There is a narrowly visioned claque of “animal rights” activists who wish toreplace Central Park horse drawn carriages with yet more automobiles, which should be excluded from the park drives altogether. This claque is encouraged by millionaire mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis who would place them behind bars in the Central Park Zoo, perhaps as punishment for offending the rights group.
These noble beasts deserve our admiration, not our pity. Many are beautiful animals. They are well housed and well fed and looked after in comfortable stables which I have visited. If they suffer from anything, it is boredom. Many of the carriages are beautifully crafted and painted, truly functional works of art. Residents and tourists like and use them. Being quiet and pollution free they are compatible with park life. Central Park was designed for horse drawn vehicles, not motor cars; thus they continue the imprint of the park’s 19th century history.
As a child I saw horses pulling milk wagons, carts carrying shelves of May geraniums and others hauling enormous loads of rags piled ten feet high. Horses are bred and raised for their intended purposes, whether it be racing, polo, hunting, riding, controlling crowds and traffic, dressage, umping, vaulting or pulling carriages of many types. Why should we eliminate them from our lives out of a misplaced sense of pity for imagined mistreatment?
