If your social media feed is anything like mine, the last several weeks have been filled with posts about the proposed ban on New York City carriage horses.I've never gone for a carriage ride in Central Park. I've never even visited New York City. I have, however, paid for similar rides in Bruges,Hohenschwangau...Additionally, I am acquainted with the owner of a local carriage company, whose horses work in downtown Denver. Her horses used to be boarded at the same stable as mine. I saw them every day for years. They lived together in a field, worked a reasonable number of hours and were extremely well cared for.
Honestly, they had a better life than most of the privately owned competition horses I know.
All this is to say, I don't have an inherent problem with the carriage horse industry. Assuming reasonable and enforced guidelines and kind owners and handlers, this is absolutely a job horses can do ethically. As for the Central Park carriage horses, I'm not familiar enough with their circumstances to speak with authority. However, it does seem like there are significant welfare issues, particularly in regards to housing. I've read a lot of the arguments, both for and against, and there's one that really bothers me: the oft-repeated claim that horses need jobs.
According to this argument, the carriage industry is the only thing standing between these horses and the slaughter pipeline.
So many people - most of whom claim to be horse lovers - hold this position.
Because if horses can't work, why would anyone keep them?
Well. I have thoughts about that.
Having horses is a choice, ours not theirs.We choose horses with specific jobs in mind. We want them to run in races, jump over jumps, win ribbons in the show ring, carry us safely down the trail and yes, pull carriages through cities.
At least in theory, these jobs can be done kindly and ethically.
But what happens when horses are no longer fit for work?
We don't like to admit it, but all horses - even the big sturdy ones - are fragile. Just one bad step can turn a working horse into a pasture ornament. It behooves us to plan for this eventuality.
If an equine business is truly ethical, retirement care should be a given. When Ernie was diagnosed with cancer, JoAnna threw a party to celebrate the end of his long and happy career. After that, she continued to love and care for him until he was no longer comfortable. He deserved nothing less.
If you think only useful horses deserve life, I guess slaughter is an option. In that case, all the carriage horses are on borrowed time. It's less a matter of if than when, and saving the industry will not save the horses. It just gives them a little more time.
Friends, our horses deserve better than that.
Having horses is a choice, ours not theirs.
If we really love them, we need to plan for all eventualities. We need to make better choices.
I was too busy to appreciate it then, but today was quiet, and I was finally able to find some time to flip through the pages and dream.
As always, I tried to imagine which horses my younger self - the girl in the Wanting Stuff stage - would have obsessed over.
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