The Big HEART platform: Improvements for the Iconic NYC Central Park Carriage Horses

TWU Local 100 on Friday put forth a platform for NYC to embrace, celebrate, and better ensure the health and welfare of the iconic Central Park carriage horses. The Big HEART platform includes building a stable in the park so the horses don’t have to commute between the park and their current West Side stables on city streets, doubling the required annual physicals from 2 to 4, establishing additional driver training and more.
 
The HEART platform (Health, Enforcement, Accountability, Regulations, Training) also includes pro-horse and safety improvements in the park - like greater access to water and more shade trees at carriage stands, along with additional heat regulations, and new safety hitching posts. These posts would prevent the rare occurrence of a startled horse bolting from the park and running loose. 
 
We envision a stable with an outdoor paddock where kids, families, and all horse lovers could see the horses socializing - and just being horses - in the 843-acre oasis that was built for horses and carriage rides more than 160 years ago.
 
TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano said:
“TWU Local 100 is interested in protecting blue-collar jobs that help more than 130 families put food on the table, pay their rent, and send their kids to school – but we are just as interested in protecting the health and welfare of the carriage horses, and the history of Central Park, which was designed by Fredrick Law Olmsted specifically to be enjoyed first and foremost from a horse-drawn carriage. We also believe horses belong in the heart of the park and the city they helped build, and should be accessible to all, not just be luxury items available to wealthy people in the suburbs. People around the world and New Yorkers alike love the iconic carriage horses and with this pro-horse HEART platform, we will continue to ensure that our beloved equine partners remain a part of this great city.”
 
Click here to read the full Big HEART Platform
application/pdf iconThe Big Heart Platform