Long time, no see!

It's been more than a year since I posted here on The Whiffle Tree -- many apologies to my readers.

As my grandmother would say, I have "a lot of irons in the fire" these days.

But The Whiffle Tree is officially resurrected, as of today.

I'd like to start off with an offering from a new venue I have been fortunate enough to participate in; I am now the NY Urban Horse Examiner for Examiner.com!

Please take a few minutes to read my very first article, published today.

Would love to hear your feedback!

http://www.examiner.com/urban-horses-in-new-york/a-complete-guide-to-your-nyc-carriage-ride

Here It Is: The New Law for the NYC Horse & Carriage Industry

As promised in my last post, here is the link to our new legislation for anyone who is interested:

http://legistar.council.nyc.gov/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=649931&GUID=A94F649F-F5BA-4F19-AE0A-69866F5E697C&Options=ID|Text|&Search=carriage+horse

I'd be delighted to answer any questions!

Congratulations to the NYC Horse and Carriage Industry!

This past week the NYC Council passed our bill, Intro 35A with a vote of 46-4 with Mayor Bloomberg expected to sign it into law in the coming days!

2+ years of hard work on the part of many of our members has paid tremendous dividends for both us and our horses, as this bill codifies our high standards, and gives us our first rate increase in 21 years!

We will now be able to go ahead with our pro-active agenda, both for the horses and the industry as a whole. The rate increase plus the fact that the time-consuming work of getting the bill passed is over, will now allow us to tend to our business, and also loosens our purse strings with regards to improvements.

Make no mistake; all provisions in this bill were carefully handcrafted jointly by the industry, the NYC Rental Horse Advisory Board, and Councilmembers. The media is reporting this story as if the horse care provisions were "forced" on the industry -nothing could be further from the truth. *WE* were the ones who wanted to standardize the quality of care our horses receive - there is nothing in this bill that we either didn't suggest or agree with.

A very special THANK YOU to Teamsters Local 553 - we could not have done this without your dedication and help!

Another big THANK YOU to Council Speaker Christine Quinn, for standing up for what is right in the face of ridicule, abuse, and harassment by the "animal rights" contingent.

A hearty THANK YOU to all the Councilmembers who voted for us.

A horsey THANK YOU to our brethren carriage operators across the country for your loyalty and moral support!

Most of all, a resounding THANK YOU to the most important people - OUR CUSTOMERS. You are the reason for our existence, your patronage is highly appreciated, and allows us to continue being ambassadors for NYC.

I'll post more on the bill later, including a link to the actual legislation.

For now, I just want to say (with apologies to Robert Duvall):

"I love the smell of horse manure in the morning....it smells like -
Victory."

Carriage Horse Chuckle from Charleston

Re: my previous post concerning Charleston's carriage trade...seems someone down there understands PETA's, um, position perfectly. Look closely ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>>>>>>>

NYC's Very Own Pinocchio

Sorry to intrude on this fine soft evening with unpleasantness, but the simple truth is that our on-going fight with Councilmember Tony Avella (flanked by his coterie of conspirators and his ever-present sidekick band of slavering minions, of course), is being kicked into high gear here in dear old New York.

In a post this coming weekend, I'll be getting into the particulars of the latest salvos fired at our lovely little business (and also divulging a few very interesting tidbits of some of our detractors' behind-the-scenes shenanigans that we have recently uncovered!)

But until then, here is a list of the oft-repeated lies that are making Mr. Avella's nose very long indeed:

TONY AVELLA AND HIS LIST OF LIES

LIE:
"Other major cities across the planet have banned horse drawn carriages."
-Tony Avella, The Brian Lehrer Show 12/11/2007
TRUTH:
The fact is that there are horse drawn carriages in nearly EVERY major city in both the US and Europe.

LIE:
"The horses are forced to walk several miles back to their stables at the end of the day."
-Tony Avella, The Brian Lehrer Show 12/11/2007
TRUTH:
NO carriage stable is further than 1 1/2 mile from the park, and two of them 1/2 mile.

LIE:
"The horses are worked in illegal temperatures."
-Tony Avella, The Brian Lehrer Show 12/11/2007
TRUTH:
The horses are not allowed to work below 18F or above 89F, and there have been NO summonses issued in violation of these laws by any agency in the last 14 years.

LIE:
"The horses are kept in narrow stalls."
-Tony Avella, The Brian Lehrer Show 12/11/2007
TRUTH:
EACH AND EVERY carriage horse is housed in a BOX STALL (unlike some riding horses and police horses in the city, which are kept in "straight" stalls.)

LIE:
"The horses ...are improperly fed"
-Tony Avella, The Brian Lehrer Show 12/11/2007
TRUTH:
EVERY carriage horse receives a high quality diet of oats/sweetfeed/pellets and hay. NO tickets have EVER been given by any agency for "improper feeding".

LIE:
"There is only one water basin at Central Park."
-Tony Avella, The Brian Lehrer Show 12/11/2007
TRUTH:
There are TWO horse troughs with a constantly running spigot at Central Park, and EVERY carriage originating its ride anywhere on 59th Street passes EACH one on EACH ride.

LIE:
"The horses are not properly watered."
-Tony Avella, The Brian Lehrer Show 12/11/2007
TRUTH:
NO diagnosis or summonses have EVER been given for dehydration. A horse that is "not properly watered" would soon sicken and die from complications of dehydration, like any mammal.
NO HORSE has ever died from dehyration.

LIES, LIES, LIES
So -how's the ole schnoz, there, Tony?
(And wouldn't a wooden nose be attached to a wooden head? LOL)

Soon Mr. Avella might be needing some help lugging that growing nose around - yanno, for when he's busily bustling around, sticking it in other people's business.

Maybe the Coalition to Ban Horse Drawn Carriages will buy a nice wheelbarrow for Tony's nose with all that $$$ they make from those fundraisers!

(What DO they do with all that moolah, anyways?)