As the trainer behind a horse killed two years ago faced off on his first day of trial, neighbors poured out outside Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday afternoon to demand the shutdown of the city’s carriage horse industry — at least, that’s what they thought.
Ian McKeever, who is facing animal cruelty charges in the 2022 death of a carriage horse rider, was unable to appear in court Monday due to a scheduling conflict with his lawyer, The Washington Post has learned.
Despite the recess, about 30 demonstrators stayed behind in the scorching heat for the “Ian McKeever Horse Abuse Criminal Trial” protest, co-organized by the nonprofit NYClass (which has fought to ban or restrict carriage horses), PETA and the Marine Corps veteran-led Unbridled Heroes Project.
“We applaud the Manhattan District Attorney for indicting Ian McKeever for the brutal abuse of riders and hope that Mr. McKeever receives the prison time he deserves,” NY Class Executive Director Edita Bernkrant said in a statement.
“But one guilty conviction is not enough to end the suffering of so many other New York City horses, many of whom are as old, injured or ill as their riders, but who continue to be stuck in Midtown traffic every day.”
The tragedy of a rider collapsing and later dying on a crowded Manhattan street in 2022 prompted the creation of “Rider’s Law,” a bill introduced in June by City Councilman Robert Holden that aims to phase out the practice and move the horses to greener pastures.
According to a 2022 poll conducted by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, more than 70% of New Yorkers support legislation banning carriage horses.
McKeever is scheduled to appear in court again when the trial begins on September 13th.
Birnkrant told The Washington Post that he saw McKeever grinning outside the courtroom after a carriage driver learned the trial date had been postponed.
“We went outside and we were walking down the stairs and he turned and smiled at me and he stopped at the top of the stairs and started laughing,” Birnkrant said. “He’s done this before. He laughs. He smirks. He thinks it’s all a big joke.”
McKeever’s lawyer, Robert Loving, described the carriage driver as a respected figure in the industry. He denied charges of overworking the horses, torturing or injuring the animals or failing to feed them properly, and argued his client did not kill the rider but that the sick horse died of cancer.
“This man had worked for a carriage driver for 35 years and had never had any problems,” Loving told the Post.
“Two months after the accident the horse died of cancer and we will argue at trial that the horse had cancer at the time it collapsed and that this was a significant contributing factor in its collapse,” McKeever’s lawyer said.
Monday’s rally called not only for McKeever’s conviction but also for the eradication of an industry “that is rife with unchecked neglect, abuse and death of horses,” NYClass said in a statement.
Birnkrant told The Post that the rally was also organized to condemn the City Council for “turning a blind eye” to widespread animal cruelty by horse-drawn carriage drivers in New York.
“We really wanted him convicted and the strongest possible sentence – not a light sentence, he worked this horse to death,” Birnkrant told the Post. “We need to make an example of this guy who is a leader in the industry who committed such egregious acts of animal cruelty and now he’s laughing about it.”
Earlier this month, the Unbridled Heroes Project inspected the health of carriage horses at a west-side stable and found horses tied up, stalls too small for the horses to lie down, and animals so malnourished that their ribs were visible through their skin.
This month’s heatwaves have prompted the Department of Health to order horses not to be worked when temperatures exceed 90 degrees, but Birnkrant previously told The Washington Post that he has received “dozens” of reports of carriage horses working in the heat since July 5, the first day of a string of heatwave-related work shutdowns.
Bernkrant also complained that the Department of Health and the NYPD aren’t trying hard enough to enforce the strikes, arguing that there’s no mechanism to ensure the law is properly and thoroughly enforced. This lax approach allows unscrupulous drivers to operate with impunity, with little risk of being caught, let alone punished, he said.
To her, the city is “asleep at the wheel.”
“Nothing’s going to change because these agencies have their hands full with human issues,” Birnkrant told the Post. “The Department of Health doesn’t have the capacity to oversee the welfare of 100-plus employees. That’s not going to happen… The city is basically encouraging animal cruelty.”
A Department of Health spokesman said last week that there has been one heat complaint since July 5, an increase from zero heat complaints reported last summer. A follow-up investigation by the NYPD found no violations, the Department of Health said.
Supporters of the Riders Act say the law would liberate not just horses but also carriage drivers, who told The Washington Post that the current heatwave has meant they’ve been unable to work for days due to work stoppages, which has affected their bottom lines.
Holden’s bill would establish a workforce development program to help carriage drivers find other jobs.
“In 21st century New York City, and frankly anywhere else, horses should not be seen struggling to pull carriages in city traffic. It’s an outdated, inhumane and dangerous practice,” Holden said in a statement.
“Passing the horse-drawn carriage ban is the right decision that will protect horses and our public, benefit workers, and bring an end to this cruel and outdated industry.”
