“Don’t ever ride that horse and carriage that hangs out down by E 4th in Cleveland,” wrote Cody Cooper, a local stand-up comic from Lakewood, in a post accompanying his picture. “They keep the horse chained up in an old auto body shop downtown.”
Cooper shared a link to a Change.org petition asking Mayor Frank Jackson to ban horse-drawn carriages in the city of Cleveland. That petition was started three months ago and has far surpassed a similar petition started in 2014 after a carriage horse slipped on icy construction plates downtown.
The petition has garnered more than 9,000 digital signatures, in large part due to publicity generated by Cooper’s post, which itself has been shared nearly 5,000 times.
But Cooper’s outrage, echoed and amplified by online commenters, was perhaps not proportionate to the alleged offense. Both WKYC and WEWS confronted the owner of Shamrock Carriages, Pete Leneghan, at the company’s stables and headquarters on St. Clair, about the photo. Leneghan told them that the horse — Lance — was kept outside no more than 15 minutes as his stall was being cleaned.
Leneghan told Scene the same thing.
“That’s a load of BS,” Leneghan said by phone, of the Facebook post. “Someone drives by and snaps a picture — there’s really nothing I can do. It’s almost so ridiculous that I can’t even let it upset me.”
But Leneghan, who also owns Stone Mad Irish Pub in Detroit-Shoreway and the Treehouse in Tremont, brushed off the accusations of mistreatment. He claimed the only reason he was in the business was because he loved horses. He said he’s in the process of buying the adjacent lot on St. Clair to use as a “grazing area,” and that two of his three horses spend the winter on a friend’s farm in Lodi. His third horse, a Clydesdale, spends summers there and returns for fall/winter carriage rides.
Cooper’s Facebook language — “they keep the horse chained up in an old auto body shop downtown” — was imprecise, then, in an incendiary way.
In the photo, Lance was tied (by rope, not by chain) to a hook on the stone wall outside the large green garage-style door. Inside is not an old auto body shop, but a 5,000-square-foot customized stables. Leneghan claimed his horses get “the best feed, the best hay.”
“We treat these guys like gold,” he said.
Gia Campola, who started the group PEACE in Cleveland (Prevent the Exploitation and Abuse of Carriage Equine in Cleveland), and who also started the original Change.org petition, told Scene that though she couldn’t speak with confidence about Leneghan’s treatment of his animals, the idea of horses being used as commodities in urban settings is not only wrong, it’s dangerous.
“They get spooked easily, they jump curbs,” Campola said, citing a Carl Monday investigation after a Shamrock carriage horse ran wild and damaged 11 cars in downtown Cleveland. “This is a safety issue.”
Moreover, Campola said that it’s easy for her to see that the horses working in the carriage industry are severely depressed.
Hard though it may be, the life is sanctioned by the city of Cleveland’s department of licensing and assessments. Leneghan, like other carriage operators, must have his individual carriage vehicles insured, and must renew his operator’s license every year when it expires on March 31. Leneghan said his horses get regular visits from the vet and inspections from Cleveland’s Mounted Police Unit, one of the oldest mounted units in the country. The city approves specific routes for carriage tours ahead of time.
“We’re really regulated,” Leneghan told Scene. “We don’t go out until after 6 p.m. on weekdays, to avoid the traffic, and on Indians’ games, we’ve got to stick to certain streets.”
Leneghan said that he suspects he won’t even attempt to bring the horses out during the RNC.
“When there’s a big event, we don’t come out,” he said. “We’re real conscious of what’s happening.”
Still, Cody Cooper’s post has generated what may or may not be a momentary clamoring for animal rights. In New York City, mayor Bill de Blasio has attempted to ban the carriage horse industry, but it was considered a “foolish campaign promise” by a little local rag called the New York Times. The efforts were derailed due to staunch opposition from the union of carriage drivers, and by onlookers who noted that the anticarriage crusade was being pushed by horse-loving de Blasio financiers who moonlit as real estate developers, and were keen on developing the area then occupied by the stables.
Cody Cooper, for his part, told Scene that he was pleased his post “sparked some discussion” on the issue, but that he wasn’t fond of causing an uproar.
“I guess I don’t like people jumping to conclusions based on emotion, and I propagated just that,” he said. “In the end, it isn’t a debate about whether or not the horse is cared for; it’s about whether the horse should be held in an urban environment and paraded around downtown for the enjoyment of people. I don’t agree with that facet of it.”
Additional reporting by Tucker Kelly.
This article appears in May 18-24, 2016.
where the hell did gia campola get her horse information from? first, those lopsided dorsal fin on killer whales are not the result od depression, lol! over the years the muscles just start loosing their effectiveness, think older woman and saggy breasts. not to mention that those ‘saggy’ dorsal fins happen in the wild also, plenty of pictures and videos on that if she’d care to look them up. horses do not hang their heads when depressed. they have low heads and a cocked rear foot when relaxed and resting, every actual horse person knows this. yet uneducated people like ‘gia’ would have you believe that a cocked foot means the horse is lame and a low head mean depression, i’m surprised she didn’t add that she could ‘read depression’ in the horses eyes or face. yeah, right! she need to stop being anthropomorphic and enter the educated real world of horse behavor. she also needs to read a history book as pavement was designed by the roman’s specifically for horses to walk on, it’s easier for them and their legs and hooves. carriage horses are only walking and maybe slow jogging at times , not running full speed.furthermore, these carriage horses are taken care of very well… no horse, no work. ol’ gia needs to get a life and speak facts, not emotion. as for her and cody cooper, I doubt they could tell one white horse from another
Wait…WHAT? Horses “hang their heads when depressed”? SERIOUSLY? No, sweetheart, they hang their heads when they are taking a nap, when they are relaxed…a lowered head is a sign of a calm, contented horse, not a “depressed” one. Any horseman could tell you that horse hadn’t been standing there long, there were no piles of horse poop around…that should have been your first clue! Secondly, it takes a lot of grooming to keep a white horse looking that well, he is obviously very well cared for. Someone, somewhere, please explain to these idiots that Bambi and Dumbo were not documentaries and Black Beauty wasn’t really written by a horse. Cody Cooper, I hope you enjoy your 15 minutes of fame…but if you can’t find another way to get famous other than trashing someone’s reputation, maybe you need to do something other than comedy. This wasn’t funny.
In a documented abuse case — earlier this year, Cleveland Animal Protective League investigators seized two grossly underweight horses from stables at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds as part of an animal-cruelty investigation; which began when the APL received information that a horse was starved to death.
The stupidity of lil’ Cody and Gia is startling. Yet, they actually seek to dictate policy. The arrogance!
Cody attempted to ruin a business and then back peddled – at least admitting he didn’t identify abuse, yet insisting on a philosophical difference based on clearly no knowledge as justification for his poor judgment. Guess what Cody, when you harm an animal’s care taker, YOU put the animal at risk!
As for the stunning nonsense that came out of a depressed and willfully ignorant Gia Campola, perhaps the poor girl needs a boyfriend or an ice cream cone, or a session with a psychologist, or a social life. SOMETHING with which she can avail herself of her sadness and stop projecting it onto innocent horses.
Animal abuse sympathizer calls an animal rights activist “willfully ignorant”, then goes home and eats murdered animals. The irony is too much!
Pete Is a man who employs 25-30 people. Has built two gorgeous bar/restaurants that have helped revitalize tremont and Detroit shoreway. Constantly works to improve his establishment and tends to his horses throughout the day. Pete has a true passion for his carriage business, trying to bring a unique experience to Cleveland. What has Cody ever done to improve this city? Tell a few dick jokes to your geek horrible comedy friends. Your a real hero!
Anyone who clearly looked into this non story should come out with three conclusions.
1) After numerous news channels and others looked into how the horses are taken care of, it is clear that they are in pristine condition. The stables they are in, the physical shape, and oh yeah they are never frikin outside for more than 15 minutes and not chained like the backpeddling self proclaimed funny man Cody claimed.
2) It is scary and messsed up that a jester with a phone can false report and cause such an issue for a hard working Clevelander. Now he is saying it’s not an “argument whether or not the horse is being cared for”…… which was his initial claim!
3) Cody doesn’t give a shit about the safety of animals. He has changed his original post to make it to look he was going at a broader issue and is in this for the “likes” and “hits” he has recieved….that his comedy shows have not garnered.
Stick to the “dick tickling” jester boy
Bhallohio,
It is willfully ignorant to invent one’s own interpretation of animal behavior, like it’s a childhood fantasy language, based upon ones one’s emotional dysfunction. To claim that a horse in a relaxed pose which indicates contentment is depressed, not only rejects basic knowledge of horses but does a disservice to the animal because it removes the ability to know when the horse is okay vs in distress. Therefore it does not serve the animal in a direct manner, neither indirectly, when it misleads the public about normal equine posture!
I do eat meat. With so many animals and people depending on me and this wonderful God given body to maintain, it would be unethical if I did not eat meat. Meat is the highest quality, therefore the most healthful protein option for normal and healthy humans. (A very small number of people do have meat allergies but not as much as do to nuts or other common allergenic foods). It keeps me physically strong enough to care for many horses on a daily basis, as well as mentally sound enough not to need to enter a discussion on a platform of histrionics and intellectually dishonest terminology. To call eating meat murder is a reflection of your cognitive dissonance and an example of the disrespectful, human hating attitude of the animal rights type. People that gravitate toward the cult of AR such as yourself or Gia, do it because of some trauma in your lives has caused you to be unhappy around people. This cult allows you to lash out at an icon of your abuser. Perhaps daddy diddled you inappropriately when you were 5, or your partner beat you at some point and now you get to act out your rage on the abuser which you identify with an animal owner, then pose an animal as your former self in this sick little role play game you keep repeating. It gets you off but it doesnt really do it, so you keep repeating. Seek help, dear. Eat a ham sandwich. Perhaps it will level you off, or perhaps it’s too late. Brain cell death from your foolish self imposed anorexia which has resulted in your althzimers rage can’t be reversed. Keep it up and the problems you’ll be dealing with are bigger problems than a carriage horse you are clueless about.
While we should not need to resort to discussing my dietary choices, I’m glad that you brought it up because it proves my original point. There is no abuse here. You just don’t like it based on a twisted set of principles you pulled off the Internet and the influence of your equally stupid cult buddies. Well, to damn bad. Get a hold of your own life.
Let me close with this short real life example of the follies of the unattainable, unsustainable, unnatural diet to which you alluded would render one a clean soul, when in fact all it brings is dysfunction to its disciples.
A few weeks ago, a vegan applied to help at my stable. She couldn’t manage to tilt a barrel of manure onto a hand truck, nevermind load it onto the tractor’s front loader. She was unbelievably weak! She admitted she ruined her digestion by eating nothing but fiber (vegetables) and now lives off of canned vegetables because the overcooked ones with all the fiber broken down is what she can now digest (basically she regressed her 26 yo system to one that needs baby food to function), crackers, rice, bread. Veganism can be a healthy temorary break for some that have over indulged or it can be a mental disorder. Horses and cows make better vegans than people do.
In any case take your vegan religion pamphlets elsewhere – your mental problems have nothing to do with this well kept horse! #CarriageOn