Debate has raged for years over whether the horse carriage industry in New York City should continue to exist. That debate has largely centered around the treatment of the horses that pull carriages full of tourists around Central Park all day.
But the dynamic of the debate completely changed on June 17, when 18-year-old Romanch Mahajan, a tourist from India, was killed in the latest carriage horse accident in Central Park. Mahajan was hurled from the carriage he was riding into the pavement after the horse attached to it suddenly bolted and flipped the wagon over.
The horse bolted, according to investigators, after the carriage horse driver got out of the cab to take photos of passengers inside.
The human tragedy occurred a week after another carriage horse, named Deniz, suddenly died on the job in Central Park. A necropsy revealed that Deniz apparently died of poisoning after having consumed toxic berries from Japanese yew bushes nearby.
In the wake of Deniz’s death, the Transport Workers Union Local 100, which represents the horse carriage drivers, and the Central Park Conservancy, which oversees upkeep of the park, pointed fingers at each other. Elected officials such as Manhattan City Council Member Christopher Marte revived “Ryder’s Law,” named for another fallen carriage horse, to seek the permanent end of the horse carriage industry.
TWU Local 100 has fought such efforts for years, and in the wake of Mahajan’s death, it scrambled into action. It suspended all horse carriage rides through the weekend while drivers reviewed current regulations and procedures governing carriage horse operations to avoid future accidents. Union reps said the drivers would undergo “refresher training” on horse carriage operation Monday before bringing the carriages back into commercial operation Tuesday.
The union also said it supported an alternative to Ryder’s Law, sponsored by Queens City Council Member James Gennaro, which would bolster existing health and safety protocols for horse carriage operation, including studying the use of hitching posts to prevent accidents such as the one that claimed Mahajan’s life.
The debate over the horse carriage industry’s future in New York comes down to two choices: Reform, or bust. The status quo cannot remain, nor can the endless war of words between TWU Local 100 and those who demand the industry’s end.
If the horse carriage industry is to go on as it has for decades, it can only do so with clear and specific changes that protect the horses, the people, and the city. It is up to the drivers and caretakers to fulfill such reform to the letter. If they cannot do it, then they will have condemned the industry to its demise.