The Need to Enact the Pending Ban on Carriage Horses in NYC in Light of Continuing Accidents

New York City Bar Association Statement

The New York City Bar Association’s Animal Law Committee urges the enactment of Int. No 943-2026, the pending bill to prohibit the operation of horse drawn cabs, in light of the continued dangerous and inhumane carriage horse operation in New York City. We have been waiting to see the City Council pass the bill, but instead have seen yet another incident where a horse has collapsed — this time a carriage horse named Snowman in Central Park on August 29.[1] It is apparent that the carriage horse industry continues to cause unnecessary danger to both the horses and the public. Mayor Mamdani, Speaker Menin and a majority of Council members support phasing out the use of horse-drawn carriages and we would urge that Int. No. 943-2026 be enacted expeditiously.

As we noted at the City Council’s public hearing on July 15, 2026, regarding this bill, for approximately twenty  years, the New York City Bar Association has urged the Council to enact legislation to ban carriage horse operations as the only humane and safe solution.[2] Yet, despite broad and vocal public support for reforms, including support from the ASPCA, Humane Society and equine welfare organizations, no legislation has been enacted to prevent this continued cruelty to the horses and danger to the public.

The dangers caused by horse drawn carriages are no longer open for discussion. Legal cases, as well as numerous witnesses at the recent hearing, have established that the dense city environment is inappropriate for horses; that there is routine failure to comply with regulations; that existing regulations are inadequate; and that existing requirements are not adequately enforced.

The presence of horses on the City’s congested streets poses a danger to the public, as evidenced by numerous instances of spooked horses bolting and putting both horses and people at risk. In our report on the previous bill to end carriage horse rides, we identified dozens of such incidents between 2006 and 2023, and since 2023 many more casualties have accrued, reaching a tipping point this summer with the tragic human death on June 17 of a young man visiting our city.[3] Because of such risks, horse drawn carriages have been banned in other countries and in many large cities in the United States and abroad. New York City is demonstrably behind where other cities and countries have shown vision and leadership on this issue. Carriage horse operations should be banned here before more tragedies occur.

The enactment of Int. No. 943-2026 is long overdue and necessary to prevent these dangerous and cruel incidents from continuing.

About the Association
The mission of the New York City Bar Association, which was founded in 1870 and has over 20,000 members, is to equip and mobilize a diverse legal profession to practice with excellence, promote reform of the law, and uphold the rule of law and access to justice in support of a fair society and the public interest in our community, our nation, and throughout the world. www.nycbar.org