Horses Lives Will Be in Jeopardy. Some Will Die.

In April, law enforcement seized and removed 69 horses from the Happy Valley Horse Rescue in Ocala, Florida, that were severely malnourished, emaciated, and in pain due to a lack of proper medical care. Two were beyond recovery and had to be euthanized.

In May, authorities removed 165 horses from the Villa Chardonay animal rescue and shelter in San Diego, California, because the horses were suffering from “severe neglect.” The horses were emaciated, and some were essentially crippled because they didn’t receive proper care for their hooves, which became cracked and infected.

Supporters of the proposed carriage-horse ban (Intro 943) have given the NYC Council and the public false information, saying it will be easy to find new homes for the 180 carriage horses. The reality is this: there is a national crisis of too many horses and too-few good homes for them. Sanctuaries and rescues are largely unregulated and rely on donations. They constantly struggle financially and can’t take in more horses.

One doesn’t have to look far for examples.

“We are struggling terribly because we do not have enough volunteers to support the rescue’s needs and we don’t have enough donations to continue the rescue,” the operator of the Rivers Edge Horse Rescue and Sanctuary in Sussex County, New Jersey, told News12 in an October 2025 interview.

The operator of the Omega Horse Rescue in York County, Pennsylvania, described the same plight to a local TV station, also in late 2025: “It has been a struggle raising funds. It’s been a struggle finding grants,” she said. “It’s been a struggle finding consistent, good help, and it has affected the amount of animals that we can bring here at any given time.”

The ban bill does not provide funding for the care of the carriage horses for the rest of their lives. If owners are forced to give up their beloved animals, funding is needed so the horses receive the current high-level of care they get now, which includes two physicals a year, more vaccinations than most horses, five weeks’ vacation and stables that are staffed 24/7. It would easily cost $2,000 a year per horse to provide this. That’s nearly $4 million a year, and many of the horses can be expected to live another 10 to 15 years.

It’s true that the number of horses shipped from the US to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico for processing as food is down dramatically over the decades. Still, about 25,000 horses without owners willing or able to care for them are sold at slaughter auctions and killed every year. If it’s so easy to place horses in good homes, why are 25,000 being killed every year. In addition, it’s sadly not uncommon for some bad-actor horse owners to have horses they no longer want to be euthanized “for convenience.”

It’s indisputable that if a ban is enacted, the NYC carriage horses – now safely housed and well cared for – will face the double-barrel risk of neglect and slaughter that they do not now face.