Laura Spielman (equine specialist) testifies on horse biology and rescue experience

Firstly, to the Mahajan family, I'm so very sorry for your loss.

My name is Laura Spielman.

I'm a founder of the Coalition for Responsible Carriage Horse Retirement, and I'm here to ask you to vote yes on Romacha's law.

I'm here as a New Yorker.

I was born and raised here.

Both sides of my family have lived here since the 1800s.

My great-grandfather served as mounted PD in the park in the 20s.

Mounted police serve a vital public function.

Horse-drawn carriages do not.

I'm a certified equine specialist for two international organizations working with humans and horses.

I serve on both the Humane Society and ASPCA's large animal response teams.

I built and currently run an equine program for the Department of Defense to work with the Navy, the Marines, and Wounded Warriors.

I work with the VA, the prison system, law enforcement, children with developmental disabilities, and the general public.

In the last five years, I've worked with over 200 people and 20 or so horses in my program, and I hold a perfect safety record because I put safety first.

That means the safety of humans and the horses.

I know that the retirement plan is a central concern here, and it can be done.

I've done it before.

I've worked on a large-scale rescue effort involving over 160 horses, everyone evaluated, treated, and placed.

I know from direct experience that a coordinated retirement of this very size can be done.

And here's the science why they should be retired.

A horse sees nearly 340 degrees around its body, but it has blind spots directly in front and behind.

So traffic.

Agreed is an unseen threat.

Its eyes adjust to light far slower than ours, so a shift from sun to shadow or a camera flash causes real disorientation, not disobedience.

Their hearing can trigger a full flight response from a siren or a backfire in under a second, faster than any driver can react.

And small dogs and little wheeled things are allowed in the park, and they always will be.

This is not a training failure.

More training will not fix it.

It's biology doing what millions of years of evolution designed it to do in an environment that will never stop asking it to do the opposite.

This is why accidents will not stop.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.