Country Carriages has operated its horse and carriage business in St. Augustine since 2004. | Courtesy Country Carriages
Published on February 27, 2026 at 3:43 pm
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St. Augustine leaders decided this week to sever its relationship with the city’s largest horse and carriage operator, Country Carriages.
The decision came after months of pressure from animal welfare activists and a number of documented violations of city rules.
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Owner Jennifer Cushion says the city’s decision devastates her. Shuttering her local carriage operation will mean she has to sell the company’s horses, she said.
Country Carriages has operated in St. Augustine for more than 20 years. The company holds 10 of the city’s 15 carriage licenses, meaning Jennifer and her husband, Bill, own two-thirds of the carriages offering rides in the city’s historic downtown.
Horse troubles
St. Augustine General Services Director Corey Sakyrd said staff found the Country Carriages horses to be well cared for during a recent tour of the stables, but the company came under fire for a 2023 incident when owner Bill Cushion struck a horse in the head, saying it was acting unruly.
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The company also was put on quarantine last month when one of its horses became sick with Strangles, a contagious disease among horses. Two horses died during the outbreak, but Jennifer Cushion says one’s death was due to pneumonia while the other died of colic because the horse was not drinking enough water.
City leaders also pointed to the number of violations the company has accumulated over the years — more than any city leaseholder — including past-due payments, improper storage of carriages and horses left at the stable during Hurricane Milton in 2024.
The termination of the franchise agreement will not kick Country Carriages off the streets immediately. But it will mean that when the company’s franchise agreement expires at the end of September the company will lose its “medallions,” or licenses for its carriages, and be off of the city’s streets.
Members of the City Commission said the decision wasn’t personal.
“As a businessperson, I just think that one person having two-thirds of the medallions is not a particularly healthy situation,” City Commissioner Jon DePreter said. “It’s not in the best interest of the city, and I think it might not even be in the best interest of the industry itself.”
City Commissioner Barbara Blonder said the city-owned property on Riberia Street might not be a good place for a stable at all, due to the property’s documented flooding problems.
Critics of the entire enterprise have called the horse and carriage operations antiquated and detrimental to the health of the animals.
Updating carriage rules
The decision about Country Carriages comes ahead of another discussion the city plans to have in March about the rules surrounding horse and carriage operators.
Sakyrd, the General Services director, said it has been 15 years since the city updated its rules on the industry.
Sakyrd said the city is working with the University of Florida to ensure its guidelines are strong enough to keep horses healthy.
