ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – Horse-drawn carriage tours are a popular way to see historic downtown St. Augustine.
But a social media post that’s going viral has sparked debate about whether or not horses should be used in the tours.
Two photos, which may be hard to look at, show a horse lying on the ground. The person who took the pictures and posted them to Facebook on Sunday claims the horse collapsed because it was overworked in hot conditions.
One person responded to the post, saying, "I think it's horrible."
Another commented, telling why horses should be off the street when temperatures are too warm.
It's unclear which tour company owns the horse in the pictures. But carriage drivers told News4Jax on Monday that they are upset because they feel the social media post is misleading people into thinking the horses are not taken care of.
Driver Joe Lammers said horses at all the touring companies in town are cared for much better than most people would think.
“We treat them as if they are our own horses. We don’t own them. We work for the company," Lammers said. "We treat them as if they were our own because you cannot help love these guys.”
Lammers said the pictures are misleading people into thinking the draft horses are being overworked.
“A lot of people don’t realize the situation with the horses because they only see them working and think its abuse to the horses," he said. "So a lot of the push is probably those who have a beef with us anyway because they don’t want the horses to be used.”
Lammers said draft horses, such as 9-year-old Doc, live for this kind of work. Doc weighs 2,200 pounds and his driver said Doc often pulls far less than he weighs.
News4Jax tried to contact the man who posted the pictures on social media, but he did not respond to the request for a comment.