New York City is a major tourist
hub, and a lot of tourists take quaint horse-drawn carriage rides around
Central Park, without realizing they’re subsidizing animal cruelty. I see, up
close, these carriages almost every day. I also have some personal experience
dealing with horses. The stable I rode at as a teenager had a
separate barn where the older, sicklier horses were kept – the horses in that
barn looked healthier and happier than most of the horses that pull these completely
unnecessary twenty-first-century urban buggies.
When I used to jog the
6-mile loop around the Park, I once ran past a slow-moving horse that was
hauling a family of four. One of the carriage passengers congratulated me for moving
faster than the horse – a horse that looked like it was about to drop dead from
fatigue at any minute.
One horse did drop dead last October. Others collapse and hurt themselves in the middle of insanely busy, traffic-congested,
noise-polluted Manhattan streets.
Please stay away from horse-drawn
carriages. It’ll be good for your karma. If you want to take an open-air tour
of Central Park, and you’re not willing or able to do so on foot or rent a
bike, another option is to take a pedicab ride and get pedaled around by a personable guide. If riding
through the streets on a bicycle-powered rickshaw isn’t quaint or old-school sophisticated
enough for you, wear a petticoat in the pedicab.
Help the horses harness some
peace.
Those poor horses. Horse-drawn carriages are just wrong. Even with a tourist mindset, I don't see the appeal of a ride in one of those things. You're better off on a bike or just walking around Central Park - and there are so many beautiful places there that you can only get to by foot. I think a tourist would get a better flavor of the city (as a whole) by doing a whole day traveling to cultural attractions via the subway. No equine abuse necessary!
ReplyDeleteconsider this my official application to join CTBCBE!
ReplyDeleteThis is a good posting, Kadzi, that may well do some good in the world by stirring consciences.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely with you on this one. The only attention I've ever paid the horse-drawns in NYC is to walk up and stroke the horses' poor, velvety noses. I'd never patronize their jailers.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post. I'm sharing this in Facebook. I always feel so horrible for those horses. Plus, the asphalt is really hard on their feet.
ReplyDelete