Two NYC City Council weighed competing visions for the future of the Central Park carriage horse industry Thursday, two days after a horse named Deniz collapsed and died Tuesday night.
One bill — a reintroduction of “Ryder’s Law,” named for a horse that died in 2022 — would bring an end to the tradition. The measure would effectively sunset NYC’s carriage horse industry, allowing current drivers to continue operating but prohibiting the issuance of any new licenses.
That effort has been revived by Council Member Christopher Marte (D-Manhattan), who joined animal rights advocates on the steps of City Hall Wednesday in support of the legislation.
The other, a bill introduced by Council Member James Gennaro (D-Queens), would let the carriage horses continue, albeit with further regulation. That law would require the long-dormant Rental Horse Advisory Board to conduct a study on the best practices for equine health. It would also require drivers to complete a practical exam in horse care and handling, and would mandate additional hitching posts where horses can securely rest.
Gennaro said during Thursday’s neeting that Deniz’s death has been “exploited by people who know absolutely nothing about horses,” adding that he believes the horse may have died due to an aneurysm.
“Advocates will seize on this specious argument that Deniz worked so hard that he was worked to death which is simply not a possibility in New York’s carriage industry.”
The councilmember also spoke fondly about the industry and his 60 years riding horses: “I love the city’s horse carriage industry and the connections it creates between the kids and horses and the memories it makes for young families,” he said.
Both Ryder’s Law and Gennaro’s bill had been in the works well before Tuesday’s equine death.
But the death of 16-year-old Deniz, who collapsed on the west side of Central Park Tuesday night while towing a carriage, underscored the stakes of the years-long policy fight.
On one side, a coalition of animal rights activists has argued that the very nature of the work — in which horses pull carriages with sightseeing passengers around Central Park —is inhumane. Mayor Mamdani says he supports a ban.
On the other side, the Transport Workers Union Local 100 — which in addition to 38,000 subway and bus workers represents some 200 carriage horse owners and drivers — has argued that the work is fundamentally safe and the horses are well cared for.
Support for a ban on the carriage industry grew last year following the death of Lady, a carriage horse who died in August after an undetected tumor is thought to have sparked an aortic rupture. In the weeks that followed, the Central Park Conservancy and the administration of then-mayor Eric Adams both called for a ban on carriage horses in the park.
TWU boss John Samuelsen told The News at the time that the efforts to phase out carriage horses were meant to “monetize the cessation of the Central Park horse carriages, through real estate development and the procurement of electric touring vehicles.”
Ryder’s Law died in committee last year, after only one member of the Health Committee, Brooklyn Councilman Simcha Felder, voted in favor of it.
Four committee members voted against it and two abstained. Two others — including now-Council Speaker Julie Menin — didn’t show up to vote.
Asked about the bills this week, Menin declined to comment substantively on Ryder’s Law. At a Thursday press conference, she indicated support for the Gennaro-led effort to further regulate the industry.
“I do think that, honestly, there’s been this advisory board that has been in existence for years and years that is supposed to deal with the safety and care of the horses, and it hasn’t met in numerous years,” she said. “I don’t think that that’s acceptable. I think there are actions that can be taken right now while these bills go through the legislative process that would help to take care of the horses immediately, because what happened with the horses is obviously not acceptable.”