NYC trial over death of carriage horse Ryder leaves starting gate

The handler of a frail carriage horse who collapsed on a busy Manhattan street “ignored” clear signs of the struggling colt’s distress, prosecutors charged Tuesday at the start of the alleged animal abuser’s trial.

But driver Ian McKeever’s lawyer shot back that the horse “Ryder” merely “tripped and fell” at the end of his shift on a sweltering summer day — and that his death months later was tragic, but not criminal.

“Make no mistake about it: Ryder’s fall is heartbreaking, but the evidence in this case is not going to show that Ryder fell because Ian overdrove him,” defense attorney Raymond Loving argued.

A jury of six Manhattanites heard the dueling narratives during opening statements at a trial where McKeever, 56, is charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty stemming from Ryder’s August 10, 2022 collapse onto the hot pavement in the middle of West 45th Street and Ninth Avenue.

McKeever, an experienced horse driver, should have recognized that the malnourished Standardbred needed a break from lugging around his 100-pound carriage through Central Park, Assistant District Attorney Taylor Maurer contended.

“Ryder couldn’t tell the defendant with words that he was unfit to pull the carriage, but there are several signs and symptoms a horse exhibits when he is underweight and overworked,” the prosecutor said.

“His hip bones were protruding out. He was having difficulty scaling the mildest of hills in Central Park at a decent pace. Despite the defendant’s zealous insistence, he was panting rapidly with his tongue hanging out,” Maurer added. “But rather than recognize these signs of Ryder’s distress…he worked Ryder for nearly eight hours in the intense heat of the day.”

Ryder’s ordeal went viral after cellphone footage emerged of McKeever repeatedly trying to force the collapsed horse to stand back up by pulling on the reins. Ryder was sent in to retirement at an upstate farm following the episode, and was later euthanized after being diagnosed with serious medical ailments.

McKeever was arrested more than a year after the incident, in what he’s called a “political” response from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to pressure from animal rights activists.

The veteran horse handler will take the stand in his own defense, his lawyer Loving told the jury.

“Ian McKeever has been driving horses in Central Park for almost 20 years,” the attorney said. “He’s never been accused of mistreating a horse.”

Jurors heard Tuesday afternoon from Caroline Schmidt, a bystander who was in Central Park that day and took pictures of the malnourished horse out of concern, and Vincent Fontana, a sergeant in the NYPD’s horse-riding Mounted Unit, who tried to revive the ailing steed after responding to the scene.

The trial will continue in Manhattan Supreme Court Wednesday morning.