They are used by tourists only. As a resident, I won't miss them in the slightest.

those poor horses!!!

Hint: There is no "old horse farm" anywhere.

Horses are very expensive to keep so they need large amounts of donations. As they say, "Pony up!"

When I posted my response I thought someone might come back with an example of an "old horse farm" staffed by very dedicated people, from the veterinarians to the stable cleaners and every one in between. Not all horses are so lucky.

That is the dark side of the horse industry. The unwanted, unneeded, uncared for end up in the glue factory or food chain--animal and human.

If the answer is, "More than the shelters can handle" the overflow will be put down.

Almost everything I've seen from the animals rights groups on this issue has been a mix of ignorance, small issues blown out of proportion and memories of the old days when this industry was totally unregulated and real abuses rampant.

I remember seeing a news crew shooting a picture of a horse standing in a well ventilated box stall with rubber matting and a nice bed of clean shavings talking about cramped stalls and inadequate bedding. As horse people my daughter and I couldn't stop laughing. The horror show shots of horses in traffic on one of the websites showed very well behaved horses encountering very poorly behaved New York drivers. The real money behind this movement of course is a real estate developer with eyes on the stables which gives the animal rights groups a voice beyond their numbers.

As for the politics, a coalition with almost unlimited funds ran vicious attack ads against DeBlasio's primary opponent, Christine Quinn, accusing the poor woman of supporting unspecified animal abuse--as if she and her partner were torturing puppies in their basement or something. DeBlasio owes these people big time and it seems he's about to deliver.

I realize that there are some people on this board who believe that animals should not be 'enslaved' and that all the horses will be turned out on some lovely farm somewhere to live out their lives in clover and not be forced to work for humans. I got news for you, A small operator like most of these drivers are, will pretty much have to sell his/her horses to the highest bidder to salvage something of a business shut down by politics.

While a few of these horses may go to rescues (hopefully real rescues not tax scam operations) most will either be sold to other carriage or hack barn operators in other states, probably in places where they will be working under less regulated conditions, to private owners who may or may not have the knowledge and resources to take proper care of them, to the Amish who will use them till they drop and then dump them at the sales.