Please help the carriage horses in Atlanta GA

[sketcher]

@Win1;7022106

Drivers who make the CHOICE to be in the public’s eye should take that choice seriously along with all of it’s consequences, good and bad. The lady was extremely obnoxious, but as a horse PROFESSIONAL the driver could have also handled it differently. Rather than telling her to f-off, why not just say…yes, he’s hot but I had to step away for a moment, thanks for watching him. I’m out of water but will handle the situation.

The people didn’t understand what was going on, true. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have the right to be concerned and since he made the choice to pursue a career where the general public is the customer, he also made the choice to educate and answer their questions in a professional manner.

I am sure had I been that carriage driver, my response to those obnoxious twits would have been the same. If you want to be listened to and regarded with respect then you can treat people with that same respect.

Those drivers are making a CHOICES to make a living but are not required to put up with that kind of crap for sure. They are not public servants not sitting in elected positions so I don’t think the comment about being in the public eye is really fair - unless you consider that you should be able to walk about and be rude and harass anyone at all out in public and not expect some negative reaction to it.

These women butted their noses in in a way that was counter productive. They did not care about the welfare of the horse so much as getting themselves some publicity on youtube. If they had really cared about the horse, they would not have played it up for their camera but would have quietly waited for the driver to come back and asked him about the horse in a nice way at that time.

[skydy]

[QUOTE=Win1;7021965]
Um, WHAT? It’s detrimental to give a working horse water? I haven’t heard that in about 10 years, better update your knowledge.

And why is it acceptable to let a horse stand there while “breathing rapidly” since you all have something against calling it panting. Why not get him some water and help him cool by sponging it onto his body? That’s what an actual veterinary professional would tell you to do.

I’m not against the horse working, or working hard. But for goodness sake, admit that better care was in order for the one in the video who clearly could have benefited from a little help bringing his temp and resp down to normal.[/QUOTE]

Of course we all give working horses water but not everyone cools their horses in the same manner.
How do we know that this horse hadn’t had water? Perhaps that was why there was no water in the bucket.:eek:

If a screeching lunatic, who knows nothing about the situation at hand,came up to my hot horse and took it upon themselves to give it water I would be seriously peeved.

The screeching lunatic screeched even louder when the driver (correctly) got the horse walking again.

As I said, maybe the guy ran in to have a pee… we don’t know and neither did that woman who was freaking out.

[Sunsets]

would have quietly waited for the driver to come back and asked him about the horse in a nice way at that time

We have a few carriages that work Houston, mostly on the weekends. For the most part, the horses seem in good shape. Once, however, a friend and I came out of a concert at the House of Blues where a carriage was waiting at the sidewalk and she (a non-horsey person) said “Wow, that horse is thin!” He was. Not emaciated, but very visible ribs and hips, with a thin neck.

She nicely asked the driver what was up with the thin horse, and the driver dismissively replied “he’s a 4 year old TB/draft cross, they look like that at this age” I replied, “Um, not that I’ve ever seen”, snapped a photo with my phone camera, and we left.

I reported her to animal control the next day, but without a permanent barn address, they said they couldn’t follow up.

[OneGrayPony]

And why is it acceptable to let a horse stand there while “breathing rapidly” since you all have something against calling it panting. Why not get him some water and help him cool by sponging it onto his body?

Because what the horse is not trying to do is cool himself. Horses do not cool themselves by panting or breathing hard.

He’s trying to catch his breath.

It’s possible that he was just used as a getaway vehicle for a bank robbery. Or galloping through the streets to save a young boy from an evil warlock.

Or, he’s a horse with heaves who has just taken a short trot and is winded.

I didn’t listen to the women screeching (I watched the video on silent) because I knew I’d just want to say undignified things. It is also quite possible that the carriage driver went inside to pee and looked out the window, saw these lovely women, and thought, oh hell no, I’m not going out there.

[poniesinthenight]

While I’m far from a “treehugger, horsehugger, etc” I do see a horse with the first stages of heat stress. Black horse, hot, humid day, on asphalt, yes he’s distressed.

[enjoytheride]

I think that with the carriage industry being in the public eye as it is you would want to make extra sure that you are doing everything exactly right. Well fed shiny horses, good feet, harnesses in good condition, and not leaving a hard breathing horse alone and untied on the street without a good explanation.

I agree that the women are not handling it in any good way, but you have to admit that there is something wrong with that horse. Even if he had heaves would you really want a horse that didn’t look normal (even if he was fine) out in public with people like that? Every now and then people like that are going to run across people that don’t take care of their carriage horses which gives fuel to their fire.

I have no idea if the driver went to go get a bucket of water, had just sponged the horse off, or was calling for a trailer to pick the horse up, or was inside taking a pee.

[OneGrayPony]

Oh I’m not disagreeing with that in the least enjoytheridecoth. My initial post was explaining why it isn’t “panting”.

I would like to know what happened next.

[Lynnwood]

[QUOTE=poniesinthenight;7026771]
While I’m far from a “treehugger, horsehugger, etc” I do see a horse with the first stages of heat stress. Black horse, hot, humid day, on asphalt, yes he’s distressed.[/QUOTE]

Isn’t the video at night ? What does a black horse have to do with all the tea in China when its dark out ? We don’t know anything about the video other then the horse has elevated respirations and the driver was temporarily not in attendance.

[poniesinthenight]

Heat Stress Lynwood, heat stress!!!

[Lynnwood]

[QUOTE=poniesinthenight;7028279]
Heat Stress Lynwood, heat stress!!![/QUOTE]

That’s all fine and good but you are some how equating his color to heat stress …yet the video is clearly taken at night ? Does being a dark color at night make him more susceptible to heat ?

Your quote specifically says “Hot humid day” its NOT day time. The cars passing by have their headlights on…which means its well past dusk.

Yes the horse is blowing …but we were not there and we don’t know why?

[Cielo_Azure]

I just googled that following words: “CDE horse driving marathon end” and then watched five CDE videos on the first page of google results. By the video end, all the videos I watched had horses breathing as hard as the one in the video above. As we all know, a marathon is a paced or timed event -not a race. It is designed to not overstress horses.

When I ride or drive in Jasper, GA during the summer (arena work), often my horses breath that hard. When I rode or drove in MD, same deal. They often breath that hard after work in winter too. Horses do breath hard when worked -even when they are fit. Just like humans. In summer, we ride or drive in the morning or evening but horses still get worked. Just like I still work out my body in the summer. Yes, precautions are taken but we still work out and we still breath hard: equines and humans and it makes us more fit, and better athletes.

Anyone who works for fitness in their horses knows that horses will breath hard. Fit horses breath hard. Fit humans breath hard. What is WRONG with that? It is how we build and maintain fitness.

These posting, the videos the FB pages are clearly build around the agenda of shutting down the carriage driving industry. It is biased and the authors/editors/production people clearly have an agenda outside of this one particular horse and carriage company. As I have written, we have bigger issues to worry about in GA than shutting down a horse industry that for the most part, takes good care of their equines.

[stolen_virtue]

[QUOTE=Lynnwood;7028521]
That’s all fine and good but you are some how equating his color to heat stress …yet the video is clearly taken at night ? Does being a dark color at night make him more susceptible to heat ?

Your quote specifically says “Hot humid day” its NOT day time. The cars passing by have their headlights on…which means its well past dusk.

Yes the horse is blowing …but we were not there and we don’t know why?[/QUOTE]

In the south it does not matter whether it is noon or 11:00 pm it can still be hot and humid. Last time I was in Houston TX it was in Oct. 96 degrees and 100 % humidity (raining) at 6:30 am. I believe GA can be that hot and humid. Heat stress is likely regardless of whether it was daylight or nightfall.

[Lynnwood]

[QUOTE=stolen virtue;7029202]
In the south it does not matter whether it is noon or 11:00 pm it can still be hot and humid. Last time I was in Houston TX it was in Oct. 96 degrees and 100 % humidity (raining) at 6:30 am. I believe GA can be that hot and humid. Heat stress is likely regardless of whether it was daylight or nightfall.[/QUOTE]

Your preaching to the choir I live in the south. Yes it can be hot and humid at night. Not really as hot as during the day. I’m assuming the horse lives there and is acclimated. My statement was that horses color really has no bearing on his heat index at night. If it was daylight sure dark horses absorb heat.

Just for facts the sun isn’t setting till well after 8pm around these parts this time of year. Atlanta’s weather forecast for this evening was 90’ with a low of 72’. Humidity still has not reached its peeks yet down south . Atlanta’s sunset was 8:48pm. So for it to be completely dark that video was taken 9pm or later. By 9pm it has cooled down significantly.

Could the horse be hot sure…but since none of us were there and the videographers would rather focus on hysterics vs facts we will never know.

[poniesinthenight]

believe - i before e except after c. Thank you Stolen Virtue.

[MandyVA]

I’ve seen my horse breathe that hard after going for a gallop turned out in his pasture while hunting fit. Hardly anything to write to the Governor over.

[D_BaldStockings]

[QUOTE=poniesinthenight;7026771]
While I’m far from a “treehugger, horsehugger, etc” I do see a horse with the first stages of heat stress. Black horse, hot, humid day, on asphalt, yes he’s distressed.[/QUOTE]

Did I view the same 13 second video of the Chestnut Belgian-looking horse at night as you did?

There was no black horse…

[OneGrayPony]

Lol - this is the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aSY7rXmZS8U

It was posted by another anti-carriage poster.

I didn’t watch it to the end the first time, this time I watched it and was ready to say not nice things to those ladies. I can’t believe she grabbed the bucket and tried to put it in the horse’s face. Who knows what was previously in that bucket.

The driver came back out. Horse didn’t look like he was struggling to pull away.

[Cielo_Azure]

This is Georgia. For ten years, a horse owner in Talbott county has literally starved to death at least dozens of horses and the county, despite a DECADE of complaints has not even removed the horses. These horses are STILL being starved to death (I think 80 horses on the property this year)- the county has now filed charges but only due to a public outcry, dead horses visible to the public, starving horses the public can see and too many buzzards eating live horses. http://www.wtvm.com/story/22285350/talbot-county-horse-owner-charged-with-cruelty This is typical of AC in Georgia. There is no money in the state budget for AC to do what needs doing.
So, I will write again- anti-carriage people please put your energies into where there is a huge need. GERL (Geargia equine rescue leauge) is crying for volunteers and donations. By forcing AC in Georgia to spend its few scant dollars on investigating carriage Horses in good condition because of anti-carriage politics, these people are causing other horses to suffer. This is unethical and sickening.

[poniesinthenight]

And there she is advertising her stallion to add to the pile.

[Lynnwood]

[QUOTE=poniesinthenight;7031318]
And there she is advertising her stallion to add to the pile.[/QUOTE]

If being aghast that she stands a stallion is the best retort you have to the situation …the depth of your platform is pretty clear.