Photo by: TheirTurn
In a heartbreaking and deeply disturbing incident that was captured on video, a 15-year-old carriage horse named Lady collapsed and died yesterday in New York City on a busy street in Manhattan. The horse fell at the intersection of 51st Street and 11th Avenue, eerily close to the three-year anniversary of Ryder, another carriage horse who collapsed on the streets of New York, igniting public outrage and calls for reform.
Eyewitnesses recounted a startling scene as Lady suddenly collapsed to the ground, her body shaking violently. The carriage and its driver abruptly fell to the ground with her. Tragically, Lady died at the scene.
What followed was just as appalling. City workers dragged Lady’s lifeless body into a trailer, shielding her from bystanders. However, those who witnessed the incident said the trauma was impossible to ignore. Lady had been in New York City for less than two months, and she already paid the ultimate price for being forced into this antiquated, cruel industry.
This incident is not a tragic anomaly, it is part of a long-standing pattern of abuse, neglect, and systemic failure surrounding New York City’s horse-drawn carriages. It’s long past time to confront the truth: horses do not belong on the chaotic, traffic-choked streets of New York City.
Last year, World Animal News (WAN) traveled to New York to meet with NYCLASS and witnessed firsthand the troubling conditions faced by carriage horses. What we discovered was profoundly unsettling.
We visited the stables where the carriage horses were kept, located between midtown Manhattan’s towering high-rises, resembling dark, dungeon-like facilities. Within these stables, the horses are confined to cramped stalls with limited space to move. Lacking both pastures and fresh air, they find no true rest from the city’s relentless noise and stress. You can view the footage HERE!
Each day, horses such as Lady are harnessed to heavy carriages and forced to navigate busy city streets for hours. They endure the sweltering summer heat, freezing winters, blaring horns, and stressful traffic. Many suffer from overwork, inadequate nutrition, and a lack of medical care. Their hardships often remain unseen until a tragedy, like Lady’s, forces their plight into mainstream media.
Yesterday’s tragedy comes just nearly three years to the day of Ryder’s death, a 26-year-old carriage horse whose exhausted body gave out in the middle of the street. Video footage of Ryder lying on the pavement while his driver attempted to force him up sparked global outrage. Yet despite the headlines, protests, and public demand for reform, the carriage horse industry continues to operate in New York City with little oversight and few consequences.
In the wake of Ryder’s collapse, advocates and lawmakers introduced Ryder’s Law, an important bill designed to ban horse-drawn carriages in New York City altogether. The bill gained significant support but has since stalled amid political inaction.
Lady’s death makes it painfully clear: New York City can no longer afford to delay. The cost of waiting is measured in lives lost and cruelty endured. The real question is: how many more horses must suffer and die before the city acts?
A Call for Immediate Action!
Please call the office of NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams at (212) 482-6731 and politely urge her to pass Intro 967, also known as Ryder’s Law.
Contact Health Committee Chair, Lynn Schulman, at (718) 544-8800. Press 0 to leave her a message asking her to co-sponsor and fast-track this lifesaving bill.
Call New York City Mayor Eric Adams at 311 or, if you are outside the five boroughs, at (212) 639-9675. Leave him a message urging him to support and sign Ryder’s Law.
You can support the campaign to ban horse carriages in NYC by signing the petition HERE!
