A BUNGLING inspector got his facts all wrong when he tried to blow the whistle on a world-famous city-centre horse West Side Livery.
Images of an apparently filthy enclosure at New York’s West Side Livery Stables ended up being plastered all over the Internet.
But the inspector had simply captured a picture of the renowned home of New York carriages horses just before mucking out.
A large grey Percheron horse called Sophie shown in the image was also well cared for, just like many other animals which give tourist carriage rides in the city’s Central Park.
Claims that the stable had not been cleaned for years were pure muck-raking said the owners of the stables which have been based at the city location for over 200 years.
Christina Hansen, a spokesperson for the stables said: “I dare say whoever took this picture and thought there was something `wrong’ with it is not a horse person, nor were they interested in learning from someone here at the stable who is.
“This is a totally normal horse stall, prior to mucking out by one of our stablemen, most likely in the morning.
“Sophia the horse here is shown comfortably lying down in her 9’ x 10’ box stall.
“There is plenty of sawdust bedding.
“You can see in the picture that she is not mud- or manure-caked.
“She’s not stained. She’s a clean horse, which is evidence of regular stall cleaning, grooming and care.”
The false claim was received from a building inspector who tumbled on the stall on May 17 while checking the conditions of the building.
He was not assigned to assess the sanitary or health conditions of the horses.
That can only be done by the Health Department.
But the inspector, who has not revealed his identity, said that he felt compelled to take a snapshot with his phone when he saw the conditions.
He claimed: “The stable is filthy. It’s tiny. The horse almost can’t even stand up in there.”
Ms Hansen also said that the stalls at West Side Livery are cleaned “multiple times a day.”
“Every carriage stable meets all the regulations and requirements. These stables are open to inspection.”
