NYC City Council: Pass Ryder’s Law and End the Horse-Drawn Carriage Industry
The Issue
NYC City Council: Pass Ryder’s Law and End the Horse-Drawn Carriage Industry
New York City has changed, and it is time for our treatment of carriage horses to change with it.
Horses are sentient, feeling beings—not machines, attractions, or props for tourism. No tourist experience, tradition, or commercial interest should take precedence over the welfare of a living, feeling animal.
They experience fear, stress, discomfort and pain, as well as comfort, security and social connection. Horses are also remarkably stoic animals. They do not always show pain or distress in ways that are obvious to us. The absence of an outward reaction should never be mistaken for the absence of pain or suffering.
We should not have to wait until a horse visibly struggles, collapses, or dies before we recognize that something may be wrong.
Yet under the law, animals are still largely treated as property. Meeting minimum legal requirements should not be the measure of whether an animal’s life is humane. Our laws and our actions should reflect what we now understand about animals as living, feeling beings whose welfare matters in its own right.
Yet carriage horses continue to work in one of the busiest urban environments in the world, surrounded by traffic, noise, hard pavement, congestion, exhaust fumes and increasingly extreme temperatures.
These concerns are not simply the opinions of animal advocates. The City of New York itself has acknowledged serious health and welfare concerns associated with using horses in an urban environment, including exposure to traffic fumes, noise, hard pavement and extreme heat, and the potential for respiratory problems, joint damage, heat stress and psychological distress.
And we have seen the consequences.
In August 2022, Ryder collapsed on a Manhattan street while pulling a carriage. He later died. In August 2025, carriage horse Lady collapsed and died in Hell’s Kitchen. And in June 2026, Deniz collapsed and died while pulling a carriage in Central Park.
Most recently, on August 29, 2026, a 17-year-old carriage horse identified by animal advocates as Snowman went down in Central Park. Video from the incident shows the horse on the pavement before he was able to get back to his feet with assistance.
Snowman survived. But a horse should not have to die for an incident like this to matter.
How many more horses must go down, collapse, or die before New York City decides that this industry no longer belongs here?
Being off duty is not the same as having a life appropriate for a horse.
NYC regulations limit the number of hours carriage horses may work and establish minimum requirements for their housing and rest. But the welfare question does not end when a horse is unhitched from a carriage.
When their working day is over, these horses return to Manhattan stables—not open pasture or regular turnout where they can freely move, graze and engage in natural horse behavior.
City regulations establish minimum stall dimensions and require that horses be able to turn around and safely lie down. Yet publicly available footage of the actual carriage-horse stables raises serious concerns about the amount of space, freedom of movement and quality of rest these animals experience when they are not working.
People should see these conditions for themselves. This video provides a tour inside a Manhattan carriage-horse stable and allows viewers to see the horses’ living environment firsthand:
View the Manhattan carriage-horse stable tour
There is another way to care for working horses.
The issue is not simply whether a horse works. It is how that horse is housed, cared for, exercised and treated when it is working—and when it is not.
New York City has another population of working horses: those of the NYPD Mounted Unit. Their role demonstrates an important distinction between opposing all work involving horses and demanding that the welfare and needs of a working horse remain paramount.
This video provides a look at NYPD horses and their care:
View the NYPD working-horse video
Watch both. See the difference for yourself.
The law also requires carriage horses to receive a minimum five-week furlough each year at a facility providing daily access to paddock or pasture turnout. That requirement itself raises an important question: if access to pasture and turnout is important enough to require during furlough, why should meaningful access to those basic elements of a horse’s natural life be limited to only a fraction of the year?
There is already a way forward.
Ryder’s Law—Intro. 943-2026—would phase out New York City’s horse-drawn carriage industry and prohibit horse-drawn cab operations beginning June 1, 2028.
Importantly, this legislation does not simply abandon the horses or the people whose livelihoods currently depend upon the industry. It provides for the humane disposition of carriage horses, prohibits their sale or transfer for slaughter or use in another horse-drawn carriage business, and establishes workforce-development assistance for affected workers.
New York City does not have to choose between compassion for animals and compassion for people. We can do both.
As someone who has devoted my life and my business to caring for animals, I cannot look at this issue and remain silent.
Animal welfare is not measured simply by whether an animal survives another working day. It is measured by the quality of the life that animal is allowed to live—the ability to move freely, rest comfortably, experience appropriate social interaction, and have its physical, behavioral and emotional needs respected. A horse should never have to visibly suffer, collapse, or die before its welfare becomes a priority.
I am asking the New York City Council to advance and pass Ryder’s Law, Intro. 943-2026, and bring New York City’s horse-drawn carriage industry to a humane and responsible end.
Please sign this petition and share it. Ask our elected officials to act.
The horses cannot speak for themselves. We can. Sign now!
Catherine “Cat” Miller
Pet Nanny NYC
346
The Issue
NYC City Council: Pass Ryder’s Law and End the Horse-Drawn Carriage Industry
New York City has changed, and it is time for our treatment of carriage horses to change with it.
Horses are sentient, feeling beings—not machines, attractions, or props for tourism. No tourist experience, tradition, or commercial interest should take precedence over the welfare of a living, feeling animal.
They experience fear, stress, discomfort and pain, as well as comfort, security and social connection. Horses are also remarkably stoic animals. They do not always show pain or distress in ways that are obvious to us. The absence of an outward reaction should never be mistaken for the absence of pain or suffering.
We should not have to wait until a horse visibly struggles, collapses, or dies before we recognize that something may be wrong.
Yet under the law, animals are still largely treated as property. Meeting minimum legal requirements should not be the measure of whether an animal’s life is humane. Our laws and our actions should reflect what we now understand about animals as living, feeling beings whose welfare matters in its own right.
Yet carriage horses continue to work in one of the busiest urban environments in the world, surrounded by traffic, noise, hard pavement, congestion, exhaust fumes and increasingly extreme temperatures.
These concerns are not simply the opinions of animal advocates. The City of New York itself has acknowledged serious health and welfare concerns associated with using horses in an urban environment, including exposure to traffic fumes, noise, hard pavement and extreme heat, and the potential for respiratory problems, joint damage, heat stress and psychological distress.
And we have seen the consequences.
In August 2022, Ryder collapsed on a Manhattan street while pulling a carriage. He later died. In August 2025, carriage horse Lady collapsed and died in Hell’s Kitchen. And in June 2026, Deniz collapsed and died while pulling a carriage in Central Park.
Most recently, on August 29, 2026, a 17-year-old carriage horse identified by animal advocates as Snowman went down in Central Park. Video from the incident shows the horse on the pavement before he was able to get back to his feet with assistance.
Snowman survived. But a horse should not have to die for an incident like this to matter.
How many more horses must go down, collapse, or die before New York City decides that this industry no longer belongs here?
Being off duty is not the same as having a life appropriate for a horse.
NYC regulations limit the number of hours carriage horses may work and establish minimum requirements for their housing and rest. But the welfare question does not end when a horse is unhitched from a carriage.
When their working day is over, these horses return to Manhattan stables—not open pasture or regular turnout where they can freely move, graze and engage in natural horse behavior.
City regulations establish minimum stall dimensions and require that horses be able to turn around and safely lie down. Yet publicly available footage of the actual carriage-horse stables raises serious concerns about the amount of space, freedom of movement and quality of rest these animals experience when they are not working.
People should see these conditions for themselves. This video provides a tour inside a Manhattan carriage-horse stable and allows viewers to see the horses’ living environment firsthand:
View the Manhattan carriage-horse stable tour
There is another way to care for working horses.
The issue is not simply whether a horse works. It is how that horse is housed, cared for, exercised and treated when it is working—and when it is not.
New York City has another population of working horses: those of the NYPD Mounted Unit. Their role demonstrates an important distinction between opposing all work involving horses and demanding that the welfare and needs of a working horse remain paramount.
This video provides a look at NYPD horses and their care:
View the NYPD working-horse video
Watch both. See the difference for yourself.
The law also requires carriage horses to receive a minimum five-week furlough each year at a facility providing daily access to paddock or pasture turnout. That requirement itself raises an important question: if access to pasture and turnout is important enough to require during furlough, why should meaningful access to those basic elements of a horse’s natural life be limited to only a fraction of the year?
There is already a way forward.
Ryder’s Law—Intro. 943-2026—would phase out New York City’s horse-drawn carriage industry and prohibit horse-drawn cab operations beginning June 1, 2028.
Importantly, this legislation does not simply abandon the horses or the people whose livelihoods currently depend upon the industry. It provides for the humane disposition of carriage horses, prohibits their sale or transfer for slaughter or use in another horse-drawn carriage business, and establishes workforce-development assistance for affected workers.
New York City does not have to choose between compassion for animals and compassion for people. We can do both.
As someone who has devoted my life and my business to caring for animals, I cannot look at this issue and remain silent.
Animal welfare is not measured simply by whether an animal survives another working day. It is measured by the quality of the life that animal is allowed to live—the ability to move freely, rest comfortably, experience appropriate social interaction, and have its physical, behavioral and emotional needs respected. A horse should never have to visibly suffer, collapse, or die before its welfare becomes a priority.
I am asking the New York City Council to advance and pass Ryder’s Law, Intro. 943-2026, and bring New York City’s horse-drawn carriage industry to a humane and responsible end.
Please sign this petition and share it. Ask our elected officials to act.
The horses cannot speak for themselves. We can. Sign now!
Catherine “Cat” Miller
Pet Nanny NYC
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Petition created on September 2, 2026