NYC Mayor Adams calls for ban of Central Park horse-drawn carriages, passage of 'Ryder's Law'

Evan Simko-Bednarski and Chris Sommerfeldt, New York Daily News on Sep 17, 2025

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NEW YORK — Mayor Adams Wednesday called on the City Council to pass legislation that would wind down the carriage horse industry in New York, while instructing city agencies to prepare for a ban of the iconic symbols of Central Park.

“I’m calling on the City Council to do what they should have done long ago: end the horse carriage industry in New York City and help keep all New Yorkers — including our animals — safe,” Adams said in a statement.

“ This is not about eliminating this tradition — it’s about honoring our traditions in a way that aligns with who we are today,” he said. “New Yorkers care deeply about animals, about fairness, and about doing what’s right.”

Specifically, Adams called on the Council to enact “Ryder’s Law,” named after a horse that collapsed on a Midtown street in 2022. Ryder’s Law would ban the issuance of additional carriage horse licenses and increase regulation of existing carriage horses in an effort to sunset the industry.

The bill has been before the council since 2022 but has yet to receive a vote.

Carriage driver Ian McKeever was acquitted in July of charges he overworked and tortured Ryder in the months leading up to the equine’s death. But the controversy arose anew last month, when Lady, a 15-year-old carriage horse, died on the street on Aug. 5.

A week later, the Central Park Conservancy came out in favor of passing Ryder’s Law, arguing banning the horses was ” a matter of public health and safety for park visitors.”

There are 68 carriages currently authorized by the city, and roughly 200 licensed horses, according to the Transport Workers Union’s Local 100, which represents roughly 200 horse drivers and stable-hands.

TWU’s international president, John Samuelsen, blasted Adams’ announcement Wednesday, and said he doubted the City Council would vote to ban the horses.

“Eric Adams is a liar — he knows the horses are not mistreated,” Samuelsen said. “Independent experts and veterinarians have attested to this fact repeatedly.”

“This thing is replete with all kinds of conflicts,” he said.

As previously reported by The News, Adams last month tasked First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro to meet with advocates and industry representatives in an effort to find what a City Hall spokesman called “a better path forward” on the carriage horse issue.

In 2018, while working as an attorney in private practice, Mastro represented New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets — the primary organization pushing for Ryder’s Law — in a suit brought by a carriage horse owner.

Samuelsen further alleged that the effort to ban carriage horses was part of a plan to develop housing on the site of the carriage horses’ midtown stables — a rumor circulating since the DeBlasio administration.

“Its all about development of the Westside stables,” Samuelsen said.