San Antonio has launched an online survey to gain public input as City Council weighs a potential ban on horse-drawn carriages, a controversial fixture of downtown tourism.
The city’s Community Engagement Team developed the survey to gather public input ahead of the August meeting of the Transportation Advisory Board. Feedback from the survey will provide guidance to the board as it considers making recommendations affecting the future of carriage operators.
Debate over the carriages reignited in public forums such as Facebook and Reddit after the survey went live last week. It will remain online through Tuesday, Aug. 13.
Animal-rights advocates have raised concerns about the treatment of carriage horses, which are kept in a warehouse near I-37 and East Houston Street when they’re not at work. Animal advocates warn that use of the horses on city streets is damaging to their hooves over time. Others have raised concerns about the animals’ exposure to car exhaust and the potential that they could be involved in catastrophic accidents.
However, defenders of the carriage companies point to guidelines laid out by equine veterinarian Benjamin Espy, who doesn’t support eliminating the carriages. In a column penned for the San Antonio Report, Espy has said city officials didn’t consult with him prior to a push by some council members to ban the carriages.
“The current working conditions for horses are not inhumane […] and council members would know this had they sought information about these operations at any point since I’ve worked with the city,” wrote Espy, who also mentioned that carriage operators own more horses than permits, and rotate through the animals to give them breaks on their farms, located outside of San Antonio.
A provision in the city charter also prohibits operators from using the horses in temperatures over 95 degrees. The animals also must remain stabled during high-traffic hours during Air Quality Health Alert Days.
Even so, carriage companies have sought, unsuccessfully, to loosen the restrictions, arguing they’re a burden to business.
Those in favor of eliminating horse-drawn carriages have raised the possibility of replacing them with electric carriages and pedicabs. However, carriage operators question where the fleet of over 100 horses would go if the rides are banned entirely and have warned that some animals would end up being put down.
In addition to the black-and-white options of banning or keeping the horses downtown, a third option in the online survey would relegate carriage rides to city parks. Advocates argue the horses would be less exposed to car fumes and wouldn’t block downtown traffic.
District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez has led a two-year effort to ban horse-drawn carriages from downtown streets. In December 2022, he co-authored a proposal with District 3 Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran to phase out horse-drawn carriages by December 2023.
Viagran has since distanced herself from a complete ban, citing the job loss among carriage drivers. However, District 6 Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Havrda has taken up the issue, calling for an independent veterinarian to inspect the horses for health issues related to vehicle exhaust fumes after Espy claimed to find none.
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This article appears in Best of San Antonio 2024.