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“This decision confirms that our bylaw is fair and sound,” Plante wrote on Twitter. “Our administration made a promise and we delivered. Montreal is an animal-friendly city.”

The city has defended its efforts to phase out the industry, noting the ban came about after several incidents — including horses collapsing — that were caught on video and widely shared.

It gave the industry a full year to prepare for the transition and has offered to pay owners $1,000 per horse to retire their animals.

But caleche owners on Friday vowed to continue their legal fight, and Pinsonnault did note the case brought by the group deserved to be heard on its merits.

Luc Desparois, the owner of the city’s largest caleche stable, said he was disappointed with the outcome.

“We’ve been living that for a year and four months now — the threat of the city destroying our lives, destroying our business,” Desparois said. “We didn’t dare do it any quicker because if we did, we’d have the city on our back.”

Desparois said they also had to raise the needed funds to mount a case and maintained there’s no evidence the horses in the industry are mistreated.

Lawyer Audi Gozlan, who represented the horse owners, said the judge’s ruling that the matter should’ve been dealt with more promptly was a matter or perspective.

“Our perspective is that the order was coming into effect 12 days from now and it was urgent,” Gozlan said. “The war is not over, the litigation continues.”