The 14-year-old horse who fell in Midtown Manhattan Wednesday evening – reigniting the debate on the city’s horse-drawn carriages – was seen happily munching down on bales of hay Thursday.
Ryder appeared to have a cut on his neck and bruises on his knees following the fall around 5pm at the intersection of 9th Avenue and West 45th Street in Hell’s Kitchen, where he tripped and stumbled on his way back to the 39 Street stables, and did not get back up.
Such instances are considered medical emergencies, as horses are not supposed to lie down for extended periods of time.
Videos posted online show the rider called ‘Get up! Get up! Get up! C’mon, get up’ to the animal, whose knees were buckling.
He also pulled the reins and slapped him in a bid to make him stand, as people watched on in horror. After more than an hour, and with the help of an adrenaline shot, officials were able to get the horse back on its feet.
PETA and New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets have since used the video to renew their calls for an end to the horse-drawn carriage industry in New York City, which they say should be replaced with electric vehicles.
Christine Hansen, a spokeswoman for Historic Horse-Drawn Carriages of Central Park, which represents the New York City carriage horse industry, told DailyMail.com how Ryder, a 14-year-old stallion is recovering after a fall in Manhattan Wednesday evening
Ryder was on his way back from giving two rides in Central Park when he tripped and fell and would not get back up
Ryder appeared to have cuts on his neck and bruises on his legs from the fall Wednesday evening
He was seen Thursday happily munching down on hay as PETA and other animal rights activists called for an end to the horse drawn carriage industry in New York City
The man pulled the reins and slapped him in a bid to make him stand, as people watching on were horrified. But he failed to get the animal up, with him remaining on the ground, exhausted. Police arrived and sprayed him with water and got him up after more than an hour, after giving him an adrenalin shot
But Christine Hansen, a spokeswoman for Historic Horse-Drawn Carriages of Central Park, which represents the New York City carriage horse industry, told DailyMail.com how the rider tried to unhook the horse from his black carriage and immediately called for a veterinarian and the New York Police Department’s Mounted Unit to assist.
When police arrived, they sprayed the stallion with a hose ‘just as a precaution because he wasn’t getting up,’ Hansen said, noting he was showing no signs of overheating, and a veterinarian on the scene found that all of his vitals were normal.
In fact, she said, it was only after the veterinarian had the horse walk, that he noticed Ryder’s unusual gait and diagnosed him with equine protozoal myeloencephalitis, a parasite from infected opossum droppings which affects more than half of all horses on the East Coast.
Most of the time, the parasite has little effect and leaves the horse’s body within a few days, Hansen said, but in rare instances like this one it gets into the cerebral spinal fluid where it can last for months or even years before a horse starts to show signs of neurological issues.
The footage of the horse collapsing comes after other clips of the animals collapsing and running into cars went viral, further igniting the fight against carriage rides in Central Park and Midtown.
In video from the fall, the rider called to the horse to get up as his knees buckled and the carriage remained attached to him
In a statement, New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets (NYCLASS) Executive Director Edita Birnkrant said: ‘How many more incidents like this do we need? This is clearly animal abuse and it must be stopped.’
And Nathan Semmel, 52, an advocate for Voters for Animal Rights, said that horse-drawn carriages should be replaced with electronic vehicles.
That proposal is currently being considered by the city council after being sponsored by Councilman Robert Holden, who tweeted the video Wednesday night writing: ‘Drivers and horses deserve better.’
But Hansen slammed activists using Ryder’s fall for their political advantage, saying: ‘They don’t get the horses.’
She said that as living beings, horses sometimes get sick, but when things happen in the age of social media they ‘say that’s because they’re a carriage horse and not because they’re a living being.’
‘Of course the animal rights people are going to exploit this,’ she said, accusing them of ‘exploiting people’s emotions’ for political gain and saying they were ‘excited’ when the video went viral.
She added there is ‘no way I would drive an electric carriage.’
And, she said there is no evidence that the 130 active horse drivers and 20 others who rely on the horse carriage industry would make a livelihood under the proposal, which she called an ‘anti-horse bill.’
Hansen also went on to claim that the sponsors of the bill have never actually been to the stables despite talking about its conditions, and do not think of the horses as living beings who sometimes get sick.
‘They would rather have horses be dead,’ Hansen said, noting that under the proposal all of the horses would lose their homes and would be displaced.