A 15-year-old carriage horse named Lady collapsed and died Tuesday afternoon near 11th Avenue and West 51st Street in Manhattan, less than two months after starting work in New York City. Police responding to a 911 call found Lady unresponsive; she was pronounced dead after being transported to a stable in Hell's Kitchen, reports the New York Times. While authorities say there's no evidence of criminality, the city's health department is investigating and plans to conduct a necropsy to try to determine the cause of death.
Lady's sudden death has reignited the debate over horse-drawn carriages in New York, a long-standing source of controversy. Animal rights activists, including NYCLASS executive director Edita Birnkrant, blame city officials and the carriage drivers union for enabling what they call systemic animal abuse. Birnkrant has renewed calls for the passage of Ryder's Law, a bill that would ban horse-drawn carriages by mid-2026. The measure is named after a horse that collapsed in 2022; a recent animal cruelty trial related to that incident ended in acquittal.
City officials have expressed concern and described Lady's death as "tragic." A spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams promised a thorough review, while City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams' office emphasized that the proposed ban is still working its way through the legislative process.
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Christina Hansen, a carriage driver and industry spokesperson, says Lady had passed a physical before starting work in June and had just given two rides before collapsing. Hansen notes that 15 isn't especially old for a horse and maintains that horses "sometimes just die," arguing there's no evidence that carriage work played a role. She believes Lady likely died of a stroke, heart attack, or aneurysm, per NBC New York.
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