Forgot to add that although the nail didn't break any bones, that foot has become something of a barometer, aching when the weather's about to change. The horses came to mind because I had just read a news story about how the PETAn's and others are trying to have the NYC hansom carriage rides shut down because it's "cruel to horses." I'm all for treating animals decently but horses have been earning a living pulling things ever since there were things that needed pulling. Why do they need protection from something they were born and bred to do?
I learned a lot working at one NYC's only horse stables as I am sure those that care for the hansom cab horses do. At some point someone has to declare that animals aren't people. Next thing you know the PETAn's will be demanding the right to vote for horses. Cynical New Yorkers claim that the only thing driving this recently reignited protest is that a real estate developer wants the very valuable land the stables are situated on. An ASPCA doctor claims she was coerced into writing a negative report about their care.
When I drove hay wagons through the streets of Staten Island the horses didn't seem to mind - they would run the route themselves if we had let them. There was always a stream of little kids coming out to look at the Clydesdale teams we ran (Punch & Judy, Bonnie & Clyde, Jack & Jill and a few more my poor fading memory can't recall).
I am certain that for many, it was the only time in their lives they had ever been 10 feet away from a real horse. Yes, we had accidents. People got hurt, horses got hurt, cars got banged up but it wasn't often and it certainly didn't justify shutting the whole operation down as the PETAn's are trying to do to the cab drivers. The real irony is that if the hansom cab rides are forced to shut down, a lot of the horses running that route will likely be put down. Yeah, PETA, show us how much you love animals. Better dead than alive and doing what I think they clearly enjoy doing. I say that only because I know what it takes to get a horse to do something it DOESN'T want to do.
-- Bobby G.