Supermodel Bella Hadid urged her over 54 million Instagram followers, New York City mayor Eric Adams and the City Council to help after a carriage horse collapsed on a Manhattan street who was struck and screamed at by his driver.
“I would like to rescue him and take him home to safety,” wrote frequent Vogue cover girl, Bella Hadid, concerning abused and underweight NYC carriage horse Ryder. “Please message me if you have any information. Please.”
On Tuesday a former carriage horse industry advocate told The Post that Ryder’s owner, Ian McKeever, said he has moved the steed to a farm upstate — but animal rights activists quickly rebuffed the claim.
“Ryder is not ‘retired,’ he is being held hostage by his abusers — the very people who have been caught in lie after lie about his horrific neglect and criminal mistreatment,” said Edita Birnkrant, executive director of the animal rights group NYCLASS.
The Post had reported Monday that Ryder was examined by a veterinarian following the Aug. 10 ordeal, during which the sick animal buckled at Ninth Avenue and West 45th Street — then lay there for more than an hour as his driver struck him and screamed for him to get up.
According to an NYPD report, “An initial diagnosis determined that the horse was 28 to 30 years old, rather than the aforementioned 13 years old, that [he] was malnourished, underweight and suffers from the equine neurological disorder EPM (Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis).”
The horse also had abrasions on [his] legs as a result of [his] collapse.
We are the terrorists?
McKeever is quoted as saying regarding those trying to help Ryder and want to know where he is, “A lot of these groups are on the FBI terrorism watch list. It’s really not safe for the horse for us to make this public information.”
Oh, really? You and those of your ilk are the subversives, abusing and terrorizing horses in your control. You should be on a watch list as serial abusers, and never allowed to have a horse under any circumstance.
Additionally, there may be more to this type of “serial abuse” of animals than initially meets the eye. Animal Law Info remind us on their website:
“Cruelty to animals and violence towards people have something in common: both types of victims are living beings, feel pain, experience distress, and may die from their injuries. Until recently, however, violence towards animals has been considered to be unrelated to violence towards children and the elderly, and other forms of domestic violence.”
“A correlation has now been established between animal abuse, family violence, and other forms of community violence. A growing body of research indicates that people who commit acts of cruelty towards animals rarely stop there. Murderers and people who abuse their spouse or children had frequently harmed animals in the past. People who abuse animals may also be dangerous to people.”
Horses are not “its”
Before we go, we mention this.
Visitors are asking why they are suddenly seeing [his], [her], [they] and [them] in our posts, and seen above here. Thank you. Here is the answer.
Horse are not “its”. Nor is any animal. Inanimate objects are “its”. Merriam Webster defines inanimate objects as “a thing that is not alive, such as a rock, a chair, a book, etc.” So we are replacing the words “it” and “its” to drive home the point.
Animals are living, breathing, feeling, sentient beings and should be treated as such. Let us therefore be more mindful to refer to horses — and all animals — correctly, using he, she, his, her, they, them, who and so on.
What difference does it really make? A lot. Language shapes perception which in turn signals how the subject should be viewed, valued or treated.
Remember too, those who exploit animals for profit and pleasure are very clever at manipulating public perception by referring to animals as inanimate objects, or “its”.
Other examples of this is the pro-slaughter movement who use such phrases as “unwanted horses” versus “homeless horses”, or “processing” and “harvesting” instead of “slaughter”. This is a blatant attempt to deflect public attention away from the gruesome facts of what is actually being done.
Interestingly, when researching this issue, we found that newspapers and magazines of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s referred to horses as he, she, him, her, they or them, and so forth. So how did this desensitizing reference to horses (and other animals) begin . . . and why?
So remember! Watch your language. Horses are not “its”.
Thank you everyone. We appreciate you all very much.
Featured Image: Bella Hadid, Galore Magazine
Updated 04.50 pm ET
Tuesday’s Horse
Official Blog of The Fund for Horses
Tuesday's Horse 
I say absolutely let her do it. She has the money to take care of him and would send out a great message to the public and make more people aware if this abusive practice. Bring on the electric cars!!!! GO BELLA
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Many thanks for reminding all of us that animals are not “its.”
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You are so very welcome. Thank you for being here with us.
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