If you’ve ever considered proposing marriage on a horse-drawn carriage or you think that a horse and buggy ride around the city is a romantic idea for Valentine’s Day, think again!
Why are horse-drawn carriages so cruel?
1. Horses breathe in exhaust fumes from cars and other vehicles on the city streets causing them to suffer from a host of respiratory ailments.
2. Horses can develop debilitating leg problems from pounding pavement all day long, day in and day out.
3. Horses suffer from toiling in all weather extremes, and some have even died in the summer heat from heatstroke.
4. Horses often get injured by careless drivers and traffic on the streets.
5. Since horses are extremely sensitive to loud noises and unexpected sounds, they often get spooked on busy city streets resulting in injuries and, sometimes, death.
6. When horses grow too old, tired or ill to continue pulling heavy loads, they are often slaughtered and turned into food for dogs or for animals in zoos, or may be shipped overseas for human consumption.
These are only some of the reasons why this cruelty must end!
Does this sound romantic to you? I should think not! Perhaps you should propose by placing a ring inside a box of Cracker Jacks, or by hiring a mariachi band to make the occasion special. Maybe you could take a nice walk through the snow for a bit of romance or ride the subway to go nowhere (think Tom Cruise and Rebecca de Mornay in “Risky Business”). I’m sure you could think of a million other ways to be romantic, just nix the idea of the horse-drawn carriage, will ya’?
Please click here to see how you can help stop this outdated practice or visit NY-Class.org to sign a petition.
Check out this video clip from the documentary film Blinders about the controversy surrounding the New York City horse-drawn carriage industry.
Mayor Bloomberg should put this issue front and center and certainly in front of styrofoam and soft drink sizes. A compromise could be reached by keeping horses in the park away from cars but they should not be mixing it up with drivers talking on the cell phones and downing red bulls at the same time!