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Horseytalk.net Special Interview
Beverly English.
It's 104 degrees. It's too hot for man or beast to be pulling a load of people around the city streets, says Beverly English.
I am driving around the squares of Savannah looking for carriage horses. The weatherman announced last night that it would be in the 100s today with a heat advisory from 11 am to 8 pm. I half expect there to be no tours going on, but have brought the camera anyway to document it. It is too hot to be walking, so I am taking Twyla Royal’s advice and driving around town with the AC on and a highly sensitive temperature detector hanging out the rolled up window.
This past Sunday, July 31st, between 2 and 3 pm, when temperatures were in the upper nineties, Twyla followed one of the carriage tours back to the stand. She stated that the Belgian draft horse, that had just returned from tour, was breathing so hard the carriage was rocking back and forth.
“The horse was not sweating,” said Royal. She said the carriage driver saw her and immediately took the horse’s temperature, but, she stated, the girl just stuck the thermometer in and pulled it out before it could get an accurate reading, and then she hosed the horse off.
Today I drive around Madison Square first looking for horses, but see none there, so head down Habersham and back up Abercorn. It doesn’t take me long to spy two black Percherons, one short round fellow with a narrow white blaze who looks to be younger than the taller, more serious faced fellow to his side.
To be honest, despite the fact that the temperature is now 98.8 in the shade, the shorter horse seems full of pep. He is trying to play with the other horse, who’s eyes show stress but are bright, and both are walking at a good pace and showing no signs of heat stress.
The carriage is full.
At 1:38 I pass by a tall grey gelding pulling a single carriage with no one in it. He seems tired and worn, no life in his eyes. They appear to be headed back to the barn. Even the driver looks tired. It is 100.4 in the sun now, 98.2 in the shade.
At 1:44 I drive by the carriage stand at City Market on Jefferson: 101.1 in the sun.
There are three carriages from Savannah Carriage Tours on one side and one carriage, the one I passed earlier with the two Percherons, from Plantation Carriage Tours. Plantation Carriage Tours is hosing off the horses, the others are not.
Once again Savannah Carriage Tours loads tourists aboard their larger carriage with no driver at the head of the horses. I cringe. There are a lot of people on the carriage, so many that they have to put some in the front with the driver. The horses show no signs of heat stress. They all have water.
At 1:45 in Johnson Square it is 102.2 in the sun. I pull over, make sure the thermometer sensor is not touching any metal, glass or plastic and recheck the temperature. Sure enough, it is hot. It goes from 99.5 to 100.6 in seconds and returns to 96.6 when I drive under the shade of the live oak trees. An empty single horse carriage from Savannah Carriage Tours leaves the stand. The horse is dragging, but not in distress. I follow them to Liberty where the horse picks ups it’s head and speeds up. I realize it is going home and it knows it!!! That was one happy horse.
I turn around and seek out the two Percherons. They have done three tours from noon to three, so much for resting the horses an hour between tours as they told my friend Nina.
The horses are moving slower now. The fat round fellow has his tongue hanging out and is no longer playful. The horse’s coats are rough and dull from sweat and sun and water. The taller horse has a strained look, but is moving forward and not dragging. Neither horse is breathing heavily.
At 2 PM I am back at the carriage stands. No carriages there. I am pleased, thinking they have gone back in for the day. I drive around once more and come back by and see carriage 627 from Savannah Carriage Tours loading on more tourists, again, a full carriage. Two Belgians pull the load. It is 100.8 degrees.
The horse from Savannah Carriage Tour that went back to the barn has left a manure spill. There is no flag beside it as we are told the carriage drivers must do… supposedly they drop a flag with their name by the spill and call someone from their barn to come clean it up.
There is no flag and no one cleans it up, but to be honest, by the time two or three cars roll over it, there won’t be much left to clean.
I would not have bothered to mark it either, so can’t complain there.
The temperature changes as I drive around. It is 99 to 99.7 in the shade and shoots up to 103.5 in the sun.
It is 86.9 in the truck with the AC on, but I am comfortable and feel guilty.
There are a group of pedicab drivers parked in a ball under a shade tree. I wonder how they are holding out. They are all stretched out and glistening in sweat and I am glad I listened to Twyla and spent the money on gas instead of the parking meter.
At 2:29 the temperature in the sun is now 104! I am amazed it is actually that hot and again reset the thermometer and make sure the temperature gauge is not touching the truck. It isn’t.
I spy the Plantation Carriage Tours coming around the bend on Bull and decide to be bold and take a video. I roll down the window and hold the thermometer out the window and video the actual temp of 106.2.
The temperature in the cab quickly rises to 90.6. As I film the carriage I try to count the people. It looks like 14 or 15 plus the driver. She grunts at me as she passes and tells her passengers that I am the lady in the white truck that follows them trying to cause trouble.
Little does she know there are two of us in white trucks that are following them, trying to document what they are doing to the horses and how hot it really is in hopes we can convince the city council to limit working hours and temperatures which horses and drivers must endure.
The horses look tired, but are still clopping along at a steady pace. I have to wonder what possesses people to take a horse drawn carriage in 104 degree heat.
The humidity does not feel as bad today and there is a very warm breeze that feels to be near 20 mph at it’s highest.
The weather man reports an official high of 98 degrees when I check the news that night, but as I am driving home down Abercorn with no shade, the outdoor temperature rises to 107.1
As I passed by the carriage stand one last time, I see a driver waiting to relieve the current one from Savannah Carriage Tours, so they undoubtedly plan to do another tour at 3:00 or 3:30.
Plantation Tours has a team of three waiting at the kiosk, which again would indicate they plan to continue tours in the increasing heat.
A rain shower blows by as I drive home, dropping huge drops of rain on the truck. When I get out at the grocery store the pavement is so steamy, it feels like a steam bath. I can hardly make it from the store to the truck without wheezing, but later the winds cool the temperatures to the mid 80s for the night.
Setting up an ordinance to end tours when temperatures are high is complicated. Some horses do handle the heat better than others and the temperature can raise and lower eight to ten degrees in one hour.
It will not be easy convincing the city to mandate a cut off time when temps go too high for horse or human comfort and at least the carriage companies are making some effort to end early.
Historic Carriage Tours did appear to end their tours at 1:00 today and Magnolia Tours was nowhere to be seen. Kudos to them for giving the horses a break.
Undoubtedly, none of the drivers want to endanger the horses, but seriously, when it is 104 degrees actual air temperature, it is too hot for man or beast to be pulling a load of people around the city streets.