<!-- wp:html --><p>Richard B. Levine/Getty</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/15/nyregion/carriage-driver-horse-ryder-nyc.html">Central Park carriage driver hit with animal abuse charges</a> after his exhausted, elderly horse collapsed last year on a sweltering Manhattan street <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/10/17/nyc-carriage-horse-ryder-dies-months-after-collapsing/">and later died</a> also ruined a fellow New York City carriageman’s business in the process, a new lawsuit alleges.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/21/nyregion/carriage-horses-new-york.html">Viral video emerged</a> in August 2022 of <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/08/10/carriage-horse-passes-out-near-midtown-manhattan/">Ian McKeever flogging the 26-year-old standardbred</a>, sprawled out in Midtown during rush hour, while shouting, “Get up! Get up! C’mon, get up!”</p>
<p>The horse, named Ryder, <a href="https://twitter.com/nyclass/status/1557482456470765571">was saved by responding NYPD officers</a> but was euthanized several months later. The footage prompted a <a href="https://friendsofanimals.org/will-2023-finally-bring-an-end-to-the-nyc-carriage-horse-industry/">renewed call for a ban on carriage horses in the city</a>. In November, <a href="https://manhattanda.org/d-a-bragg-announces-charges-against-driver-of-nyc-carriage-horse-ryder/">McKeever was charged with overdriving, torturing and injuring animals and failure to provide proper sustenance</a>, a misdemeanor carrying up to a year in jail.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/viral-carriage-horse-driver-ian-mckeever-sued-for-ruining-rivals-reputation">Read more at The Daily Beast.</a></p><!-- /wp:html -->
