Pink Says F*&@ You, But Not the Horse You Rode in On

I really didn't know much about the labor conditions of carriage horses until my best bucko (and prolific tipster) Meaghan sent me this link from PETA* yesterday, with a note saying, "Polar bear are floating into oblivion on ice cubes and being shot because they're perceived as predators (since their own habitats are being destroyed by melting) and Pink cares about the horse drawn carriages in NYC."  (Followed shortly by another note, with a picture of Pink in wool, saying, "Nevermind that her coat was probably woven with wool that was violently sheared from sheep in a too small farm in the middle of the Sahara or something."  Three cheers for Meaghan for making my work day really amusing yesterday and every other day.)

So what's Pink's beef (heh) with carriage horses? According to PETA, "[h]orses are often forced to labor in freezing and sweltering temperatures while walking on hard pavement, dodging cars, and inhaling exhaust fumes."  But let's hear it from the horse's mouth (HA! I slay myself): Pink herself says

Every time I see a horse-drawn carriage in a concrete jungle, I point and yell 'animal cruelty' at the top of my lungs to try to make the driver and occupants as uncomfortable as possible.  It honestly hurts my heart when I think of what those horses must be feeling, as far as anxiety and fear, and how unnatural and wrong it is for these animals to have blinders on, trotting up and down on concrete, while taxis blare and people scream. It's absolutely unnatural and ignorant of us to continue this outdated tradition. What about this is romantic?

*I feel like I have to say this: I am not a fan of PETA.  Not because I don't like animals (though my vegan friends would weep if they heard my meatball recipe, I'm sure), but because I think PETA likes them better than they like fat women, hairy women, or women, generally, and that sucks.  Also?  I don't think just randomly pointing and yelling "animal cruelty" at a horse on the street is necessarily what I'd call productive there, Pink.  You're likelier to annoy the out of the people around you than you are to make them stop and think, "Hey, let's be nicer to the horses."  /soapbox

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