Animal abuse laws always apply. And over-exercise, dehydration are always basic concerns. Plus, horses didn't evolve to travel and haul over paved roads, esp. blacktop, in the middle of summer. We don't need another pile of regulations for a simple matter of common sense where basic animal abuse laws apply. And this is not a matter of first impression concerning horse-drawn carriages in the post-"combustion engine era," even in Portland. Overworking of the horses on the streets been an issue that's come up with regularity over the years since they started back in the late 80's. Why didn't County Animal Control look out for that horse earlier that week? Poor creature. Very sad.

"At the time of its collapse, the horse was pulling a carriage holding four people -- a newlywed couple, their photographer and a driver."

As far as bad signs for your future marriage go, this one ranks pretty high up there.

But not as bad as the wedding party having its photos taken on the bridge below Multnomah Falls, when a huge boulder (the size of a van) came crashing down, shattering into large fragments, one of which struck the groom in the groin and sent him to the hospital. Now that's a bad sign. (It really happened, September of '95. You could look it up.)

seems there is more outrage over the horse than when the cops shoot and kill homeless people...

I think we need a new bureau to regulate horses, oxen, caribou etc type of transportation in the city. With the millions of people moving here, it's bound to get worse.
Mr. Leonard, I am available.
I will head up this quasi-public spin off of Tri-Met for the standard starting salary of $137,500 plus full benefits and retirement package. As long as I don't have to answer to those pesky taxpayers for anything in my budget. I will need a PR department, three planners, an executive administrator, a few dozen vehicles and a snazzy building somewhere cool. I will of course require unlimited travel so I can go abroad to compare and make sure what we do is European enough.

Jack: Do you know if that couple at Multnomah Falls you mentioned is still married?

A 23yr old horse is like us in our mid 50's. The possibility of a heart attack becomes very real and can hit while you are sitting on your couch or taking a daily jog. The heat very well might of factored in but the horse might not of shown any sign of stress prior to dying. It happens, it's a fact of life and we don't need anymore regs here.

A poster says the topic of overworked horses came up in the 1980s. Wonder if that was when a Portland police horse dropped dead in the street?
I don't have a way to look it up, but as I recall it was outside a burger place (Arctic Circle?) on Broadway in the daytime and was a traffic stopper.

I don't recall any fuss about it.

If you're going to buy Randy books, you need to teach him how to read and then make sure that he has reading comprehension skills before the books will do any good.