Public Voices for the New York City Carriage Horses

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**Carriage horse opponents ignore reality (December 31, 2015: Chelsea Now)**

Re “Letters” (Dec. 24, 2015):

To The Editor:

The letters of Elizabeth Forel and Jen Wilder in opposition to New York’s iconic horse-and-carriages reveal what their misplaced and emotional PETA-like mindsets ignore. Ms. Forel makes the geographically-dyslexic assertion that the “hack line, which is on 59th St., [is]inside Central Park.” Perhaps Ms. Forel is from out-of-town, but even little children know instinctively that the stone wall surrounding Central Park defines its limits, and 59th St. (and the carriages) is well outside those limits.

Evidently, Ms. Wilder has never taken care of a horse (as I did when I was much younger). She doesn’t seem to realize that it is natural and normal for there to be lots of horse manure inside a stable, as a flushing toilet suitable for a horse has yet to be invented. She doesn’t understand that pigeons and horses enjoy a symbiotic relationship that allows the horse to eat (somewhat messily), and the pigeon to do the cleanup work and enjoy his dinner at the same time. The presence of the pigeons is almost as calming for the horse as would having a goat as a stall-mate (as is often done with race horses). As demonstrated by Forel and Wilder, the opposition to horse-and-carriages in New York is very economical with reality.

Andrew Alpern