Calche horse collides with car in Griffintown

A calche horse that collided with acar today in Griffintown wasn't seriously injuredbut will remainstabled for two weeks as a precaution.

A video of the incident, which happened at the corner of Peel Street and Wellington Street, shows the horse attached to the empty carriage rolling onto the roof of the sedan before it is thrown forward.

There's visible damage tothe car.

A man who answered the phone at Lucky Luc Stable in Griffintown refused to give his name, but he said the horse is fine. He wouldn't comment further.

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Another driver from the same stable,who also would not give his name, told CBC the horse, named Mimi, lost a shoe and the driver had left the carriage to retrieveit. He said the horse took off,and the car clipped the calche's wheel.

Anik de Repentigny, a spokeswoman for the Ville-Marie borough, said the horse is now back in the stable and has been ordered off the street for two weeks.

A veterinarian will inspect the horse and decide after examining the animalif that period should be extended.

Last summer, an image of a horse lying down in the middle of the street in apparent distress spurred acall for a ban on the horse-drawn carriages.

Mayor DenisCoderreresponded by demanding a report on the condition of all the horses working in Montreal.

The animals are inspected regularly by inspectors and veterinarians,and a semi-monthly report is sent to City Hall.

SPCA calls for calche ban

According to the Montreal SPCA, Wednesday morning's incident shows that it's time for the city to ban calches.

"This incident highlights exactly why the Montreal SPCA has been opposed to the use of horse-drawn carriages," said Anita Kapuscinska, a spokeswoman for Montreal'sanimal protection agency.

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"The carriage horses must endure lameness caused by constantly standing and walking on hard pavements. The noise and the smells of traffic, those are all very stressful things for horses, which can very easily lead to incidents that can injure not just the horses but can be dangerous to people."

"There are many world-class cities such as London, Paris, Toronto that used to have calches and now have banned these horse-drawn carriages, and we really believe that it's time for Montreal to follow suit."