urban decay

Living in a big city means that there are all sorts of strange horse owners floating around. Recently, I found out that This American Life did a series on some young black kids that are known as urban cowboys in the city. they keep their horses at a stable in North Philly and for all intents and purposes the horses seem to be in reasonably good care. Of course, I wish the boys would wear helmets, especially while riding in the streets, but ultimately I am a huge supporter of horses helping kids stay out of trouble. Part of me needs to turn the other way and hope that everything there is ok for the horses. The kids also seem to have a leader of sorts and that is comforting too. Here's a part of the series:

But there is a flip side to all of this. Backyard horses living in conditions that are less than desirable. I am not completely sure what the zoning requirements are for the city and chances are there is a lot of grey area because areas once considered industrial areas are now looked at as loft districts. One thing I know for sure is that the carriage horses, that have been the object of a lot of criticism are very well looked after. I used to live right by the stables and the horses are happy, healthy and if anything, have to follow very strict guidelines to stay in business. My only criticism is that often, drivers have no respect for horses, or carriages and things get a little hairy from time to time.

I remember when I lived in a different part of the city, I would ride my bike home along Spring Garden St, a main thoroughfare of Philadelphia that runs East/West. Right around the "loft district", just north of Chinatown I would occasionally see a grey Percheron behind some buildings. I assumed that someone had a small carriage operation that was run in that district. The horse seemed to be in good shape and I never really thought much about it, outside of the fact that it was strange to see a horse in that neighborhood, until today. One of my good friends often sends me photos of horses he sees around Philly. When he sent this I knew exactly where it was, and after inquiring, I feel a sense of responsibility to do something about it.

This picture looks like something out of a war torn Bosnia. On a very basic level, this is wrong. More than that, I have a personal connection with draft horses and it makes me ill to see this pee stained horse standing out in the elements in a TINY run. His weight seems ok, but I think I need to investigate a little more. For one thing, there's no way this is a legit area for a horse (zoning wise). I don't want to just have a knee jerk reaction and call animal control before finding out more information. The last thing this horse needs is to wind up in a kill pen.

Big city living at its finest!

Tomorrow I will go see Kazi, ride, and give him one million kisses for his second chance at a good life. It's safe to say that everyone deserves a second chance.