# Do horses or horse-drawn vehicles have to be registered to operate on public streets?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-horses-or-horse-drawn-vehicles-have-to-be-registered-to-operate-on-public-streets/623408>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 29, 2012, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-horses-or-horse-drawn-vehicles-have-to-be-registered-to-operate-on-public-streets/623408 "2012-05-29T03:48:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-horses-or-horse-drawn-vehicles-have-to-be-registered-to-operate-on-public-streets/623408/1 "2012-05-29T03:48:30Z")

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I recently visited Rockingham County, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley (in the vicinity of James Madison University), where there is a sizable Old Order Mennonite (technically not Amish, apparently) community that uses horses and buggies. One thing that I did notice was that none of the buggies had license plates (nor did the Amish ones in Lancaster County, PA that I saw a while back), though at first that didn’t seem odd because other “vehicles” like bicycles don’t always have to have license plates, but I got to thinking - is there any jurisdiction that imposes registration requirements, or requirements to display evidence of registration like a “license plate” on horses or horse-drawn vehicles in order for them to be used on public streets? Are the buggies I saw technically registered with (or required to be registered with) the State of Virginia or Rockingham County but evidence of the registration is not required to be displayed publicly?

I recall learning somewhere (yeah, not a good source) that license plates got started with the rise of automobiles because the automobile was a lean mean killing machine compared to former vehicles and hit-and-run incidents became a serious concern, so the law had to come up with a way to let bystanders identify just who it was that ran them over and then ran.

I already know that buggies can generally use, in theory, any public road here in Virginia except interstates and other controlled-access highways that are explicitly marked with signs forbidding them. For example, onramps to I-95 have a sign that bans “animals”, which I believe includes horseback riding and to horse-drawn vehicles.

It seems that a basic web search turns up a number of sources that state that there is no equivalent to a “driver’s license” for riding horses or driving horse-drawn vehicles in many areas of the US. Remember that driver’s licenses and car registrations/license plates are separate, at least in the US.

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**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2012, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-horses-or-horse-drawn-vehicles-have-to-be-registered-to-operate-on-public-streets/623408/2 "2012-05-29T11:47:01Z")

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New York City requires that individuals who own horse-drawn cabs for hire and those that drive them be licensed.

[Cite.](http://www.nyc.gov/apps/311/allServices.htm?requestType=listService&filterServ=License+-+Permit+-+Certificate&serviceName=Horse+Drawn+Cab+License&intentId=87D0A2FC-8138-11DE-8E9F-96DAE110FEB8#)

ETA: [Horses](http://www.nyc.gov/apps/311/allServices.htm?requestType=listService&filterServ=License+-+Permit+-+Certificate&serviceName=Horse+Tag+License&intentId=87D0A2FC-8138-11DE-8E9F-96DAE110FEB8) must be [licensed](http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/businessexpress/template.PAGE/menuitem.e45713187803834f9e0e30106cd2f9a0?javax.portlet.tpst=bb9344828243f44f4772add001c789a0&javax.portlet.prp_bb9344828243f44f4772add001c789a0_returnRender=indexRender&javax.portlet.prp_bb9344828243f44f4772add001c789a0_request_type=permitInfoRender&javax.portlet.prp_bb9344828243f44f4772add001c789a0_indexPermitId=8CE8BC48-5821-11DD-B879-9DDFD5CF2E7D&javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken).