Chestnut Ridge Equestrian Center, LLC - Page 2

06/16/2026

The Necropsy is completed: Deniz died from ingesting a toxic plant in the Park. He did NOT die due to mistreatment, mismanagement or neglect. Japanese Yew is highly toxic to Any animal if ingested. A plant this toxic should NOT be in a public park. Frankly, it’s one of the non-native plants that should be banned from being sold.

When we moved into our beautiful farm 27 yrs ago, the front doors of the barn were flanked by Yews. The first thing we did before moving horses in was rip them out. There’s still one large one in front of the house. Years ago my goat Moose grabbed a mouthful. He started staggering, vomiting and projectile diarrhea. Luckily the pharmacy at the corner had activated charcoal and it saved his life, but it was touch and go for quite a while. It wasn’t pretty.

6/16/2026: "Officials give an update on the investigation into the death of a carriage horse in Central Park. The death of a carriage horse earlier this month in Central Park was caused by a nonnative toxic plant, according to a necropsy publicized by the union representing carriage drivers.

According to the Transport Workers Union of America, the horse, Deniz, was giving a ride near East 90th Street on June 10 [June 9th] when it paused to eat a shrub along the curb. A short time later, the horse collapsed and died.

The plant is a Japanese yew, an ornamental that is toxic and deadly to horses, according to the necropsy performed by Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine. Yew contains a toxic that can send a horse and other animals into cardiac arrest.

The union is using the necropsy to counter calls by activists and the Central Park Conservancy to ban carriage horses due to how they're treated.
"Deniz's tragic death was not caused by neglect or abuse or the fact he was a carriage horse - as some animal rights activists and elected officials claimed," TWU's Alexander Kemp said. "Poor Deniz died because the people running the Park Conservancy never warned anyone that there were deadly yew plants in the park. This is negligence at the highest level of the Conservancy."

The union will be holding a news conference this morning."

Article: https://abc7ny.com/post/carriage-horse-died-eating-poisonous-plant-report-finds/19308996/

06/11/2026

Just think if your state or municipality passed a bill banning horseback riding - no trails, no riding in your favorite discipline, no riding on your property. Just banned. Not only that, But it also banned you from moving your horse to another area to ride it AND banned you from selling your horse to someone else, somewhere else, to ride?
That is what NYCLASS’s “Ryder’s Law”, Intro 943 does with their Carriage Horse Ban Bill.
It sounds great to extremely vocal Animal Rights activists, but for everyone else, and the horses themselves, it’s a train-wreck.

Why is NYCLASS’s horse carriage ban bill, Intro 943, they call “Ryder’s law” a terrible bill for horses? Despite laws that prevent legal businesses from simply being “banned” and carriage drivers having the legal right to choose their profession, not only would this bill cease to license NYC horse carriage drivers after June 2028, it would actually cruelly prevent their personal, privately owned horses from doing the work that keeps them physically and mentally healthy. The bill prevents the horses from pulling carriages –even in other horse carriage businesses outside of the city. This means that carriage drivers wouldn’t be able to move to a rural area of NY or to another state to continue to work their horse or earn an income in partnership with their horse to cover the high cost of their care.

It also means no one else would even be able to purchase their horses to pull carriages, which they're already trained and built to do, significantly decreasing their value from a business standpoint and potentially putting the horses in a dangerous situation if they were no longer able to afford their care by working other jobs. The bill offers zero funding for the long term care of the horses and no retirement homes when there are already thousands of horses that wind up sent to slaughter every year. It leaves 200+ horses without a job, home, care, or protection from an even worse situation if they are resold.

None of the carriage drivers have even expressed interest in being separated from and adopting out/selling their personally owned horses, many of which are relatively young and not ready to be retired by any means. Any legitimate horse sanctuary or rescue with an open spot would rather take in a horse in need of a home rather than take away a home from a horse with a job and care.

The bill offers the horse carriage owners nothing for their investment in 68 valuable carriage medallions and no specific job, let alone a job in their equestrian field of expertise. It doesn't even offer the carriage drivers jobs driving e-carriages, as some people were led to believe. The bill simply says the city would have to set up a program to help the 150+ carriage drivers find other jobs, similarly to the current unemployment office. It also doesn’t say what the carriage drivers would do for an income until they found another job. NYC Councilman Chris Marte (https://www.facebook.com/reel/846946117918887) re-introduced this cruel bill without a care in the world that it’s a bad bill for horses and a bad bill for workers.

Please contact NYC council members and ask that they DON’T sponsor Intro 943, but DO sponsor Intro 937 which is designed to cater to the best interests of the NYC carriage horses and those who love them.

NYC Carriage Horse Ban Bill: https://legistar.council.nyc.gov/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=8067835&GUID=53C552B4-4BC2-41DA-A14A-560E74E7F3E1&Options=ID|Text|&Search=943

NYC Council Members: https://council.nyc.gov/districts/

06/06/2026

Evening snooze yesterday.
-Galileo

06/05/2026

Dani, hanging with me while I taught tonight.

06/04/2026

Poe waits while I clean up after him after our ride. 😋

06/03/2026

Today was Cooper’s first day out and about after spending nearly 4 weeks in a Kitty Crate to acclimate to his new home. Coop did wonderfully. Explored around and stayed close to the barn. Ziggy was still a little pouty, but Gilda was full-blown fluffed up and hissing when they crossed paths. He’s not at all shy and stood his ground.

05/25/2026

~ Ijte

05/24/2026

Tuxedo and friends

Photo: Gabrielė Nyte

05/24/2026

After a day in due to the weather . . . Freedom!!!!