The euphoria of spring is something I never knew until I moved to the colder climate that New York ushered in every fall. I will never forget walking up 5th Avenue, laughing with my love, downy clouds cruising the blue sky overhead. We were on our way to Central Park to marvel at the blossoms that would adorn it, when a putrid odor blanketed me. Before I could say a word, I saw the source- a cluster of unusually still horses, heavily laden with gear, and attached to a ponderous carriage. Sitting atop the closest one to me, like some sort of high school bully who was waiting for their next victim, was a sneering man; a whip and reins in one hand, and a cigar in the other. The unbearable stench was a sharp contrast to the sweet smell of the horses of my youth in California. I immediately stopped in my tracks, the promise of spring forgotten with the scene of decay before me. Originally, horses were brought to the city for transportation. By 1853, horses were transporting 120,000 passengers a day. With the invention of cars, horses dotted the streets less and less, until today in 2025, where their purpose is entertainment. Throughout the years, many of these horses made the news because of the way they died. The most recent victim was Lady, a mare of warm mahogany, who died while pulling her carriage last August. At 15, Lady was young, and had only spent two months working as a carriage horse. This was five years after a ban on this practice was implemented in a city not too far away. In 2020, carriage horses were outlawed in Montreal due to safety reasons. For this issue affects not just the horses, but the dwellers of the city in which this vestige of history is still performed. This series will examine this dysfunctional relationship in my city.

New York City’s carriage horse industry disrupts both horse and human wellbeing by transforming this urban environment into one of dysfunction, stress, and moral conflict. The normalization of this mistreatment, once internalized, leads to stress and psychological trauma, and defocuses the sense of who we are as New Yorkers. Sense of place refers to the emotional bonds people develop in certain locations. A strong sense of place for example can refer to positive bonds of comfort, safety, and wellbeing engendered by place. When negatively impacted by viewing cruelty, this can cause feelings of fear, dysphoria, and placelessness. New York is supposed to give New Yorkers a sense of pride for our diversity, resilience, and creativity. Why are we commodifying nature when it is the key to our morals, wellbeing, and identity? We can stable horses in a park instead, like they do in San Francisco, or place them in sanctuaries, such as Rosemary Farm Sanctuary in upstate New York. Instead of horse carriages, we can utilize bike carriages for tourism. I am still unsure if I qualify as a New Yorker as I near my eight year anniversary of living here, as this is a highly debated topic. However, when I think of what it means to be a New Yorker, I like to think of the famed marble lions standing guard outside of the New York Public Library. Aptly named Patience and Fortitude, I like to think they symbolize the knowledge, power, and dreams of all New Yorkers. My dream is to live somewhere where all living beings capable of feeling pain, are given the opportunity to live out their lifespan in a healthy way. A good place to start would be banning the horse carriage industry in New York City.