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Dolly, Molly, and Crystal are three attractive teenagers. All have trim ankles and big, brown eyes. They operate out of a location at Seventh and G Streets but spend most of their time picking up tourists at Seaport Village. Now don't get the wrong idea -- these working girls are hoofers, not hookers. They are paid with hay instead of cash and their activities are of interest to the Traffic Division, rather than the Vice Squad. Dolly, Molly, and Crystal, and their co-workers, Cricket, Sparkles, and K.K., are of the equine persuasion. They are part of the team at Cinderella Carriages, a horse and buggy operation celebrating their second successful year this summer. Owned and operated by Bing and Cindy Byington, Cinderella Carriages runs on the horsepower of thirteen four-legged partners and the people power of a dozen of the two-legged variety.
"Part of running a special business like this." said Cindy Byington, "means coming up with the perfect balance between horse and driver. You have to get the right combination for it to work."
And, as became apparent when Byington continued to explain how Cinderella Carriages evolved, it also means coming up with a lot of other qualities -- patience, for one.
Byington arrived in San Diego ten years ago and found a job as a technician in the office of a Coronado veterinarian. She married Bing, then vice president of Robert Keith & Company, in March of 1982. On a honeymoon trip to Michigan to meet Bing's family, the couple took a carriage ride through a touristy historical village. In a decision influenced more by the romance of the moment than by rational thinking the couple agreed to start a carriage company of their own. A year later, after the birth of their first child, Byington was ready to put her energy, as well as her heart, into the project.
"I called the New York Convention and Visitor's Bureau and asked for contacts with established buggy businesses around Central Park," she said. "From there I wnet on to interview a man who had ten of the sixty-two licenses in the city. He was very helpful in pointing out what to do and what not to do as an operator."
While checking into...