As temperatures rise during the dog days of summer, more cities are examining the practice of allowing horse drawn carriages to operate in their cities citing the dangers to horse health.
A horse-drawn carriage ride
As temperatures rise during the dog days of summer, more cities are examining the practice of allowing horse drawn carriages to operate in their cities citing the dangers to horse health.
As temperatures rise and the demand for carriage rides increases, city councils and mayors are again questioning the practice of allowing horse-drawn carriages on their streets based on concern for the health of the horses and also the dangers of having the horses on city streets.
Cities including Salt Lake City and Nashville already have restrictions on hours and temperatures. New York City's mayor, Bill de Blasio, wants to put the industry out to pasture with an outright ban. "Horses in the streets of the city today don't make sense," he recently said. "We're going to fix it."
Other cities said that was the case and have outlawed the carriages in their downtown areas. St. Louis is the most recent city to discuss the issue. The St. Louis health director wants to ban horse-drawn carriage rides in the city after a weekend encounter with an equine she says was suffering from heat stroke.
Legislation in Salt Lake City signed into law March 5, mandates that horses can't work in temperatures below 10 degrees Fahrenheit or when the heat index is above 104 degrees.
In Nashville, Tennessee, carriages are allowed to operate from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. On the weekends the horses can work all day. However, if the temperature exceeds 95 degrees, the horses must stay off the street.
Over the weekend carriages can start working at any time they want, but they are not allowed to work any one horse more than eight hours a day.