and we've had a great response. This is a way to stay in touch with us, in real time. We encourage all to "follow" us on Twitter @BanHDCarriages. We'll keep you up to date about accidents, events, demonstrations, actions we'd like you to take, and other ways to help. The messages are short - only 140-characters maximum.

Our official Facebook page is No Walk in the Park. It is an open page and we invite you to "Like" us. We generally post news there as it comes in. We have another page called Horses Without Carriages International, which is tied in with our international coalition

REPORT HORSE INCIDENTS - IF YOU SEE SOMETHING - SAY SOMETHING
Be our eyes and ears
If you see a carriage horse incident, please notify [email protected].
  • Take pictures (crucial) - videos or stills
  • Record exact location of accident - ex. - north/west corner of 60th St. and Broadway
  • Get 4-digit license plate number from back of carriage
  • Provide a narrative - description of what happened
  • Note: don't worry if you are not sure if what you saw was illegal. We will figure it out. The most important thing is to get the information to us.

You will help to make a difference for these horses.

HORSE COLLAPSES AT KNOTTS BERRY FARM
horse appeared exhausted
Knotts Berry Farm collapse Horse collapses at Knott's Berry Farm stagecoach ride - LA Times - 11/22/11 -- Officials at Knott's Berry Farm were trying to determine why a horse collapsed during the stagecoach ride, according to a KTLA report. A woman told the station that the animal appeared exhausted before it began to tremble and collapse Sunday. "It was kind of like getting dragged this way," Lindsey Herrod said of the animal, which was harnessed to other horses for the ride. "In the meantime, [another] horse is trampling on it, and I think he was trampling on his face," Herrod said. KTLA reported that it received an emailed statement from Knott's Berry Farm that said: "The horse received medical attention that night, but the veterinarian in attendance was not clear as to what caused the fall. The horse is still under doctor's care until we can determine the root cause of the animal's behavior."

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JOIN US ON FACEBOOK & SIGN ONLINE PETITION
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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 . Horses Without Carriages International also has a Facebook page. Please join!

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead.

Thank you for caring about the horses, Elizabeth Forel - Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages - a standing committee of The Coalition for New York City Animals, Inc.

Please DONATE to our campaign to ban the inhumane and unsafe carriage horse industry.