Back Up on Me Horse 'n Carriage in NYC!

Back in the saddle, so to speak ;-)
A thousand apologies for the long hiatus....things have been a mite busy personally of late.
It's been a very nice summer - a bit hot, but that just means more time off for us, as the horses -by law - may not work in temps above 89 degrees.
It's a very good, reasonable law, I think. The rest of our industry agrees.
NYC has the lowest stop-work temp law for carriage horses in the country, by the way.
Problem is, the law has been handed to the ASPCA to enforce, and they send us in at their whim.
We've been sent in at 88, 87, 86, and even 85 degrees.
We've been sent in on days that have never reached 90 at all.
But this is all to be expected, as the ASPCA has a classic and stunning conflict of interests.
Just imagine - a privately funded charity, given police powers by State law, overseeing an industry it has pledged to put out of business.
Naw, you say, can't be! Not in America!
But yes, sad to say, 'tis true.
The Humane Enforcement division of the ASPCA - whose officers have summons books, handcuffs, billy clubs, and guns - is responsible for the oversight and enforcement of laws with regard to the NYC carriage industry, a business that they state they want to see banned. Here is their position statement from their own website:
http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=press_120807
And so it goes - they try to inflict as much damage on us as possible, including cutting our days short with bogus temp readings.
Meanwhile, the bills keep pouring in, and we carry on.
You would think that people allegedly concerned with animal welfare would like to see the people responsible for those animals be able to earn enough money to make sure they continue to get complete, top shelf basic care, plus all the niceties, wouldn't you?
Interesting....