Abolish the Carriage Horse Industry and Ryder Will Not Have Died in Vain

Ryder, the bay gelding who has been in the headlines since he collapsed on August 10 while pulling a carriage on a busy New York City street on a hot day, had a soft expression and a willingness to oblige. His poor condition—muscle atrophy, weakness, severe malnutrition—brought him fame just over two months before he was euthanized, on October 17, at a farm in upstate New York. What do we know about him prior to the day he fell to the ground, flat out in distress as his driver and co-owner at the time, Ian McKeever, hit him with the reins, yelling, “Get up! Get up!”? How should he be remembered?

Born in 1996 with a lineage that traces back to 18th-century England, Ryder was a handsome Standardbred colt. According to the United States Trotting Association, he competed in harness racing as a pacer from 1999 to 2002, under the name Hi Ho Cheery O. (His career was lackluster, with wins of less than $20,000 during his four years on the track.) When Ryder’s racing years were up, he was likely sold to an Amish dealer or farmer in Pennsylvania, a common practice in the industry, finding himself hitched to a buggy or a plow instead of a sulky.

Many years later, sick, at the age of 26 (the top limit for carriage horses to be licensed in NYC and the equivalent of a 90-year-old human), Ryder began working pulling a carriage in Manhattan. He had been purchased in April 2022 by two brothers in the carriage trade, Ian and Colm McKeever. According to the NYC Department of Health, Colm McKeever unlawfully falsified veterinary records, changing the horse’s age to 13 on documents he submitted. Clearly, the brothers intended to work Ryder past the legal age limit. But what they hadn’t counted on was his collapse in the middle of a busy street, his anguish shining a spotlight on a small but powerful industry that has remained largely unchanged for more than two decades.

https://www.villagevoice.com/2022/10/21/abolish-the-carriage-horse-industry-and-ryder-will-not-have-died-in-vain/