Country Carriages Faces Sept. 30 Deadline to Clear City Stable, Sell Off Horses

Country Carriages has three and a half weeks left to clear out of the city-owned stable it has used for more than 20 years. The company's lease on the one-acre property at 650 Riberia Street expires Sept. 30, and when it does, St. Augustine's largest horse-drawn carriage operator loses the medallions that let it run tours through the Old City.

The City Commission voted in February not to renew the franchise agreement after years of documented violations, a 2023 incident in which owner Bill Cushion struck a horse in the head, and a Strangles outbreak at the stable that killed two horses. Owner Jennifer Cushion has said the shutdown will force her to sell the company's horses. Local rescue groups are working to place them in sanctuaries instead.

Country Carriages holds 10 of the city's 15 carriage medallions, meaning Jennifer and her husband Bill own two-thirds of the carriages currently working the historic downtown. City Commissioner Jon DePreter said that concentration was part of the problem on its own, regardless of the violations. He said one operator holding two-thirds of the medallions isn't healthy for the city or for the carriage industry itself.

A 30-day window, and a push for more

At the commission's May 12 meeting, Commissioner Cynthia Garris argued that 30 days isn't enough time to empty a property that has housed horses and equipment for two decades. She pointed to late rent payments the company had made up in the past and said the city typically gives leaseholders more room during a transition like this.

City Manager David Birchim told commissioners the situation isn't a standard lease turnover. Staff had already built in a 30-day timeline, he said, and could offer only limited flexibility depending on circumstances. He added that city staff could be present during the actual move, when the horses and equipment leave the property.

Commissioner Barbara Blonder said the city had already taken criticism over how loosely it enforced its own carriage rules, and argued the commission needs to stick to the timeline it set. She also raised a separate issue: the Riberia Street property floods, and may not be the right site for a stable no matter who runs it. What the city does with the land once Country Carriages leaves has not been decided.

What led to the vote

City officials say the company had racked up more violations over the years than any other city leaseholder, including past-due rent, improperly stored carriages, and horses left at the Riberia Street stable during Hurricane Milton in 2024. The city's General Services Director, Corey Sakyrd, has said staff found the horses well cared for during a recent inspection, even as the company came under fire for the 2023 incident and the Strangles quarantine. Jennifer Cushion has disputed how the two horse deaths during the outbreak were characterized, saying one died of pneumonia and the other of colic, not directly from Strangles. She has also pushed back on critics of the industry, describing them as outside activists who want to end horse-drawn carriages altogether rather than fix specific problems.

The city is separately revisiting its rules for the entire carriage industry, something officials say hasn't been updated in 15 years. Sakyrd has said the city is working with the University of Florida to make sure animal welfare guidelines are strong enough going forward.

No date has been set for what happens to the Riberia Street property once Country Carriages is gone, and the city has not said whether another carriage operator will be allowed to use the site given its flooding history. The clock on the current deadline keeps running regardless: Sept. 30 is three and a half weeks away.

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Header photo: Infrogmation of New Orleans / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 1.0)