RETIRE CARRIAGE HORSES

To the Editor: The carriage horse industry and the horses they exploit should be put out to pasture. This sad spectacle in the heart of 21st-century Manhattan (some heart!) is a relic of the past that should go the way of human slavery. Like the slave owners before them, those who profit from carriage trade contend that their slaves are happy and well treated and, furthermore, they would be worse off if they weren't under the protection of their benign enslavement. Now that public concern is growing, we're seeing threats and violence directed against those working to retire horse-drawn carriages and the slaves who pull them from our streets. It reminds me of New York City in the mid-19th century when the abolitionists opposed to human slavery were subject to attacks and beatings. Let's put an end to this blight on our city. Enough already. Charles Patterson West End Avenue