Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages

Kim M. - January 30, 2009     

Good Afternoon, My Name is Kim. 
I am a student of equine facilitated psychotherapy, studying from the Epona Ranch   
in Arizona. Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy is the study of the relationship between   
horses and humans.    

I   am also an accomplished Equine photographer that prides herself on   
capturing the spirit and essence of horses in their natural   environment.   So I find it ironic and disturbing that  I live a few blocks from the warehouses these animals are stored. 

This is the antithesis of how I BELIEVE horses deserve and were meant to live. 

What once may have seemed as some “Romantic Notion” 100 years ago, today has   
no   place on congested city streets.  Even the Mayor wanted to impose  a toll on commuters entering the city to alleviate some of the  unbearable traffic, yet we EXPECT these beings to compete with such elements?? 

CLEARLY these conditions are not conducive to prey animals with an INSTINCT to flee from a perceived threat.    

One   incident in particular that I encountered a few months ago on West 49th  
street was with a carriage horse trapped with cars on 3 sides...The car   directly along side the horse and about what seemed to be a foot away,   was a limousine with screaming people shooting out of the top and out   of the windows....As if that wasn’t bad enough they had the radio   blasting that I could feel the bass through my feet. 

The  light must have changed 4 times and still the traffic still didn’t seem  to budge and the horse began bucking and pulling trying to escape the  chaos through the only clear pathway, which was the sidewalk....At this   point I ran over to the car and they lowered the music and the horse   seemed to calm down a bit.

Stressed and abused horses display the  same traits as humans who have experienced trauma.  Both humans  and horses experience depression, aggression, dissociation and  
submission just to name a few.

Horses can NO longer be exploited and mistreated, we must speak on their behalf.

Let’s be proactive and preserve the dignity of these magnificent animals and do away with this practice for once and for all.

Thank You.

To honor
Bobby II Freedom
previously known as Billy
ID# 2873 rescued by the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages and Equine Advocates on June 25, 2010 from the New Holland auctions.

In memory of
Lilly Rose O'Reilly
previously known
as Dada ID# 2711
R.I.P.August, 2007