The horse carriage drivers’ union announced that the horse seen fainting on a busy New York City street in a viral video has been retired to a private farm upstate.
The Transport Workers Union said the horse, named Ryder, has been transferred to new owners who are providing care for him as he is treated for a neurological parasite called Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis (EPM) — an infection caused by possum droppings.
HORSE COLLAPSES: A horse pulling a carriage along a street in Midtown Manhattan collapsed in the middle of the road Wednesday, and a witness caught the incident on cell phone video. The horse, named Ryder, stayed resting on the hot pavement for some time, but eventually got back up on its own. Police took the horse back to the stable, where Ryder was reportedly diagnosed by a veterinarian with a neurological infection caused by possum droppings, according to the union that represents horse carriage drivers. Horses are not allowed out on especially hot and humid days, but a representative for the carriage drivers' union said Wednesday was safe and Ryder was not overheated or dehydrated. Advocates have called for horse and carriage rides to be banned in the city. The city council is considering that legislation now. For more of today’s top stories, go to nbcpalmsprings.com.
Posted by NBC Palm Springs on Thursday, 11 August 2022
The neurological consequences of the EPM led the horse to slip and fall while the carriage driver was attempting to change lanes and turn here on 45th street on the way home, Christina Hansen, a carriage drivers’ union spokesman stated. And once he was down, the neurological symptoms of EPM made it impossible for him to get back up.
According to the union, the animal is presently on antibiotics, and the farm’s owners and veterinarian are intending on providing more treatment.
According to the site, the union claimed that a vet assessed Ryder as roughly 26 years old, despite a prior report that indicated the horse was 13 to 14 years old. Ryder is also too old to be registered as a carriage horse in New York.
After a video of Ryder fainting on the street went viral, with the horse’s driver yelling, “Wake up! Wake up! Get up! Come on, come up! “There were repeated calls to prohibit or change the contentious tourist attraction, which seemed to lash the animal.
Voters For Animal Rights termed the event “sickening” at the time, while People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals tweeted, Horses don’t belong in major cities where they’re constantly placed in danger by automobiles, humans, weather, and more.
BREAKING: This horse COLLAPSED while pulling a carriage in NYC, likely from heat exhaustion, and has been down for over an hour.
— PETA (@peta) August 10, 2022
Horses don’t belong in big cities where they’re put in constant danger because of cars, humans, weather, and more. pic.twitter.com/vXBVRJRjPB
Ryder came into their program in “poor form,” according to Hansen, after being employed as a buggy horse for a Pennsylvania farmer.
Ryder had been a carriage horse for four months, based on the union at the time of the incident.
There are 130 licensed carriage horses in New York City.
The Transport Workers Union letter also stated that the city’s stable’s safety measures will change to include biweekly medical inspections of the horses’ heart issues The union also established a health and safety committee.
