Horse-drawn carriage owners and employees are considering what’s next if the city shuts down the industry

Joshua Reyna rides in his horse-drawn carriage past the Hard Rock Cafe downtown.

“Snowman is a real Clydesdale, but he’s not fast, he’s just nice,” he said.

Snowman is Reyna’s horse, with whom he has been working for about a year. Snowman is one of 40 to 50 horses Reyna worked with during his time as a coachman.

Reyna works for HRH Carriage Company, one of five licensed horse-drawn carriage companies in San Antonio. Each has permits for five carriages.

He spoke with TPR during a carriage ride in November 2024 to see firsthand what he and his colleagues have to offer their customers.

Reyna is one of 81 licensed horse-drawn carriage operators in the city who may have to find new work sooner or later.

The San Antonio City Council appears prepared to decide on a timeline for phasing out the nearly 160-year-old industry in a vote next month.

The conversation about phasing out horse-drawn carriages was renewed earlier this year after a 2022 Council Consideration Request (CCR) proposed a possible end to the industry in San Antonio and a so-called “just transition” for industry workers.

Council members have offered several reasons to end the practice in San Antonio: concerns about the horses’ welfare, the traffic congestion they contribute to, and arguments that are out of step with San Antonio’s transformation into a “modern” city.

A city survey of 50,000 responses, nearly 40,000 of which were from San Antonio residents, found a slim majority favored abolishing the industry.

The companies and operators claim that part of the reason they are increasing traffic congestion is because the city has taken away the numerous locations where they used to park, forcing the carriages to pile up on one or two streets.

And the city’s current regulations for the industry prevent the horses from working on days above 95 degrees Fahrenheit, require operators to give the horses a water break between each ride, and require a city-contracted veterinarian to check them every six months. to research.

That veterinarian — Dr. Benjamin Espy, who has also served as chief of veterinary services at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo for the past two decades — has said the horses are perfectly healthy.

Council members have raised concerns that his perspective could be affected by his financial incentive to continue doing his job examining the horses, but operators and business owners say he is paid only $600 a year to examine all the companies’ horses.

District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, who co-wrote the 2022 policy proposal, is clear about his stance on the horses.

“These horses don’t belong downtown, no matter how you slice them,” he said at a city council meeting in October.

The companies have said they will implement stricter rules, or even accept that their time is up, if only they can get more time.

Stephanie Dickinson is the president of Yellow Rose & HRH Carriage. During a conversation at her farm south of San Antonio, where she keeps her 19 horses, she made her offer to the city.

“We asked for the SeaWorld compromise,” she said. “Just like SeaWorld did with the orcas, they agreed that they wouldn’t bring in any more animals, but the animals they did have could live their lives and do their jobs until it was time to retire or something . happened to them.”

But the city council’s most recent discussion in October revolved around three options: one year, three years or five years.

McKee-Rodriguez said he is willing to compromise and allow the industry to survive for up to three years, but no longer.

“If there is any room for improvement, it will not be in the duration of the transition,” he said. “It will be in the kind of financial assistance and other types of support that we can provide.”

Others, like District 8 Councilman Manny Pelaez, want the industry shut down immediately.

“I’m in favor of not allowing these horse-drawn carriages to drive downtown yesterday,” he said. “And for me, one year seems too much.”

Skylar Newman is a manager and operator for Yellow Rose, where she has worked for eight years.

Standing in the horse stable in the center of the business before they took to the streets, she said she had lost confidence in the city council over the past year.

“I’ve never been in politics or anything like that, but this definitely got me into it and broke my heart about the way things work in the city,” she said. “Really, one day you’re doing well, and the next day you can no longer be in the industry you love.”

Newman said she will have to sell the house she bought last year because she doesn’t think she’ll be able to make as much money as she does now at another job.

Newman’s colleague Haley Harlan thinks she will have to move too – back to Boston.

“It makes me sad, and it makes me angry, because I’m 64,” Harlan said. “What am I going to do differently? You know, there aren’t many companies that want to hire a 64-year-old with physical problems and little stamina.”

The city has offered all operators affiliation with the Ready to Work workforce development program to help them transition from horse-drawn carriages.

Less than half of the 44 operators the city spoke to were interested.

That could be because Ready to Work graduates have an average salary of around $44,000, with almost half of the city’s operators surveyed making more than $70,000.

The city has also explored what it would take to convert the companies to electric carriages, but that plan is unpopular with operators and Mayor Ron Nirenberg.

Harlan said she and her colleagues didn’t get into the business to ride around in a carriage, but to be around horses.

She said customers pay for that too.

“Kids don’t want to pet a motorcycle,” Harlan said. “They want to pet the horse. And often, for many children, seeing a horse in the city is as close as they can get to horses.”

Three-quarters of operators the city spoke to said they had no interest in operating electric carriages.

Phyllis Viagran, District 3 councilwoman and co-author of the CCR, said a short timeline would spell financial disaster for the horse-drawn carriage companies and their owners.

“What I know, because I was a small business owner who had to shut down her business, is that if it happens within one to two years, you can basically guarantee that there will be bankruptcy proceedings,” Viagran said. “And the city should not be in the business of closing small businesses.”

City staff say the five companies each have between $70,000 and $700,000 in debt.

Dickinson said it will take her five years to get out debt-free.

But that won’t be enough for some of her colleagues.

“Oh no, they take much longer,” she said. “Much, much longer.”

Other council advocates for a five-year plan have said the dozens of horse-drawn carriage operators, like Reyna, Newman and Harlan, need time to find new work and make their own arrangements.

District 5 Councilmember Teri Castillo is one of those advocates.

“I believe anything less than five years is a disservice and will create further distrust among San Antonio residents and Texans because ultimately what we are talking about here is killing jobs and an industry at a time when we know that there is already economic uncertainty. she said.

She added that if the companies go bankrupt, their horses could be seized as assets, putting them at much more risk than on the streets of San Antonio.

Reyna said it would be a great loss for San Antonio if the historic horse-drawn carriage industry were to end.

“I don’t necessarily agree with it, but they can try,” he said of the City Council’s upcoming decision. ‘It’s their right. I just think this is something that has been a part of downtown San Antonio for a long time.

The only question that remains is how long transit companies and operators will have to figure out what’s next.