Overview

• The Conservancy broke with decades of neutrality by endorsing a City Council bill to bar new carriage licenses and end horse-drawn rides by June 1, 2026.
• Leadership cited two spring runaway events and the collapse and death of a horse named Lady as evidence that carriage operations pose rising safety threats.
• Officials pointed to damage to freshly repaved park drives from steel horseshoes and repeated manure clean-up failures as incompatible with heavy park use.
• The Transport Workers Union condemned the move as “outrageous,” warning the ban would eliminate roughly 200 carriage-industry jobs and proposing an on-site stable instead.
• Ryder’s Law has 19 sponsors but remains stalled without a hearing, and the mayor’s position is undecided as city agencies continue probing recent horse welfare incidents.