Sadly, here is the story of another carriage horse which has succumbed to illness thought to be brought on by improper care, this time in Salt Lake City.
Jerry the Carriage Horse in Salt Lake City
On August 17th, Jerry a 13 year old carriage horse was working in 100-degree heat in SLC pulling carriages when he began kicking his stomach and suddenly went down in the middle of the street. Thought to have colic, he wasn’t able to move and he had to lay on the hot pavement for hours before he was fork-lifted to a trailer and taken back to Carriage for Hire, where he lived. Unfortunately, his condition proved to be too much for him and he passed away that weekend. And now animal activists are up in arms over his owner, Annette Overton, who admittedly posted a fake picture of the horse saying that he was all good, when that was far from the case. Reports are swirling that Jerry was overworked, mistreated and suffered from heat exhaustion. In addition, carriage horses are permitted to work in Salt Lake City as long as the heat index is under 150 degrees! That would mean that the temperature outside would be 107 degrees with 57% humidity, hardly appropriate weather for these working horses. Salt Lake City Councilman Charlie Luke has called for an investigation into the death of Jerry as well as a re-evaluation into the city’s carriage horse ordinance. If you would like to make your voice heard by the Salt Lake City City Council to support the ban on carriage horses, click here.
