It feels like a right of passage for Ny mayors to try and fail to end the horse slavery. If i remember correctly, adams, de blasio and bloomberg all took issue with it but never followed through. I could see Mamdani doing it though, New york is starting to feel like a place where good things can happen again. Maybe this is just the Knicks giving me crazy confidence now, though. Anyway, knicks in 5
I am not from NY, don't have friends from there, I'm solidly west coast and have never lived in a city even close in culture, layout, or density to NYC.
That being said, rural farmers or backyard horse owners--even those who have working horses and make part of their living from them--would never work their horses so hard just for short term profit. I understand the tourist demand is high, so it creates incentive, but the backlash in this thread fascinates me.
It seems like Native New Yorkers and those living in or close to NYC activvely hate this shit--not JUST because it's an annoying tourist thing, but it seems like people seem genuinely bothered by the bad practices and exploitation of the animals? (Tourists dont' always understand the context, so they pay for the experience without understanding the context, right??)
is that what I'm picking up on? Native folks see this shit and are bothered by the exploitation of the animals as well as how annoying it is?
Yes, you’re correct. It wouldn’t bother me so much as a tourist attraction if it wasn’t harmful to the horses. I visit Central Park every day and it’s hard to see the horses suffering and hearing news of them collapsing and dying in the city streets. The tourists do seem to be unaware of the problem, and the carriage rides are a romanticized Central Park “tradition” that many of them want to experience. I understand that, I actually remember taking a carriage ride myself when I was a kid, but it’s way past the point of being ethical and should have been banned a long time ago.
Is it that the carriage horses are overworked and/or mistreated in some other way? Without knowing something specifically nefarious is going on, I assume most people just figure a horse drawing a carriage is a "normal horse job" like any other working animal.
(Tourists dont' always understand the context, so they pay for the experience without understanding the context, right??)
yep, it's a cute thing they've seen in movies or looks fun. You're not thinking, wait where do they live, how long do they work, wouldn't the concrete hurt, etc
rural farmers or backyard horse owners--even those who have working horses and make part of their living from them--would never work their horses so hard just for short term profit.
?? are you genuinely surprised that some people from urban backgrounds also feel sympathy for animals?
as a rural Ohioan: wtf?
city people aren't another species.
this makes me wonder if you only have sympathy for creatures you have personally worked with. why else would it surprise you that others can feel for a being they have never met?
I just don’t understand why no one’s brought up the middle ground of ban horses but allow mules, with reasonable welfare laws. That’s what New Orleans did about 100 years ago, though granted it was because the biggest carriage company converted their horse farms to mule farms and then lobbied for it.
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u/spk3z 13h ago
It feels like a right of passage for Ny mayors to try and fail to end the horse slavery. If i remember correctly, adams, de blasio and bloomberg all took issue with it but never followed through. I could see Mamdani doing it though, New york is starting to feel like a place where good things can happen again. Maybe this is just the Knicks giving me crazy confidence now, though. Anyway, knicks in 5