Mar 5 2009Look What Your Romantic Marriage Proposals Are Doing to Horses
Hansom cabs: they add character to the filming of a costume drama, but at what cost to horses? No, but really, it's a serious issue. As the film Blinders points out, it's dangerous and idiotic that we still have horse and carriages running alongside horseless carriages for the entertainment of tourists who couldn't get tickets to Shrek: The Musical. Horses hate it!
Here's the documentary's trailer. I guarantee once you see video of the above, pathetic horse gazing longingly out the barred window of his second-story (walk-up!) pen, you'll never wrap yourself in a blanket and take a romantic, equine-driven jaunt around Central Park again.
(via Cinematical)
So let's stop using horses as metropolitan transit, OK?
Reader Comments
1. Well Thats Nice - March 5, 2009 5:59 PM
ummmm, these animals were used in war for years...are you telling me central park is worse than war? Cause i'd believe you.
2. Meh. - March 5, 2009 6:00 PM
Where else are we going to get glue, if not from the broken down carriage horses?
3. Amphetadex - March 5, 2009 6:22 PM
OH GOD DID YOU SEE THE HORSE DRINKING FROM THAT STONE THING WHICH CLEARLY WASN'T A TROUGH AND DEFINITELY FULL OF POLLUTION????
Maybe I would care if the production weren't so....Fox News special.
4. Rutty - March 5, 2009 6:57 PM
Yesterday I watched a cab clip a yuppie in Yaletown (Downtown Vancouver)...
I was mortified... he was all sorts of yelling. (maybe cuz no one gave him a blanket after...)
His girlfriend stood in shock with her half drank 711 big gulp.
It was raining. her cup didn't have a lid... poor girl.
This video reminded me of that for some reason
5. Kat - March 5, 2009 8:23 PM
y'know, I'm all for not being cruel to animals, but I live in the south and hear of horses(and dogs and cats and, oh yeah... freakin' kids) being abused and starved and beaten every day.
and they sure as hell don't have people making big whiny movies about them
6. Bonkbonkbonk - March 5, 2009 8:35 PM
Basement horse is watching you.
7. Ben! - March 5, 2009 10:28 PM
@Kat: Wow, you're a fucking idiot.
8. jason Z - March 5, 2009 11:39 PM
wow this thing was scarier than that fking stupid ass video for PANDORUM!
WOW this was like blair witch project and cloverfield all over again, i ididnt think this was possible but it got me really scared, and I AM NOT JOKING either, this was edited to be like a horror movie, did you see when they did the close up to the horse in the cage, it looked like it was going to jump at the camera and eat you or something
9. TurgidDahlia - March 6, 2009 12:30 AM
Shut up, Kat.
10. baxter01 - March 6, 2009 1:18 AM
Um. I think that they might have picked a topic that not too many people are going to give too much of a shit about.
Really? Horses... More people are murdered in a day in NYC that horses in 3 years... Seriously.. Horses?
11. orb205 - March 6, 2009 1:29 AM
I found out recently that you can also order one of those carriage rides in advance to come with a saxophone and/or guitar player to play music the entire time you ride. Also I think most of them are about 45 mins long, so that's pretty unfortunate for the horse and it's basically as retarded as paying the cart guy to bike you around Times Square.
PS: Times Square is the worst place ever. Never go there.
12. Joshua Simone - March 6, 2009 4:03 AM
Yay for paying more attention to things that don't really matter in comparison to the worst shit that happens to people everday.
13. Marcus Cole - March 6, 2009 9:30 AM
Thanks for this posting. These horses get hit by cars, live in awful garages near the Lincoln Tunnel and have no pasture. The park and streets are filled with manure. It's disgusting, dangerous and cruel. Time to get horse and buggies off the streets of NYC, the last place in the world where they belong.
14. Max - March 6, 2009 10:21 AM
Silly trailer, sillier movie. The only argument they have is the potential danger to actual human beings. These horses have no 'rights', and the clamorings of the uneducated, unenlightened, backwards, childish animal rights movement ring about as true as a wet fart.
15. Not Max - March 6, 2009 10:55 AM
Max is trying to Troll the forum... lame
16. Brandon - March 6, 2009 2:15 PM
Animals are food.
17. Nick - March 6, 2009 4:12 PM
I agree with #17. Especially the human animals.
Also, kudos to #1. Best laugh I had all day.
18. LenS - March 6, 2009 7:44 PM
Damn, that horse has a rent free apartment. What more can it need?
Of course, if they ban this, then all these horses will end up dead since there won't be money to support them. But for the PETA types, publicity is much more important than dead animals.
19. sully - March 7, 2009 2:24 PM
@Kat
no one makes documentaries about kids being abused because PETA doesn't support human life. They literally care more about animals than other humans. FACT
20. Pabena6 - March 7, 2009 10:47 PM
#3, you missed the point. The horse was unable to drink from the trough, because the harness didn't allow it to bend its head enough. The point was not that it was drinking polluted water, the point was that it was unable to drink ANY water. Watch it again more closely, and you'll see that the horse's lips never break the surface.
21. Megan - March 8, 2009 1:03 PM
Even if there are more horrible things happening, horses shouldn't be made to walk up and down stairs, live in a concrete building, or stand behind a car and breathe its exhaust.
22. Jessica - March 8, 2009 4:16 PM
Honestly, I'd feel more for a horse that got hurt by a car than most of the people commenting on this site. It's really tragic what is happening to these horses and am in full support of the people behind the movie. The trailer brought tears to my eyes....