Melbourne's horse-drawn carriage owners have vowed to go to jail in defiance of a ban in the CBD as police reined in one operator on Saturday.

Footage shot in the early afternoon shows the operator being confronted by police in Swanston Street and ordered to move her carriage.

"I'm giving you a police direction to move your vehicle," an officer can be heard saying in the footage recorded by animal rights activists.

"Please move your vehicle now. Move your vehicle. You will receive an infringement the next time I see you do this. Move the vehicle."