I seem to be walking right into breaking news lately.
This afternoon I was walking across Central Park South towards Columbus Circle. In front of Mickey Mantle’s, there was quite a scene. Two horses went bizerk and caused a car accident.
By the time I got there, it had already happened, and they were removing one of the horses. Here’s the story I heard from a guy who witnessed the whole thing.
There was a guy walking down the sidewalk banging on a drum. He ended up spooking a stopped horse. If you’ve ever walked along CPS, you know that is where the horses stop to rest and eat. The hansoms usually “park” them on a 45 degree angle. So the drum spooked the horse. As a result, the horse reared up and bolted up on to the sidewalk.
However, it didn’t get far at all because it’s harness got stuck on a light-post. So the horse stepped back and got its foot stuck in the carriage wheel, and broke it’s leg.
All that insanity spooked the horse in front of it. The second horse just bolted straight across the street 90 degrees into traffic. It ended up on the hood of a small Mercedes. It really crunched it up pretty bad. The light, bumper, and hood were all bent up.
Meanwhile, there was some guy sitting across the street eating in Mickey Mantle’s. He just so happened to be some sort of horse expert. He ran across the street and took the second horse off the hood of the car, unhooked it from its carriage, walked it over to a light pole, and tied it up. He then worked on calming the horse down, which he did. He then went to attend to the first, injured horse.
The first horse ended up being put down right there on the scene. However, it took over 40 minutes for emergency officials to respond! Other than some mounted police, no one with animal control showed in time to save the animal. Some cops told passers by that the horse was just tranquilized. However, others told reporters that it had in fact been euthanized.
All of this on the way to the subway. Quite the afternoon!
SUBWAYblogger 
The death of the horse named Smoothie, a 13 year old mare is tragic and did not have to happen. Horses spook at the slightest provocation and should not be in traffic or in a congested city like NY. We want the industry banned. It is time. The recent NYC Auditors report pointed to a less than humane industry with very faulty oversight. Please join us on Thursday, September 20 from 5:30 to 7:30 at Columbus Circle near the fountain for a rally and vigil to remember Smoothie (Sept.20, 2007, Juliet (Sept. 30, 2006) and Spotty)Jan. 2, 2006)
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PS – Our organization is the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages – our web site http://www.banhdc.org. Let’s do right by these horses – pressure our legislators to ban the industry and have a massive, rescue and adoption campaign to save them. If anyone worries that they will all go to slaughter – please read this article. – http://www.all-creatures.org/bhdc/whatwillhap.html
thanks, Elizabeth
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Well you can have all the rallies you want, but just keep in mind that Smoothie did not die because of street traffic. He was spooked by a guy on the sidewalk with a drum. Then he tried to run up onto the sidewalk, got stuck, and broke his leg.
There was no involvement with traffic in the case of his death.
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Im put a link to you post for my page.
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Hey! I like your blog–great minds think alike. Check out my blog! Maybe I’ll see you on the train one day. =) I’m adding you to my blogroll!
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I live near Central Park South and have been increasingly concerned about the horses. Traffic is crazy and the hansom cab drivers take their life in their hands with cars whizzing by (I also see this peril on 8th and 9th Ave every day since I work at 50th & 8th.) Also, these drivers think nothing of making U-turns on Central Park South – it’s all just courting disaster. Also, there seems to be a pattern of benign neglect with many drivers – they just let their horses stand at the curb waiting for passengers and then they guys wander off a little; chat with friends, etc. The horses are certainly not well looked after. And finally, I have seen the horses working on the hottest days imaginable – days when I thought they weren’t legally supposed to. So the general supervision of this whole thing seems so negligent. It makes me very sad for the horses. There are so many reasons that there are accidents waiting to happen. And so many reasons these poor animals are neglected. I think, either shape things up big time or just abandon the hansom cab rides.
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In fairness, dude was drinking 50 Bulls a day.
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