Cover image posted to the James Bay Local Facebook page April 14th, 2024.
The Victoria Horse Alliance is blaming the city of Victoria and council for its inaction on longstanding issues with the horse carriage industry after a horse was spooked Sunday morning outside Floyd’s Diner in James Bay.
Full Eye-Witness Account:
Around 11:30 a.m. on Sunday April 14, 2024, while driving south along Menzies Street in Victoria, I witnessed a distressing incident involving a horse and carriage tour. The horse, pulling a carriage with two passengers, displayed signs of distress at the intersection of Menzies and Superior Street. It began to run through the intersection, circling erratically. The coach driver was unable to defuse or control the situation, and eventually jumped from the carriage and was unable to keep hold of the reins. At this point the horse began bucking. The coach driver came close to being trampled as she ran alongside the bucking horse.
While still bucking, the horse began moving towards my stopped vehicle and I became concerned that the horse was going to collide with my car. Concerned for the safety of both myself and the horse, I reversed my vehicle.
Eventually, the horse veered onto the sidewalk near the James Bay Market grass area. The carriage partially mounted the curb, and the passengers jumped off. The situation worsened when the horse broke free from the carriage and darted back into the intersection. Becoming entangled in its reins the horse collapsed onto the concrete, clearly terrified.
The scene was extremely distressing. Amidst the chaos, a bystander, seemingly unrelated to the carriage tour intervened. He approached the horse, grabbed the reins, and guided it to the side of the intersection. This was an extremely disturbing experience for both myself and passenger.
“It was one of the worst things I’ve ever seen. Horses don’t belong on city streets.” said eye-witnesses as they recounted the events they witnessed from their vehicle. They had to go in reverse to avoid the horse making contact with them as it ran in distress.
On April 4th, council voted 5-4 in favour of renewing the carriage lease agreement to operate at Menzies and Belleville for 6 years, with councillor Matt Dell asking for the extension longer than previous lease renewals for unclear reasons.
Predictably, the horse carriage company involved, Tally-Ho, has irresponibly downplayed this major safety incident through their social media page where they said:
“Today our dear Shire mare, Maggie, didn’t appreciate an equipment malfunction and in her zest to shake it off, she had a moment of clumsiness. She slipped and fell, and then quickly got back to her feet. Uninjured. Maybe slightly embarrassed. Her driver immediately got her unharnessed and unhooked; and assessed her well being. Maggie is totally fine, and as per our safety protocols, is back at the farm, with her head buried in her food, as she loves to do.”
This incident mimics the 2018 lease renewal when council renewed the lease for 5 years, and then a month later there was a major incident with two-horses at Ogden Point. That incident led the BC SPCA to call for the horse carriages to be prohibited on city streets and condemned the carriage company for misleading the public on the severity of the incident.
Last July, a carriage horse was spooked at the Menzies and Belleville horse stands, bolted two blocks up to the same intersection at Superior st. and crashed into a bike curb sending horse and driver to the ground with injuries.
Despite years of documentation of bylaw violations, welfare issues, and providing false information to the City and public, the city of Victoria has taken no action on several concerns raised by activists related to horse carriages.
Jordan Reichert, founder of the Victoria Horse Alliance says that every injury to horse or human related to the carriage industry is on council’s hands.
“There is no excuse for the apathy demonstrated by council when you have vulnerable animals being exploited for their labour in inhumane conditions. It must end now.”
The Victoria Horse Alliance is asking for anyone who witnessed the incident, or took videos or images to contact them on Facebook or through their website www.banhorsecarriagesvictoria.org
Thank you to Black Press for their coverage of this story, you can read here.
Victoria Horse Alliance