Mayor Adams comes out in support of a bill to ban carriage horses

For decades, the horse-drawn carriages clip-clopping through Central Park have been one of those quintessential New York sights that make tourists swoon and locals roll their eyes. Depending on who you ask, they’re either romantic relics of a bygone era or cruel anachronisms that don’t belong anywhere near midtown traffic. Now, the fight over their future has a heavyweight player: Mayor Eric Adams.

On September 17, Adams announced his support for Ryder’s Law, a bill that would ban carriage horses in New York City by June of 2026. It’s a significant political shift, not least because the mayor has been notably cautious about taking a position until now. But citing a series of disturbing incidents (including the highly publicized 2022 collapse and death of a horse named Ryder, the August de