Carriage Driver on Trial After Elderly Horse Collapses in Heat

The criminal trial of longtime New York City carriage driver Ian McKeever kicked off this week, as prosecutors argue he forced a 26-year-old horse named Ryder to work for hours in stifling summer heat before the animal collapsed in the middle of a busy Manhattan street.

McKeever, 56, appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge of overdriving, torturing, and injuring an animal. The incident in question took place on August 22, 2022, when the temperature hit 84 degrees in the city. According to prosecutors, Ryder had already been pulling a carriage for more than seven hours before he went down.

Eyewitness Caroline Londahl-Smidt, who took the stand Tuesday, testified that she saw Ryder in “major distress” as he struggled to pull the carriage uphill. She told the jury that McKeever appeared frustrated, allegedly yanking and shaking the reins before the horse collapsed. Prosecutors say Ryder then spent an hour lying on the pavement as officers and good Samaritans tried desperately to cool him down with water and ice.

Eventually, the exhausted horse was able to stand and was taken away in a police trailer. Ryder was later moved to an upstate farm, where a vet discovered he was suffering from heart disease, intestinal issues, and was far older than McKeever had initially claimed—26 years old, not the teenage horse he reportedly told authorities he was.

The vet’s conclusion was blunt: Ryder “should not have been working.” He was euthanized just two months later.

Despite this, McKeever’s defense team insists Ryder didn’t collapse from exhaustion. “Ryder’s fall is heartbreaking,” defense attorney Raymond Loving said in court, “but the evidence in this case is not going to show that Ryder fell because Ian overdrove him.” The defense claims Ryder simply tripped.

Prosecutors aren’t buying it. “The defendant chose to press on, business as usual, and overwork Ryder,” said Assistant District Attorney Taylor Maurer.

McKeever, a carriage driver for over 30 years, is expected to testify later in the trial. If convicted, he faces up to a year behind bars, though fines or community service are also on the table.

The case has reignited a citywide debate over the use of horse-drawn carriages. Animal rights groups have rallied around Ryder’s story, pushing lawmakers to pass “Ryder’s Law,” a proposed bill that would phase out the industry altogether. The carriage driver’s union is firmly opposed.