The “regulating” mayor of Guadalajara, Enrique Alfaro, has now set his sights on one of the city’s most visible traditions: the horse-drawn carriages (calandrias) that transport tourists around the traffic-clogged streets of the historic center.
Kicking off a pilot program to test the waters for pending legislation to the service, Alfaro this week admitted that the horses deserve better treatment but is reluctant to outlaw the 120-year-old tradition, as many animal rights groups are advocating.
Among issues that concern the mayor are the distances that the horses must walk each day from their stables on the outskirts of the city to their places of work in the city center. He also said more attention should be given to the quality of horseshoes used and the weight of the carriages they are obliged to pull through the streets.
Part of the pilot program includes an agreement with the Jalisco College of Veterinarians to supervise the health of the horses more closely.
Alfaro said municipal officials are in constant communication with the calandria owners and expressed the need for stables to be found closer to the city center.
One possible location is the spacious Parque Gonzalez Gallo, noted Marilyn Gomez Pozos, municipal director of animal rights. She suggested that the animals could be housed there without charge and attended to on a regular basis by municipal vets.
Gomez Pozos said other initiatives city hall has been looking into include the possibility of the private sector sponsoring feed for the horses, and setting fixed operating schedules for the calandrias, thus avoiding heavy rush hour traffic.
The municipality would also like calandria owners to take courses in the history of the downtown area so that their service offers “added value” for tourists, Gomez Pozos added.
Local NGOs such as Igualdad Animal have consistently called for calandrias to be banned, saying the practice is akin to torture of the horses. Activists have staged protests and highlighted several instances of horses that have collapsed on the street from apparent exhaustion.
A recent city hall census determined that around 100 horses are used to pull carriages in the Guadalajara metropolitan area.
Alfaro said that if the pilot program proves to be effective and a new set of municipal regulations governing calandrias can be agreed upon, there is no reason why the tradition cannot continue.