EMERGENCY! NYC carriage horse just collapsed on ice in Central Park with passengers inside and...

[Bayard]

21. Need more facts

First, you don't take a horse out on ice for many reasons. That's just nuts, even if they're wearing studs. And I don't see how that whole group in the photo didn't crash through the ice.

Can't tell if the horse is seriously underweight, but if it is, and its cold, that's just stupid. And amoral. It looks like it just laid down, instead of slipping. I would blame the owner, more than the driver, although he should know better too. So we don't know if it was sick too skinny, or too old.

Giving the passengers the benefit of the doubt, they probably didn't know what they were looking at. I'm surprised they got the horse back on its feet. Authorities definitely should have been called.

Carriage rides aren't inherently bad, but there has to be strict regulations and inspections. That is something the Amish horses here don't get. We have a high Amish population in southern KY. I've seen the horses being driven up a steep hill on a 90 degree day with a loaded carriage, and in the dark with just a small light. There are collisions. You certainly don't see any fat ones. I've heard eye-witness accounts of how they are trained, and its not happy. The horses are looked at as tools, the same way they look at their livestock guardian dogs.