Horses Without Carriages International www.horseswithoutcarriages.org

Thanks to all of you who have already donated to this cause to be part of our advertising campaign. We plan to add more ads based on available funds. If you would like to contribute and help us to get the message out in more papers, please send us a donation via this link. Click here. Donations by PayPal or check are welcome. Depending on the size, the number of times an ad is run, and the newspaper, the cost has ranged from $350 to $700 per ad. We are all volunteer so every dollar donated goes back into the organization.

Ads will appear in various NYC papers in all boroughs throughout the next few months.

As you go through the video - please understand these points - as the video picks up these answers:

• John Catsimatides -- had not done his homework about this issue and obviously does not understand the needs of horses. Central Park is not only private, but it is also a land mark. Private building is not allowed. Besides, an analysis the Coalition did several years ago indicated that approximately 1/4 of the park would be needed for the horses and everything else associated with them - appropriate sized stalls, stabling, storage and turnout needed, (there are approximately 200 horses) The area required would have been equivalent to - from 59th to 72nd St. and from Central Park South to Fifth Avenue.
• John Liu - he is referring to Intro 35A. Unfortunately Liu was on the Consumer Affairs Committee and voted to move this bill forward for a vote before the City Council. It was a bad bill and we opposed it. The bill essentially gave the owners a rate increase; increased the minimum stall size from 48 sq. ft. to 60 sq. ft - still less than half what equine experts recommend; and required 5 weeks furlough for the horses. The hours remained the same and nothing was done for the daily turnout the horses truly need. There are no requirements for the farms to which the horses are sent. They do not get inspected, nor does anyone know what happens there -- how the horses are fed, if they are worked.
• Bill deBlasio - Bill finally gets it and has admitted that his thinking on this topic has evolved. He knows the trade has to stop now and he is willing to say it. He says that it is inhumane and right in front of our very eyes.
• Bill Thompson refers to when he was Comptroller. It was the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages, who, in 2006, requested that the Comptroller's office do an audit of the agencies that oversee the carriage horse trade - The Department of Health and the Department of Consumer Affairs. They agreed to do it, however - one year later, we learned the audit had been finished but was being kept under wraps. Several months after completion it was not even on the web site of the Comptroller's office. We contacted Glen Collins of the NY Times about this and he wrote a story, pressuring the Comptroller's office to add the audit to their web site. Click here. This is the Audit. We think that Mr. Thompson was trying to cover it up and believe it would not have been made public if it were not for us.

ELECTRIC CARS - We do not support the electric cars because they are too expensive, the money is not there and a ban has to happen immediately. It is a ruse and will result in the horses staying indefinitely. The cost of each car has been mentioned as $175,000, - and at 68 cars, it will cost close to $12,000,000. It has been five years since NY Class began to promise a prototype, which is said to cost $450,000. Unsuspecting people who have not read the proposed legislation - Intro 86A - and done any questioning - just assume that one day the horses are here and the next day the car magically appears. Further A BAN OF THIS TRADE MUST NOT BE DEPENDENT ON THE SUCCESS OF A PRIVATE INDUSTRY. When the horrific institution of slavery was abolished in the US - it was not in phases. We did not say let's shut it down in Georgia and we'll see how it works and then if successful, we'll try North Carolina and maybe Virginia. This is horse slavery and if after many, many years of seeing just how inhumane and abusive it really is -- if we, as a progressive city, cannot bring ourselves to shut it down - then the owners will continue holding the city hostage. No one knows how much the trade brings to this city because it is a cash only business. All you are hearing are guesses. An electric car business should be considered separate from the horses. Shut down the trade first, find homes for the horses and then try an electric car business. But don't make a shutdown dependent on the success of something so risky and expensive. (image by Mickey Z )

We often look to the Facebook page of Defeat Christine Quinn for the latest news on the race. If you are on Facebook, please like this page.

• NY Times - 5/6/13 - Mayoral Hopefuls Express Support for Animal Rights
• Politicker - 5/6/13 - The Unmighty Quinn: City Council Members Sense New Opportunities in Mayoral Politics</li>
• NY Times 5/8/13 - As Candidates Vow to Hire Educator as Chancellor, Quinn Keeps Options Open
• NY Daily News - 5/8/13 - Political committee plans mail campaign blaming Christine Quinn for closing St. Vincent's Hospital
• NY Times - 5/10/13 - Head of Teachers' Union Tests Candidates' Views
• NY Daily News - 5/13/13 - Russell Simmons endorses Bill de Blasio for mayor - over beholden Christine Quinn and 'too quiet' Bill Thompson
• NY Post - 5/13/13 - Quinn is 'left' out

Horse experts say that a horse should have pasture time every day for 16 to 18 hours. They recommend between 1 and 1 � acres of pasture per horse. This is where the horses graze, exercise, hang out with his herd, play, mutually groom each other - a great stress reliever. But alas, it does not exist in NYC. New York City carriage horses have no turnout to pasture. (read on)

You can read the legislation by clicking on the bill numbers, S667 and A997 . Text in CAPS is new. Text with a strike through is deleted.

All of the information we previously published on our newsletter is now on our web site under What You Can Do. Please read it and take action.