In a scene straight out of a period drama gone rogue, two carriage horses bolted through Central Park on Monday afternoon, causing injuries and chaos.
The mayhem unfolded around 2.30 pm near the Central Park Zoo when a carriage horse named Shadow, spooked while preparing for a passenger ride, slipped out of his bridle and took off first into city traffic near 59th Street, then veering back into the park, where he crashed into a line of parked pedicabs.
As Shadow’s panic spread, a second horse joined the runaway. Though neither carriage had passengers at the time, the high-speed stampede injured multiple people, including a driver with a broken wrist, another reportedly kicked in the head, and a third with a broken hand.
Hero pedicab driver intervenes (again)
A quick-thinking pedicab driver, who had also helped stop a runaway horse just a week earlier, once again became an unlikely Central Park cowboy. He pedalled into the chaos to intercept Shadow’s carriage but was kicked during the commotion and suffered a leg injury.
“Thankfully, I was not killed. It was too scary,” the heroic driver told The Post, declining to give his name. His pedicab was flipped in the effort, and after helping secure the runaway horse, he even gave Shadow’s injured driver a ride to Mount Sinai West hospital.
Activists say it’s only a matter of time
The incident, the second in just over a week, has reignited the long-running battle between animal rights activists and the city’s carriage horse industry. At a rally outside City Hall on Wednesday, NYCLASS executive director Edita Birnkrant called the event “a miracle” that no one was killed but warned, “The luck is going to run out.”
Protesters staged a dramatic demonstration by dousing themselves in fake blood to demand a ban on the “deadly and dangerous” industry. Birnkrant claimed such incidents, ranging from crashes to collapses, have been far too common.
The mayhem unfolded around 2.30 pm near the Central Park Zoo when a carriage horse named Shadow, spooked while preparing for a passenger ride, slipped out of his bridle and took off first into city traffic near 59th Street, then veering back into the park, where he crashed into a line of parked pedicabs.
As Shadow’s panic spread, a second horse joined the runaway. Though neither carriage had passengers at the time, the high-speed stampede injured multiple people, including a driver with a broken wrist, another reportedly kicked in the head, and a third with a broken hand.
Central Park horses break free, causing multiple injuries as carriage driver breaks wrist https://t.co/GaldWKQkPr pic.twitter.com/dOaKAaRr0P
— New York Post (@nypost) May 28, 2025
Hero pedicab driver intervenes (again)
A quick-thinking pedicab driver, who had also helped stop a runaway horse just a week earlier, once again became an unlikely Central Park cowboy. He pedalled into the chaos to intercept Shadow’s carriage but was kicked during the commotion and suffered a leg injury.
“Thankfully, I was not killed. It was too scary,” the heroic driver told The Post, declining to give his name. His pedicab was flipped in the effort, and after helping secure the runaway horse, he even gave Shadow’s injured driver a ride to Mount Sinai West hospital.
Activists say it’s only a matter of time
The incident, the second in just over a week, has reignited the long-running battle between animal rights activists and the city’s carriage horse industry. At a rally outside City Hall on Wednesday, NYCLASS executive director Edita Birnkrant called the event “a miracle” that no one was killed but warned, “The luck is going to run out.”
Outside City Hall now: animal activists call to end the practice of carriage horses in Central Park after two horses ran wild through the park — injuring several drivers — on Monday. pic.twitter.com/7ostrFvKAl
— Nicole Rosenthal (they/them) (@ByNRosenthal) May 28, 2025
Protesters staged a dramatic demonstration by dousing themselves in fake blood to demand a ban on the “deadly and dangerous” industry. Birnkrant claimed such incidents, ranging from crashes to collapses, have been far too common.
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