Horses in Philly - History buffs/horse people, please answer!

Submitted by PhilHector2004 t3_z6k081 in philadelphia

How were horses implemented in this city? There are horse posts scattered throughout center city/Rittenhouse area.

  1. Where were they kept? How were they maintained?
  2. Who had horses? Who took care of them?
  3. When were they actually in the city/when were they phased out?
  4. Can they still be kept and used in Philadelphia?

It’s interesting to see how the city has evolved over the past centuries, I’d love to learn some more about this topic.

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jek39 t1_iy1wsr1 wrote

idk but did you watch "concrete cowboy" on netflix? I didn't yet, but heard it was on this topic

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_atworkdontsendnudes t1_iy29t5v wrote

Just watched it yesterday. Wife and I are both blown away. Great movie. Plus, we kept pointing our fingers and naming the street corners.

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Shartbars101 t1_iy27mdr wrote

I mean i stepped in horse shit yesterday on the MLK boulevard path. Thats my history with em

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urbantravelsPHL t1_iy3em35 wrote

For your historical questions, you may like to read the article from the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia:

https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/horses/

An interesting side note is the history of horse drinking troughs in the city, which were provided by charitable organizations (often along with drinking fountains for people) and many of which still exist: https://whyy.org/articles/curbside-refreshment-for-man-and-beast/

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a-german-muffin t1_iy1zok6 wrote

Can’t speak to history, but as of now: the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club has stables at 26th/Fletcher, and there are at least two stables in Fairmount Park (MLK just north of Montgomery and up at Chamounix) and a couple in or near the Wiss (including the one at Wissahickon and Cathedral). There was one in the works for Bartram’s Garden as of a few years ago, too — dunno if that one is up and running.

There also used to be an urban stable at an empty lot at 40th/Westminster in West Philly, but that land has since been developed.

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kfa92 t1_iy6kzwt wrote

There's also Solly Stables by Pennypack Park, Northwestern Stables in the Wissahickon right on Germantown Pike basically, and I feel like Ashford Farm deserves a shout out even though they're technically in Conshohocken if only because they're literally super easy to walk to from a regional rail station.

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TheBSQ t1_iy4toaq wrote

There’s stables near the corner of Cecil B Moore and Hancock, which I think are for the horses uses by the company that does the horse and carriage thing for tourists.

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K3R3G3 t1_iy2x6yc wrote

Just the other day, I saw a Philly Police truck with a trailer marked "Mounted Patrol" and it had 2 horses inside. I don't know every state's laws, but I believe horses are still permitted on roads (bikes, too, you psycho drivers.) Just not on highways and interstates. Side info, not exactly answers to your questions.

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Maleficent-Thanks-85 t1_iy2d118 wrote

I used to work around broad and spring garden. There were horses kept on the first road before spring garden. I think it’s called nectarine street and right around the corner from the prohibition tap room.

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Lizzardking666 t1_iy3goj4 wrote

You are stil allowed to own live stock in philly horses cows goats chickens if memory recalls

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DEDmeat t1_iy46t6j wrote

The factoid that I find interesting about horses in Philly is that before cars, a major problem in the City was what to do with all the manure. It was arguably a primary driver in the decision of the adoption of the automobile. It's interesting to me that decision to accept all of the downsides of cars was in some way being driven by the fact that we were all drowning in horse shit.

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