It happened in an instant. On June 17, 18-year-old Romanch Mahajan was thrown from a runaway carriage near Tavern on the Green in New York City.

The horse had reportedly become spooked, possibly by a freak electrical current that the city has failed to address. The horse bolted, broke loose from the driver and then slammed into another carriage. Mahajan was critically injured and rushed to a hospital, where he died. The family is suing the city for $105 million. 

About a week prior, a horse named Deniz had collapsed suddenly in Central Park while pulling a carriage with passengers. He never stood back up. According to the necropsy, the cause of death was ingestion of toxic yew plants – a tragedy that proper care and caution might have easily prevented.

These recent events force the question many have been asking for years: Why does the dangerous, cruel and outdated carriage horse industry still exist in cities across the United States?

 Romanch's Law would phase out carriage horses in NYC

The New York City Council is considering a ban on the historic carriage rides. The human and equine deaths in Manhattan sparked a fresh wave of rallying for the passage of what was once called Ryder’s Law, a bill named after a carriage horse who died in Hell’s Kitchen in 2022.

If approved, the bill would phase out carriage horses........

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