Carriage Horses

Carriage rides are a staple in the downtown Chicago area – especially in tourist crowded areas like Michigan Avenue. Recently, however, the carriage drivers have run into some changes that don’t particularly go over well. This flurry of changes has come about in the last few years due to several carriage horse accidents over the country that made their way into the news. Once such story was that of Charlie, a New York City carriage horse that dropped dead in October 2011 while trotting on his way to Central Park. Or there was Jerry, a horse in Salt Lake City, Utah that collapsed while pulling a carriage in the sweltering heat and died two days later.

The scene as Charlie was moved from the New York City street

And then there are other stories, that show how ill-suited horses are today to be working on city streets. A horse in Philadelphia slipped and fell on a manhole cover while pulling a carriage. Although the horse was able to walk away from the incident, it was only luck that the horse and people in the carriage did not get hurt.

Although this horse was able to walk away uninjured after slipping and falling, many people mistakenly thought this horse had died

Horses are flight animals and even the best trained horses can spook at something – a runaway horse poses a threat to itself, the safety of its passengers, and even pedestrians and cars on the street. September of this year a horse named Chris was pulling a carriage in New York when he spooked, sideswiped a car and flipped the carriage. The horse and driver where fine, and luckily there were no passengers in the carriage at the time. In fact, there have been several incidents in New York where a horse has bolted and either pulled a carriage through heavy car and pedestrian traffic or spooked and flipped a carriage. The list of horse drawn carriage accidents relating to horses spooking and bolting goes on and on – some ending in serious injury or death for both horse and human.

The scene after a horse bolted and sideswiped a car

The life of a carriage horse is hard. The constant noise and bustle of the city competes with having to travel through cars and intersections. Carriage horses must wear special shoes with grips on them so they will not slip on the pavement, but sometimes these shoes only make the impact greater when hoof hits the pavement. It takes an especially fit horse to be able to work seven days a week pulling a carriage. The toll of the hard pavement and the steady work can sometimes be too much for horses, leading to foot problems like navicular or sometimes something even worse.

The City of Chicago has created several rules and regulations that all carriage drivers must follow if they want to work in the city. Although certain things like the ban on advertisements on carriages, fees drivers must pay, carriage inspections, and insurance requirements are all put in place by the city of Chicago, not all drivers agree with these strict regulations and high fees. The good news for horse lovers everywhere is the stricter set of rules set out for the health and safety of the horse pulling the carriage.

In order for carriage drivers to make any sort of profit during the season, many work seven days a week, which can be tough on a horse. To help ease things, news rules in place make a 15 minute water and rest break mandatory every hour and a horse is only allowed to work for 5 hours a day. The horse must be groomed daily and must not be lame, injured, or sick while working. Harsh use of the whip is also prohibited and the horse must never go faster than a slow trot. Proper fitting tack and an appropriate bit must be used while the horse is working and the carriage must never be overloaded for the health of the horse and for the safety of the passengers.

Horse safety and health is now also being regulated further, with the City of Chicago requiring a mandatory health check be conducted by a licensed veterinarian every three months for the horse to be allowed to work in the city. When not working, horses must have at least a 10 foot by 10 foot stall inside of a well ventilated and drained barn that is kept clean and dry.

A notice must be posted on the carriage alerting passengers to rules concerning the weather. If it is hotter than 90 degrees in the city or colder than 15 degrees in the city, the horse is not allowed to work and must be returned to its stable and unharnessed. A big change in the law is that the temperature is taken closer to the city for a more accurate reading, as opposed to how it used to be taken from O’Hare International Airport. Under consideration is possibly posting a notice stating the passengers should report any signs of animal cruelty or abuse through the violation of any of these rules.

Although controversial, the sight of this horse and carriage on 

Michigan Avenue makes a picturesque scene

Although the life of a carriage horse still is prone to be hard and accidents are always bound to happen when you put a horse in such a busy city setting, the City of Chicago has taken several important steps to making sure that carriage horses are healthy and fit for work. 

In New York City, carriage horses are also regulated so that they must have proper fitting tack, must not be lame or injured, and cannot work in adverse weather conditions. Horses in New York City also cannot work when it is above 90 degrees, but there is no regulation on how cold it can be before a horse has to stop work, instead the law states that horses must wear blankets when waiting for passengers. New York City only requires horses to have a 10 foot by 4 foot stall (which would make it difficult, if not impossible for a horse to lay down or turn around). Carriage horses in New York City can work for up to ten hours a day and are only required a 15 minute break every two hours. Veterinarian inspections are required for a horse to pull a carriage in the city, but only once or twice a year. Compare these rules to those set out by the city of Chicago, and it becomes clear whey New York City carriage horse deaths and accidents are at the top of the news reports.

Based off of the new rules and regulations set in place by the City of Chicago, it is clear that they are attempting to make the life of a carriage horse more humane. There will still be accidents and problems, but at least there are laws in place now that are taking steps to better treatment. There is still a long way to go for the welfare of carriage horses, especially in New York, but every day a change is made for the better is a time to rejoice.