BY Kerry Burke , Annie Karni , Ginger Adams Otis / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Former mayor Rudy Giuliani said horses that are bred to work will die without it. Roger, the russet-colored horse who’s been a fixture in New York and on TV in shows like ‘Sex & the City’ and ‘Law & Order,’ will retire after 17 years on the job.
Carriage horse, Roger and his owner, Ian McKeever, pose for one of their final photos in Central Park on Monday, the day before Roger heads to retirement pastures in Syosset.
Rudy Giuliani displayed his horse sense Tuesday with an impassioned defense of the carriage industry that Mayor de Blasio has vowed to ban.
“Horses that have been bred to work, when you put them out on the farm, they die,” Giuliani said during a morning TV appearance on “Good Day New York.”
“If we take these horses, what, are we gonna put them on food stamps? They might not want the food stamps, they’re gonna want to work,” the former mayor continued, speaking from the horses’ perspective.
“Look, I’m not a horse psychologist, nobody is, but the horses are happy as far as you can tell. . . . I’m a horse that’s bred to work. If you stop me from working, I’m gonna get depressed,” he noted.
It was the second time this week that Giuliani took to the airwaves to share his opinion of the city’s new leadership, after months of keeping mum on de Blasio’s job performance. On Sunday, Giuliani said that de Blasio’s policies were “moving the city in the wrong direction.”
His criticism of de Blasio’s campaign promise to shut down the horse carriage industry came just as one of its most beloved members — Roger the red-headed gelding — trotted off to retirement.
The 21-year-old hung up his horseshoes Tuesday after 17 years of hauling tourists and posing for pictures along Central Park South.
Roger took his last turn around the park, pulling owner Ian McKeever, 45; his wife, Geraldine, 49, and their kids, Jack, 13, Kacie, 11, and James, 7.
“It’s very sad. Roger is our family pet. Before we had kids, we had Roger,” said Geraldine.
Jack came up with the idea of making Roger’s last ride a family affair.
“He’s been in our family longer than I have. I love him,” said Jack, who came along several years after his dad rescued the abused horse from an Amish farm.
The winsome animal has a fan following thanks to his appearances over the years in “Sex and the City” and “Law & Order,” as well as in feature films.
Roger, an American saddlebred-Belgian mix, will retire to a Syosset, L.I., farm that is 10 miles from the McKeevers’ home.
It will be quite a change from his stables at 48th St. and 11th Ave., where he’s followed the same basic routine for the past 17 years. Two or three times a week, usually from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., he’s clopped along city streets to Central Park.
“He’s one of the longest-running horses out here,” said Ian McKeever, who found Roger on the Amish farm in the late 1990s. The emaciated horse was headed to auction — and the slaughterhouse — until McKeever stepped in and bought him.
McKeever, who owns six other carriage horses, scoffed at allegations from animal-rights groups that drivers are abusive.
“We take fantastic care of our horses. If we didn’t, he wouldn’t be able to do this for 17 years,” he said.
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Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
Yeah, fun wearing blinders for 17 years.
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Terri, this horse evidently was headed for slaughter when this family bought him, took him home, gave him a meaningful life and are obviously very attached to him. Blinders actually are a blessing for a horse hauling anything and they are much calmer and happier with them than without. And truthfully, he was not wearing them “for 17 years” continuously… many other posters here have objected to the amount of down time these horses have in their home stalls. While I don’t know how many hours and for how many days in a row Roger wore blinders it surely wasn’t during his time off the clock.
It seems your words here would suggest this life was absolute hell and he would have been better off slaughtered. If you could ask Roger which option he would choose, which do you think he would opt for?
Rescuing every unwanted horse in this country is not a financially sustainable proposition, and since Roger was at a sale he was already passed over by any such organization. These people have not harmed this horse but together created a meaningful life in what was a legal business.
Work is work, for people or horses, so unless your argument is neither should have to work your comment comes across as mean spirited sniping, which helps neither any horses or any people. None of these issues are as black and white as we’d wish but I personally do not object to the grand alliance between horses and humans. A world where horses are only artifacts on display will be a very impoverished one indeed, in my view.
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Giuliani’s political career is over, so he should stay out of it. And he is certainly not an animal psychologist, as a horse would rather stand under a shade tree swishing flies than work. How many wild mustangs run, unless they have to. Animals are not humans. What work they do, they do for humans, not themselves.
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Equine welfare advocates need to become familiar with the working, sport, and leisure horse industries. We seem to have an appalling lack of awareness of what Horse’s need to be horse “happy.”. Horses thrive on routine and the companionship of other Horse’s, which they have when they are not working. These Horse’s are well fed, reasonably well groomed, sturdy animals. The Horse’s that are used in NYC are bred for pulling plows, timber, and heavy work.
Blinders? You have a problem with blinders? You are worried about horse safety and yet you think blinders are cruel. If you spend any time at all around Horses you should know that even the calmest, well-trained horse can spook at something he’s seen 10 times a day for 10 years if it looks even slightly different. Blinders keep the horse from seeing something in his peripheral vision and spooking cause he is startled. Horses sometimes wear ear plugs when showing to prevent the startle response to unpredictable sounds. These are for the safety of horse, rider, and spectator. Horses can actually be very protective of their human partners, but the primitive fear response never goes away. Horses don’t have the best depth perception, so the blinders are a great help when horse is under harness.
I hope that the forces determined to get rid of U.S. Horses and burros don’t get help from horse advocates.
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If we are not careful, horses will become trophies of the wealthy … extinct in the wild and in “civilization” … at least for the average person. Like people, working horses and working dogs need to work otherwise they get bored, depressed, challenging and destructive.
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hmmm can we apply that same ignorance to lets say…women.. we are basically bred to have children.. so.. if thats not going to happen.. then we will die.. or lets say men . who were hunters etc.. in days gone by.. so they no longer hunt.. etc.. are they going to die.. who in the world comes up with that stupid logic…
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there is a difference between a happy horse and a complacent horse. A happy, proud horse will hold his head high and proud.a horse who hangs his head lose, down is not happy. Body language, and living beings have body language all you have to do is pay attention. It is sad, that in the 21 years of his life, this is all he has ever known
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A horse with his head down could be asleep. Or relaxing as a friend gives him a massage. Or sniffing something interesting.
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Isn’t that wonderful. At 21, the teeth are going – what does he feed Roger that he can pull a wagon. I wonder if any of these peopole have thought to hook themselves up in a harness and pull, stop, turn and stand for horses – what 10 to 5? Its BS. Well, Roger if I don’t read another story about the carriage horses, this one will resonate. You can retire now old boy, like you should have done long ago. You earned your keep and more. Guiliano is a blowhard. Hey, put him in a harness!
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Guiliani was always part of the problem, he looked the other way while NYC carriage horses were sent to slaughter when they were either too old or didn’t work out on NYC streets. There is NO paper trail for carriage horses sold outside of NY state, and we all know that the auctions are not in NY state, so these guys can sell the horses to slaughter and get away with it. The Coalition to Ban Horse Drawn Carriages partnered with a Sanctuary to rescue one such horse they sent to slaughter and there have been countless others, over the last 30 years, easily thousands that they slaughtered by the very people who made a living off of their backs. This is a shameful, disgusting industry and Guiliani should be ashamed of himself for defending them! I’ve seen horses with their noses flat pressed against vehicles in front of them, I’ve seen horses standing in filthy street water when they could have been moved a few inches to dry surface. The water troughs in Central Park are always garbage filled, and the horses are forced to eat grain in small buckets infested with pigeon pooh. And there are no daily turnouts for these horses, each stable only has one turnout, so only one horse can occupy that turnout, leaving all the other horses cramped until it is their turn weeks or months later! They don’t see pasture daily and even in Central Park they are not driven in shaded areas, their hooves are always on cement, and they are always tethered, a horrible existence for horses, Guiliani is an idiot and a Mayor he consistently showed his indifference and/or ignorance toward basic animal protection.
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Yes, McKeever saved Roger, Roger is a favorite, but only the favorite horses get retired to pasture, all the others are slaughtered. Why would these guys pay to care for horses too skittish to work out on NYC streets, so what do people think happens to those horses, thousands have passed through here and disappeared. Please don’t be fooled by these guys, I live here and this environment is HELL on these horses.
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Susan, aren’t you saying here the horses that “make it” are the ones who can adapt… as Roger has. It makes no sense to suggest that people buy horses for this business knowing they are “skittish” and not likely to settle in, in fact the opposite would be a more logical scenario. This is partly why Amish trained horses are finding ready buyers; they do work them hard on the roads to get the “spook” out of them (not always successfully, I should add), but the buyers are surely not intending to buy a headache, they are looking for a partner.
And can you provide some evidence of your claim that “all” the other carriage horses who don’t adapt to the job are sent to slaughter? Have none ever been resold to new owners, or given away, or euthanized, since New York was founded, for instance?
Also, the slaughter pipeline sucks up far more than carriage horses and must be dismantled, but blaming a few carriage business owners for a microscopic percentage of this international level horse holocaust is a bit of a stretch. There are plenty of non-horse business owners who can’t afford to retire horses to pasture either. In fact, they are surely the majority supplying unwanted horses for slaughter. They just aren’t easily located in a central, public location as the carriage horses are. As an extreme example I can relate seeing a horse in a farm pasture, with about eight others, none of whom had been handled in many many years, but they were not starving and had good food, water, and shelter naturally. They were content… but one obviously had broken a front leg some time ago when I saw them. It had healed but due to the angularity no vet had attended, the horse simply suffered until the break fused sufficiently for the horse to get around. There was enough grass there he hadn’t had to move much to eat or drink.
So, who is the neglectful owner here? If given a choice, what would each horse choose in their dealings with the people who “own” them? We have to consider each horse as an individual regardless of our opinions, because they are. Blanket assumptions either by pro or anti horse people both disrespect the horses themselves.
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I have to share this with everyone , I am not a horse so maybe this might be a little far fetched , but i believe that everything needs a Job something to make life acceptable, I have been retired for 3 years and I hate it with a passion, I have never felt so useless, am trying to get a part time job, something to help people and animals , the horses have been my passion for all of my life , I love them dearly, I have had many of them , each one is different but all like to be apart of something , I have seen their pride and happiness, when they know they just did something awesome !!!!! No horse needs to be apart of Cruelty and abuse of any kind, I will be the first to make a stand on that, but I see nothing wrong with Carriage rides IN CENTRAL PARK, and owners who respect and care for their Horses as if they are Family …. An Owner always KNOWS when his or her Horse is Happy !!!!!! And the feeling knowing that is AWESOME !!!! The Carriage Horse owners need to be aware of all things with their Horse , and any owner knows when his horse needs whatever it might be and should always take care of their needs…………
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You mean except for the stalling for 17 hours for weeks on end part?
“Carriage from the farm” in Central Park only may be an option – but owners would have to spend time/gas money hauling to take care of their horse’s actual needs
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Where there is a will, there is a way. to make everyone happy !!!!!
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Regardless, of the other comments, Arlene, I’m with you. My granddaughter drove carriages in Texas & I KNOW her feelings for horses & how she cared and took care of them. They had to trailer the horses from their barn to the place where they drove them. Seems to me that if your living depends on an animal – you make sure they are taken care of. And Arlenes’ right – horses, just like dogs, just like humans, like to have a job. I do think Central Park is safer for them to be, but since the stables are in the city itself – doubt that trailering them to the park is an option.
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After thinking about it – there are many, many horses that are stalled 24/7. Its NOT in the horses best interest. The ideal situation would be 24 hour pasture, but honestly how many horses (dressage, race horses, show horses, etc) actually get to have that? I boarded my horse & he was turned out daily (winter) and nightly in the summertime. But many of the horses at the farm where he lived only got an hour or so turnout. There just weren’t enough pastures – some of the horses would get nuts because of flies, etc. They weren’t used to being “out”. My boy was & he had his “herd” that was together in the pasture. Which is the ideal situation – in my opinion. BUT I know of lots of boarding barns where that just is not done!
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Dear Maggie , Thank You !!!! I dont like taking their Jobs away , I just simply want for them to live without abuse and cruelty !!!!
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Maggie, I agree except I hasten to add that SOME horses like to have a job, while some clearly don’t. Having free will and individuality means they will let you know in no uncertain terms if you ask them to do something they don’t want to. Working with horses is alway an agreement on many levels.
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Hey Rudy
Equine101 much ?
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Dear Maggie, my Friend has Horses and although they have complete access to their stalls , they rarely use them !!!! They prefer the pasture…………..?????
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Your friend is lucky & so are her horses. That sounds like horse heaven! The barn where I first boarded only brought the horses in for feed am & pm – they were turned back out right after. They developed “herds”, too. There were around 30 horses in one huge pasture. I moved Chico after they started using round bales – he had some kind of allergic reaction to something in the hay. I had to pull him from the pasture & have him put in a paddock during the day! He hated it & supposedly caused “problems” for the people that worked there – so we moved.
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3 Weeks ago her Barn burnt down, they have a lean to, and still prefer the pasture , she is planning to rebuild but lots of red tape, her Farm is in the Metro parks and belongs to them…. she will have water sprinklers installed in the new one !!!!!
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arlene:
Where is your friend’s former barn? I’m just curious about what type of sprinkler system. I understood that water systems can’t be used in freezing climates and chemical systems are dangerous to animals. But maybe technology has changed.
I have NEVER understood why sprinkler systems couldn’t be put in barns, especially in the southwest. I’ve always understood it’s about money.
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Giuliani is lookin out for the income that the horses make the city. Also, they are taxed for this income. If there are no horse drawn carriages in Central Park, NYC will lose a tax revenue. This is not about caring for horses it is always about the money. These carriage horses need to be monitorered by the City Police Department/ASPCA/etc. to see if they are receiving clean water, clean regular food and health checks. NYC needs to protect their tax investments, that being horse drawn carriages. After the carriage horses retired there should be a retirement horse Sanctuary set up for them. Where the retired horses go should be guaranteed a retirement place and not some slaughterhouse farm.
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Arlene,
So sorry about your friend’s barn – how fortunate she is that the horses were safe. Hope she can get her new barn built (w/sprinklers), and everything goes well.
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It happened at 6pm in the evening , Horses were all safe, but she did lose 3 sheep and 4 peacocks and 30 bunnies , she was in Washington DC Lobbying !! when it happened ……. Thank You Maggie !!!! she is still devastated !!!!
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arlene:
Please see my post above…I had some questions.
Sorry about the animals she lost….hate barn fires! The bane of animal existence…tinder boxes; hay, straw, electrical, lightning, etc. Awful.
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I feel for her – losing the sheep & peacocks and the rabbits. Just because they are smaller doesn’t make them any less important. How awful to come home to that.
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Yes , Thank You she is very upset , she almost lost it, it took alot to get her home from Washington DC, she tried to get on the plane but they wouldnt let her on she was hysterical, then she disappeared we couldnt find her , finally she answered a text, it took 4 hrs on the phone to get her a flight the next day,we had to talk to her to get her to come back !!!! Now she has lots of grief from the metro parks , but I am sure it will work out , we dont know what happened to her Peacocks, we are hoping they just ran away scared cause they were not locked in the barn ????? lots of woods surrounding the Farm, they could be out there >>> she still cries about the animals lost in the fire !!!! she does have 130 sheep, all 3 horses and a colt , and 5 border Collies, 1 of them caught on fire but thanks to a responder he let them out of the kennel attached to the barn, the one that caught on fire when he released them all he immediately rolled in the snow and was taken to Vet, he is doing really good now………….. and is at home !!!! Again Maggie thank you for caring !!!!!
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Dear Denise , I am not sure about the Sprinkling System Yet , but I will find Out and let you know, we are finding out about lots of things ………………………
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Giuliani is no longer in office, so why not get upset with the unions who don’t support the move to eliminate horse carriages? The new mayor promised to ban the carriages and now some are laying it on Giuliani just because he doesn’t support it? That makes no sense to me. Perhaps, a promise made in the heat of a campaign is also one that should not have been made in the first place if there is no broad support.
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Those horses might be rehomed into a situation like being used for pet therapy. They’ve seen it all, are mostly bomb proof. It shouldn’t be difficult to put them into a situation like a petting zoo or perhaps something like Old Friends where folks who have come to know these horses can go to visit them.
Sure it’ll be different but no different than what Zenyatta did when she retired. Her handlers took her out for several weeks on a lead. Walking around so she could clearly see her field and get use to it. Use the same basic common sense.
And just be Giuliani would be depressed if he didn’t work anymore–I DON’T MISS IT IN THE LEAST! Everytime I think of even the smallest chance my panic attack sets off. So I say whooppee whopper big deal for him. He’s even more guilty of anthropomorphism than any of us.
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Horses need work to be happy? I’m not so sure, Mr. Giuliani. What horses like is hanging out with their friends, mutual grooming, eating, sqabbling, snoozing and playing. And making more horses, if they are able. When they are left alone that’s what they do. Work can be fun, maybe fulfilling, but if you ask a horse to chose between going to work or fooling around with other horses, there is no contest.
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Dear Susan sounds like a mirror image to me, dont forget that working gives us purpose, makes playing a whole lot more fun, when were done !!!!!!!
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I do not like how this issue is dividing horse advocates! Instead of the 130 horses in New York lets get back to the 130,000 horses going to slaughter each year and the wild horses who have their most peaceful and idyllic lives ripped away from them by our government who sees them as nothing but a pest.
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I have addressed this a week ago… and no one answered !!!! The Wild Mustangs are the ones being tortured and they are the main issue !!!!Priority One !!!!!!
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