Debate over horse carriages heats up in Victoria
Victoria’s horses could soon be out of work
T80% OF THE BYLAW ENFORCEMENT ISSUES IN THE ENTIRE CITY INVOLVE THE HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGE INDUSTRY, CONSISTING IN PART OF PETTY BICKERING AMONGST OPERATORS. — STATEMENT FROM A NOW-DEFUNCT VICTORIA ANTI-CARRIAGE GROUP
hey are the telltale sounds — and smells — of spring, harbingers of warmer weather. The clip- clop of a horse’s hoofs; metal pounding on pavement. The acrid scent of horse excrement, also on pavement, and on tires, and sometimes, if you’re really unlucky, on the soles of your shoes.
There’s a bend in the road ringing Vancouver’s Stanley Park, on the shaded north side. I call it “Horse P--- Corner,” because the smell of horse urine overcomes everything there. It starts reeking in March, when the horse-drawn carriage season begins, and gets worse through the dry summer months and i nto autumn, until the rain, merciful rain, washes away the stink and manure stains.
Something about that particular bend in the road makes the lugubrious, tourist wagon- pulling horses want to empty their bladders and bowels, prodigiously.
That’s a quibble, from a spoiled Stanley Park lover and frequent user. Fact is, the horse-drawn carriages are popular park features, and have been for more than a century. I can’t quite fathom why, but tourists who visit the city recommend them.
Check out any tourismrelated website: The Stanley Park carriage rides are a highly- rated excursion, never mind the $40 adult fare.
Same goes for Victoria, where horse- drawn carriages are more visible and more likely to be heard and smelled, especially in and around the city’s scenic Inner Harbour, in sprawling Beacon Hill Park, even in quaint residential neighbourhoods, such as historic James Bay.
Victoria’s two licensed carriage companies employ about 70 people and own 52 horses.
The carriages sometimes clog Victoria’s narrow streets. Occasionally, perhaps once a year, they collide with those newfangled contraptions the locals insist on using, called motor cars. Sometimes, quite infrequently, one horse or another will startle and take a runner, frightening the bejeebers out of pedestrians. Sometimes, someone ends up on the ground, dazed and hurt. There has been the odd broken arm.
Almost every season, there are cries of animal cruelty, and demands for a horse and buggy ban.
The latest petition comes from a group called Vic- toria Horse Alliance ( VHA). It presents a case against horse-drawn carriages similar to those launched previously, all of which failed. The group claims draw horses used in the business are victims of “exploitation and objectification,” much like circus animals, which, for their part, aren’t welcomed in the city, by dint of a municipal bylaw.
Horse carriages “fell through the cracks of this bylaw,” says the VHA, whose online petition had 1,219 signatures by Sunday. “We are committed to making sure the horses find suitable sanctuary or retirement homes if needed.”
A counter- petition was launched by carriage- industry advocates; it calls for more stringent regulations to limit the horses’ working hours and to make veterinarian oversight mandatory, among other improvements. It also informs readers how to spot a carriage horse in distress: Look for bared teeth, pinned- back ears, and “wild, glaring eyes.”
On Thursday, Victoria city council heard from the owner of one local carriage company, distressed over renewed calls for a ban. Katarina Gallagher told council members she felt “blindsided” by the VHA petition, according to the Times Colonist newspaper.
The owner of a second company issued a statement Friday, noting that both businesses are “dedicated to ensuring the horses’ physical and mental health through trust-based relationships and upholding the highest standards of care on a global scale. We are progressive companies that continually implement advancements in the industry.”
It was perhaps a rare note of solidarity; Victoria’s two carriage companies compete hard for tourist dollars. According to one Victoria anti-carriage group, now defunct, “the horse- drawn carriage industry has been involved in an ongoing feud for a very long time ... 80% of the bylaw enforcement issues in the entire city involve the horse- drawn carriage industry, consisting in part of petty bickering amongst operators.”
The tone has shifted. Equine retirement homes, mental health care and trustbuilt relationships: Such concern for Victoria’s carriage horses was never heard until now. Their lot may improve; that’s the good news. The bad? Victoria always plods along. No decisions will come soon, so expect more of those slow, heavy hoofbeats, and the eyewatering smells. During your visit, check your shoes.
WE ARE COMMITTED TO MAKING SURE THE HORSES FIND SUITABLE SANCTUARY.