Sky E-News

Out-of-town visitors in New York City are usually stunned at the sight of a horseback riders in Central Park. However, horses have been ridden in Central Park ever since it opened back in 1859. Until the mid-1890′s and the advent of mechanical transportation, the best way to get around New York City was via the horse. It was at a stable at Dobbins’ Inn in 1801 that the celebrated thoroughbred horse ‘Imported Messenger’ magnificantly stood around for all to admire, a time when it was common practice to hold impromptu races along the main straightaway for the benefit ot tavern patrons and idling jurists. Though Dobbin is no longer the backbone of the transportation hub, stables their stables dot five boroughs, serving bridle paths in nearby parks.

Hundreds of New York dwellings formerly were used as stables, then later adapted for use as garages and sometimes into living quarters such as the building in Clinton Hill or the corral at the West Side Chelse Piers. Some traces of stables past can be seen in Manhattan like the facade for the Beinecke and Company Stables, located on Great Jones Street, but the real McCoy is still standing on Greenwich Street and West 10th. The Knickerbocker Boarding building can barely be seen in the East Village. Plus, there are still 2 telltale signs of New York City’s equine past that can be seen on West Washington Place near 6th Avenue in Greenwich Village: a hitching post and a bootscraper.

Currently, horseback riding is permitted year around during regular park hours at Central Park. The Riverdale Equestrian Centre in the Bronx offers ‘Riding’ tours of Central Park, which are available through appointment only; then there’s Kensington Stables in Brooklyn; Lynne’s Riding in Queens and Richer Farms on Staten Island. Plus, out-of-towners will see policemen riding on their horses throughout New York’s neighborhoods even around Wall Street in the Financial District, where one can step outside of their hotel and witness policemen riding these magnificant beasts. Even though horses are no longer our a mode of transportation, they still manage to command our attention and capture our sense of nostalgia.