They're as much a part of the Charleston scene as shrimp and grits. Spanish moss. Antebellum mansions. The smell of pluff mud and that other, more equine aroma you occasionally pick up on Market Street.
Horse-drawn carriage tours are a big ticket in town, but who knows what may happen after a proposed ban of such tours in That Big Metropolis Up North.
Last month, a New York City councilman introduced legislation to get rid of the carriage tours in Manhattan, and while it's anybody's guess whether this will get support from the rest of the council, you know People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is all over this one, well, like a bunch of horseflies.
If this measure passes in The Big Apple, don't be terribly surprised to see pressure for similar action here at some point. I feel I can say this because, as falls New York, so falls Charleston. As the city grows, there is more influence from such alien powers. Like with last year's smoking ban, some wiseacre from Up There decided that, gee, if it's good enough for New York, it's good enough for Charleston. That's how these things go.
I'm an animal lover myself; in fact given a choice I'd rather eat greens and grains than animals though I partake of all of it. My dog is quite pampered (and more so as she gets older), and I've been known to feed the turtles that lived in the pond at my old apartment complex. To me, though, PETA represents the fringe of animal-rights efforts. Why is it that you have all the strange-O's on the forefront of activism, the folks that no sane person would lend any credibility to? Doesn't matter what the issue is, either. If it's gun owner's rights, the meda always seems to pay attention to the wild-eyed jerk who shouldn't ever get near a handgun, rather than a Joe Homeowner type wishing to keep a .38 around the house to protect his loved ones. If it's smoker's rights, it's always the tobacco companies -- a sketchy bunch of there ever was one -- in the forefront. No wonder activism has a bad name sometimes, with most people seeing nothing but a freak show.
With this in mind, I feel I can write about this issue more freely, now that I am out of the taxi business, hopefully permanently. Before, I could have written this and the reader would have thought, well, this guy has his personal agenda. But while the carriage tours did give a little competition for my business, they were enough of a destination that people would take a cab to get to the tour staging area. So my taxi driving was, at best, a non-issue, but it's even less of an issue now.
The Charleston area recently felt the brush of PETA after an expose of Mepkin Abbey's egg production in Moncks Corner. OK, the Trappist monks housed the birds in cages. A majority of the eggs produced in the United States came from the same circumstances. Last month, after PETA staged its protests, the monastery announced it was getting out of the egg business. To me, PETA's quest was nothing more than a publicity-fueled witch hunt.
OK. Getting back to the horse-and-buggy issue, the Humane Society of the United States is also backing New York City's proposed ban. Now, that's a more sensible, clear-headed organization, one that actually deserves notice from the media.
Horse-drawn carriage tours are a big ticket in town, but who knows what may happen after a proposed ban of such tours in That Big Metropolis Up North.
Last month, a New York City councilman introduced legislation to get rid of the carriage tours in Manhattan, and while it's anybody's guess whether this will get support from the rest of the council, you know People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is all over this one, well, like a bunch of horseflies.
If this measure passes in The Big Apple, don't be terribly surprised to see pressure for similar action here at some point. I feel I can say this because, as falls New York, so falls Charleston. As the city grows, there is more influence from such alien powers. Like with last year's smoking ban, some wiseacre from Up There decided that, gee, if it's good enough for New York, it's good enough for Charleston. That's how these things go.
I'm an animal lover myself; in fact given a choice I'd rather eat greens and grains than animals though I partake of all of it. My dog is quite pampered (and more so as she gets older), and I've been known to feed the turtles that lived in the pond at my old apartment complex. To me, though, PETA represents the fringe of animal-rights efforts. Why is it that you have all the strange-O's on the forefront of activism, the folks that no sane person would lend any credibility to? Doesn't matter what the issue is, either. If it's gun owner's rights, the meda always seems to pay attention to the wild-eyed jerk who shouldn't ever get near a handgun, rather than a Joe Homeowner type wishing to keep a .38 around the house to protect his loved ones. If it's smoker's rights, it's always the tobacco companies -- a sketchy bunch of there ever was one -- in the forefront. No wonder activism has a bad name sometimes, with most people seeing nothing but a freak show.
With this in mind, I feel I can write about this issue more freely, now that I am out of the taxi business, hopefully permanently. Before, I could have written this and the reader would have thought, well, this guy has his personal agenda. But while the carriage tours did give a little competition for my business, they were enough of a destination that people would take a cab to get to the tour staging area. So my taxi driving was, at best, a non-issue, but it's even less of an issue now.
The Charleston area recently felt the brush of PETA after an expose of Mepkin Abbey's egg production in Moncks Corner. OK, the Trappist monks housed the birds in cages. A majority of the eggs produced in the United States came from the same circumstances. Last month, after PETA staged its protests, the monastery announced it was getting out of the egg business. To me, PETA's quest was nothing more than a publicity-fueled witch hunt.
OK. Getting back to the horse-and-buggy issue, the Humane Society of the United States is also backing New York City's proposed ban. Now, that's a more sensible, clear-headed organization, one that actually deserves notice from the media.
A day on the job
Let's take a look at a horse's life in Charleston. Allegedly, the horses are taken off the streets when the temperature hits 98 degrees and a heat index (which includes humidity) of 125. In my 10 years in Charleston I've maybe seen the temperature hit 98 once or twice, and summers, in truth, are a lot more bearable in dry Bullhead City, Arizona, which hits 125 raw temp) every year. Last summer was a brutal one, with days close to 100 degrees and hot enough to melt your shoeshine right off. But I can't recall any days where the streets were empty of the horses and buggies.
And I've seen how the horses behave in traffic. You can tell by looking when they're nearing the end of a run -- some look a bit more frisky than before, and others look just plain glazed. Just like people on an assembly line when break time approaches. And I've seen horses stagger under their load many a time, and wonder how they actually do the job.
How much do these carriage horses haul?
This isn't difficult to figure out. Based on my observations, larger tour companies in Charleston use the same sized buggy, with four benches seating four people each. The driver may either sit on the front bench with the passengers, or stand in front. So that's 16 or 17 people. Assuming (watch it) each person weighs 150 pounds (a rough estimate allowing for small kids and adults who have eaten too many Big Macs in their time), that's 2,400 pounds, more than a ton of tourists. Add the driver, that's 2,550 pounds -- a lot of human cargo. Try to haul that many people in your car sometime -- assuming you can stuff all of them in the passenger compartment -- and that's one unsteady load.
Most of these wagons are pulled by two horses, though I've seen a few -- notably by the Old South Carriage Co. and the Carolina Polo and Carriage Co. -- that are managed by one horse. However it stacks up, these horses work hard for their oats.
I've talked to a number of carriage drivers over the years, and many swear -- tongue in cheek perhaps -- that the horses are better cared for than the humans. Horses are matched to routes partly by personality. If a horse has a skittish or flighty tendency, he's more likely to pull his loads on a route where there's not as much traffic. While these routes are getting harder to find these days what with Charleston's growing popularity, the heavy-traffic areas -- Market Street in particular -- are still generally reserved for the sturdier, more unflappable horses.
Coexisting with vehicles
But Charleston's traffic patterns often change. Based on the flow I've seen while driving, Wentworth and Beaufain Streets near the old City Jail are a lot busier than they used to be. Just a few years ago both streets were one-ways, giving motorists lots of room to maneuver around a buggy. A perfect route for the flakiest of horses. Since then, though, the City Council opted to open both roads to two-way traffic in an effort to discourage speeders. Made it perhaps safer for the cars, but rougher on the horses as this reconfiguration took away all passing room and made it more likely that some carriage would block traffic. And most of the tourists -- and locals, too -- act like they've never seen a horse before, let alone shared a road with one, so that's when they act stupid. That’s when they beep their horns, race their engines, or even try to pass the buggy with only a few inches to spare.
I'm no rookie around horses. One of my first jobs while in school was stall mechanic -- yeah, a nice term for shovel man -- for a neighbor who boarded her horse nearby. I enjoyed that job. Going to work I'd stop by the supermarket for carrots, and though the horse I was paid to work around got most of these goodies, I always had some for the other horses, too. Call it bribing the gatekeeper. Yes, I had horse flop on my boots at an early age.
Some of this early training clicked in when driving a cab in town, sharing the road with a horse and buggy. And I had some rules I went by. Never beep your horn at a horse; don't want to spook him. Wait for the horse to make the first move. If I'm caught behind a buggy, just chill out and enjoy the view (which never really changes for the buggy driver). Wait for the horse to make the first move. If the driver pulls over, there's my opening. Otherwise, I play it like passing a car, only in slow motion. I'll wait for a big opening coming the other way, give the horse lots of room, and easy my way around. Coasting, if possible, and with my four-way flashers on. Then ease back into my own lane.
If you're blocked behind a buggy, whatever you do, don't get mad at the horses. They were here first. Most of the streets were not laid out for those tin boxes we drive anyway; back then horses ruled the road.
A modest proposal
I’m really amazed that there are not more accidents involving horses, and in a tangle between an open buggy and one of the aforementioned tin boxes, you already know who is going to lose. It’s like a motorcycle vs. a Mack truck – no contest.
But I’m even more amazed the horses don’t require counseling every now and again. Hey, if I was on a Charleston street pulling twice my body weight in tourists, surrounded by cars piloted by loose-footed impatient obnoxious drivers, I’d be a damned basket case. But then, I have enough issues without all that, thank you.
Charming though it is, it’s probably time to put an end to the carriage tours. Or better, ban vehicular traffic on some of the narrower streets, dig up the asphalt, and leave those for horse-drawn traffic and pedestrians only. Limit the carriages to smaller loads – say, about what a 17th or 18th century carriage would hold.
Hey, if you want to tout Charleston’s history, let’s make it authentic.
Let's take a look at a horse's life in Charleston. Allegedly, the horses are taken off the streets when the temperature hits 98 degrees and a heat index (which includes humidity) of 125. In my 10 years in Charleston I've maybe seen the temperature hit 98 once or twice, and summers, in truth, are a lot more bearable in dry Bullhead City, Arizona, which hits 125 raw temp) every year. Last summer was a brutal one, with days close to 100 degrees and hot enough to melt your shoeshine right off. But I can't recall any days where the streets were empty of the horses and buggies.
And I've seen how the horses behave in traffic. You can tell by looking when they're nearing the end of a run -- some look a bit more frisky than before, and others look just plain glazed. Just like people on an assembly line when break time approaches. And I've seen horses stagger under their load many a time, and wonder how they actually do the job.
How much do these carriage horses haul?
This isn't difficult to figure out. Based on my observations, larger tour companies in Charleston use the same sized buggy, with four benches seating four people each. The driver may either sit on the front bench with the passengers, or stand in front. So that's 16 or 17 people. Assuming (watch it) each person weighs 150 pounds (a rough estimate allowing for small kids and adults who have eaten too many Big Macs in their time), that's 2,400 pounds, more than a ton of tourists. Add the driver, that's 2,550 pounds -- a lot of human cargo. Try to haul that many people in your car sometime -- assuming you can stuff all of them in the passenger compartment -- and that's one unsteady load.
Most of these wagons are pulled by two horses, though I've seen a few -- notably by the Old South Carriage Co. and the Carolina Polo and Carriage Co. -- that are managed by one horse. However it stacks up, these horses work hard for their oats.
I've talked to a number of carriage drivers over the years, and many swear -- tongue in cheek perhaps -- that the horses are better cared for than the humans. Horses are matched to routes partly by personality. If a horse has a skittish or flighty tendency, he's more likely to pull his loads on a route where there's not as much traffic. While these routes are getting harder to find these days what with Charleston's growing popularity, the heavy-traffic areas -- Market Street in particular -- are still generally reserved for the sturdier, more unflappable horses.
Coexisting with vehicles
But Charleston's traffic patterns often change. Based on the flow I've seen while driving, Wentworth and Beaufain Streets near the old City Jail are a lot busier than they used to be. Just a few years ago both streets were one-ways, giving motorists lots of room to maneuver around a buggy. A perfect route for the flakiest of horses. Since then, though, the City Council opted to open both roads to two-way traffic in an effort to discourage speeders. Made it perhaps safer for the cars, but rougher on the horses as this reconfiguration took away all passing room and made it more likely that some carriage would block traffic. And most of the tourists -- and locals, too -- act like they've never seen a horse before, let alone shared a road with one, so that's when they act stupid. That’s when they beep their horns, race their engines, or even try to pass the buggy with only a few inches to spare.
I'm no rookie around horses. One of my first jobs while in school was stall mechanic -- yeah, a nice term for shovel man -- for a neighbor who boarded her horse nearby. I enjoyed that job. Going to work I'd stop by the supermarket for carrots, and though the horse I was paid to work around got most of these goodies, I always had some for the other horses, too. Call it bribing the gatekeeper. Yes, I had horse flop on my boots at an early age.
Some of this early training clicked in when driving a cab in town, sharing the road with a horse and buggy. And I had some rules I went by. Never beep your horn at a horse; don't want to spook him. Wait for the horse to make the first move. If I'm caught behind a buggy, just chill out and enjoy the view (which never really changes for the buggy driver). Wait for the horse to make the first move. If the driver pulls over, there's my opening. Otherwise, I play it like passing a car, only in slow motion. I'll wait for a big opening coming the other way, give the horse lots of room, and easy my way around. Coasting, if possible, and with my four-way flashers on. Then ease back into my own lane.
If you're blocked behind a buggy, whatever you do, don't get mad at the horses. They were here first. Most of the streets were not laid out for those tin boxes we drive anyway; back then horses ruled the road.
A modest proposal
I’m really amazed that there are not more accidents involving horses, and in a tangle between an open buggy and one of the aforementioned tin boxes, you already know who is going to lose. It’s like a motorcycle vs. a Mack truck – no contest.
But I’m even more amazed the horses don’t require counseling every now and again. Hey, if I was on a Charleston street pulling twice my body weight in tourists, surrounded by cars piloted by loose-footed impatient obnoxious drivers, I’d be a damned basket case. But then, I have enough issues without all that, thank you.
Charming though it is, it’s probably time to put an end to the carriage tours. Or better, ban vehicular traffic on some of the narrower streets, dig up the asphalt, and leave those for horse-drawn traffic and pedestrians only. Limit the carriages to smaller loads – say, about what a 17th or 18th century carriage would hold.
Hey, if you want to tout Charleston’s history, let’s make it authentic.
2 comments:
One thing that drives me nuts about groups like PETA is when you have an animal that has been in a symbiotic relationship with men for a couple thousand years.
Yes, we need to not abuse horses. My wife and I own a horse and we would never want to advocate hurting them. They are wonderful animals.
But, these animals are pretty much a type of transport. It is not cruel to continue to use them in that role as long as they are treated properly. There are quite a few horses at the stable where we are that enjoy doing some riding and carting. The worst horses there are the ones where the owners never show up and leave them out in the pasture all the time.
Well said, Don Q. Again, the joker in the system in just about any animal-human relationship is the human half.
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