Campaigns
Atlanta Horse-Drawn Carriage Cruelty Exposed
Urban carriage horses are forced to toil in all weather extremes, dodge traffic, and pound the pavement all day long, and can develop respiratory ailments from exhaust fumes, and suffer debilitating leg ailments from walking on hard surfaces; hard roadway surfaces can damage hooves, even when properly shod, causing pain with every step.
Atlanta carriage horses are not properly shod and have been documented being worked with missing shoes, overgrown hooves, burst hoof abscesses, and harness wounds. Atlanta carriage horses are forced to work in unnatural and extreme conditions without even the most basic care. In Atlanta, there is no code enforcement system, and the horses suffer the consequences.
Inadequate living conditions for the horses:
In March 2022, GARP documented the horse’s living conditions at the stable of All Around Carriages, a licensed Atlanta horse-drawn carriage company. Horses were kept standing ankle deep in mud in small filthy pens with no shelter 24 hours a day except when pulling carriages on the streets
GARP witnessed and documented nine code violations. GARP reported the conditions to The Georgia Department of Agriculture and the city of Atlanta and the stable was not cited or made to correct the living conditions. After the release of GARP’s video documentation, which received media coverage, All Around Carriages permanently closed.
Fantasy Stables where Atlanta carriages horses are kept when not pulling carriages on the streets of Atlanta
Another Atlanta horse-drawn carriage company, Fantasy Carriages, keeps their horses in 1/4 of a windowless concrete building. The front half of the building is an auto body repair shop. The horses are confined to a dark building 24 hours a day, except when pulling carriages on the busy streets of downtown Atlanta. Atlanta codes state a stable must have “ventilation and fresh air.” These living conditions are in violation of the Atlanta codes, but the codes aren’t enforced.
A horse stable should have a proper number of vents for optimum air exchange rates, as well as an adequate number of windows and doors. Vents in the roof to allow stale air to escape are essential. The reason that adequate ventilation is essential is because stabled horses are commonly exposed to high concentrations of dust and inadequate ventilation can cause respiratory disease.
But obviously, the health of the horses is not of high importance, the owners make as much money as they can on a horse, sell the worn-out horse, and buy a replacement.
Atlanta carriage horses are forced to work in spite of clear exhaustion and overheating:
Atlanta carriage horses are allowed to be worked up to 10 hours per day, five days a week in 95 degrees temperatures, regardless of the heat index. Humidity makes it more difficult for horses to cool off because humidity prevents evaporation of sweat which would aid cooling, so sweat just stays on the horses’ coats and serves to insulate the horses, making them even hotter. High humidity levels also make it more difficult for horses to breathe. Another factor is a phenomenon known an urban heat island (UHI.)
Paved street surfaces and concrete buildings absorb and store heat during the day and release it overnight, elevating ambient temperatures. Nighttime temperatures in UHIs remain high when temperatures are cooler in suburban and rural areas. Buildings, sidewalks, and parking lots block heat coming from the ground from rising into the cool night sky. Because the heat is trapped on lower levels, the temperature is warmer.
Regardless of how exhausted a horse is, the drivers will not turn down money to allow a horse to rest. Atlanta carriage horses are pushed to extreme exhaustion and a dangerous level of being overheated.
Inexperienced drivers:
Atlanta City codes require drivers with no prior experience handling horses to have only 35 hours of training to drive carriages downtown. Not only is this very risky for public safety, but it is also cruel to the horses because they are mishandled, and often mercilessly jerked around.
Horses suffering visible signs of extreme frustration and agitation and continual head tossing, which is a sign of pain for horses. Atlanta carriage horses are in a private mental and physical hell on the streets of downtown, constantly trying in vain to find relief from pain and discomfort.
Downtown Atlanta is a terrifying place for horses:
Horses have much more sensitive hearing than humans and can detect high sounds that humans can’t hear. When a panicked carriage horse starts moving backward, as can be seen in this video, the driver can lose complete control of the horse.
Horses worked with painful harness sores:
Atlanta carriage horses are force to pull carriages with painful harness sores. The sores begin with the hair rubbing off from old or ill-fitted harnesses and with continued use, it eventually it rubs the skin off leaving a wound. This is a code violation - horses are not allowed to be on the streets with any open wounds, but if reported the owners are not cited. Wounds can’t be seen by the public because they are hidden underneath the harnesses. Photos on the left show two Atlanta carriage horses with harness wounds. Click the arrow on the side of the photo to see these horses without the harnesses.
The video shows an Atlanta carriage horse forced to pull a carriage with an open wound on the side of his neck. When the driver turns the horse to the left, the right rein digs into the wound, clearly causing the horse pain. The rein is continually pulling and rubbing into the sensitive wound. The horse was reported to the Georgia Department of Agriculture but upon inspection the horse had already been sold out of state.
Atlanta carriage horses are used, abused, used up, and sold to the highest bidder.
