Horse Drawn Nightmare!!!

this picture really upsets me :(

I just saw a news report that in NYC a family that was visiting Central Park took a horse carriage ride(mistake) and the horse collapsed twice!!!  I am a huge animal lover and carriage rides are so barbaric.  Horses are one of my favorite animals, my 2011 calendar is all about horses, their skulls are amazing! 

These carriage workers/owners in NYC and other cities need to come up with an alternative because these beautiful animals do not need to be hauling people around.

I fucking hate the mistreatment of animals.  It pisses me off so much.  Animals are voiceless, they are compliant, and they do not deserve this! It is time for one of my famous write-letter-campaign-until-someone-answers-back campaigns!!! 

NYC is a very progressive city.  They are marrying gays; now free the horses!!! 

THIS IS FORCED LABOR - MODERN DAY SLAVERY! 

That's right I went there.

Source:  Huffington Post

Lea Michele for animals

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Snippet from PETA article:

There are 1,000 to 2,000 horses forced to pull carriages in cities across the country.(3)

Because they are constantly walking and standing on hard streets, “lameness and hoof deterioration are inevitable” in horses who pull carriages, says veterinarian Holly Cheever. “The problems are worsened by the inexperience of the gross majority of the owners and drivers, who are either incapable of recognizing lameness or are unwilling to suffer financial loss by removing a horse from service for a few days.”(4)

The smoke and exhaust fumes from urban traffic are also dangerous for horses. Horses walk with their heads lowered, usually at around 3 to 3 1/2 feet above street level, so these animals are “truly ... living a nose-to-tailpipe existence,” according to Cheever.(5)

Weather conditions sometimes prove fatal for working horses. The horses are exposed to bitter-cold and scorching-hot temperatures. In summer months, horses suffering from dehydration or heatstroke can die in just a few hours. Some cities outlaw carriage rides when the temperature reaches a certain temperature, but often the official weather bureau reading does not accurately reflect the temperature on the streets. A study published by researchers from Cornell University found that the air temperature recorded by the weather bureau can be nearly 50 degrees cooler than the asphalt temperature.(6)

Most cities have only minimal regulations governing working conditions for horses who pull carriages, and these regulations are rarely enforced. In an audit of the New York City carriage industry, the city comptroller found that horses in the field were not examined by a Department of Health and Mental Hygiene veterinarian for an entire year and that during scheduled inspections of the stables, the veterinarian only spent 25 minutes at each location, including the time it took to travel between stables. The comptroller’s audit found that horses on the street did not have ready access to water and had insufficient shade during hot weather and that because of poor street drainage, “the horses are left to stand in pools of dirty water.”(7)