Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy support NYCLASS and other advocates urging the New York City Council and Mayor Zohran Mamdani to work together to end the use of horse-drawn carriages in New York City. The organizations, whose veterinary team has previously investigated the use of horses in carriage rides in the center of the city, are urging Mayor Mamdani to issue an executive order to put an immediate halt to any further rides until the New York City Council can permanently end this inhumane and dangerous enterprise.
It is a shame that legislative and executive action is too often spurred by crisis rather than by efforts to prevent inhumane treatment or address risks to human and animal safety. Lawmakers reliably lament the breakdowns and injuries suffered by horses, the deaths of horses, and now the traumatic and fatal head injury sustained by an 18-year-old who was thrown from a carriage because of a fear-induced dash by a horse. But when the bright lights are off, some lawmakers have either sat idly by or obstructed progress on this well-understood problem of horses pulling carriages in the center of the biggest city in North America. Decisive, conclusive action must come with the urgency this issue deserves. There must not be one more turn of a wheel from a horse-drawn carriage in the city as a means of safeguarding both horses and people.
The death of the 18-year-old passenger came just days after the death of a carriage horse, Deniz, who collapsed while pulling tourists through Central Park, and follows a series of other horse-related incidents that urgently remind city officials of the need to take conclusive action.
Ryder’s Law, named for a carriage horse who collapsed and later died in 2022, would phase out horse-drawn carriages, transition horses to appropriate retirement placements, and offer assistance and retraining opportunities for affected workers.
The City Council should immediately advance Ryder’s Law. In the interim, Mayor Mamdani should provide a bridge to permanent legislative action by issuing an executive order to halt carriage horse operations.
Former Mayor Eric Adams issued Executive Order 56 directing city agencies to prepare for a transition away from carriage horses and to strengthen oversight of the industry. Mayor Mamdani has repeatedly expressed opposition to horse-drawn carriages. Exercising the authority he has, Mayor Mamdani should sideline commercial carriage horse rides while an investigation into the death of the 18-year-old boy progresses. Speaker Julie Menin has already signaled her interest in taking serious-minded remedial action, and it is our hope that she will lead the council toward a rapid legislative solution to keep all carriage horses off New York’s paths and streets.