- Yes, we like to have fun and go to BBQ's and parties, but CHECK on your
horses. Make sure they are safe and calm and in a nice stall. If they're not check their pastures and make sure they aren't trying to run through their fences. - Bring hoses out in case you have neighbors who light off fireworks and one lands in your pasture and lights it on fire. (This used to happen ALL the time at an old facility I was at.)
- Have B-Kalm, Calm and Cool, or Ace on hand in case a horse gets too worked up.
- Spray your roofing on top of the barn, poop pile anywhere that is super dry and could catch fire. (We do this to my house too, spray the roof at dusk so it's nice and damp.
- Give your horses a snack in the early evening to hopefully distract them for most of the fireworks. Most people are done around 11 or 12.
What other safety tips or experiences do you have when the fireworks are a blaze?
7 comments:
Great pointers, TreX.
Maybe stuff cotton balls in their ears, if they are used to that idea.
My old Tad Plaid disliked hot-air balloons, especially the one that landed kinda right over top of us, as I was bringing him in from the field.
I hate fireworks. Too damned noisy.
I spook, too.
Try not to spook in front of your horse;)
Last year was the first year either of my horses saw fireworks...I went outside to stand with them just in case they got scared and ended up rolling on the ground laughing!!! Both of my horses would watch up in the sky and watch for the fireworks to go off! One would shoot off and up their heads would go, following it and then BOOM!!! and they just stood there watching...I kept expecting to hear a "Ohhhh" and a Ahhhh" to go along with the expressions on their faces. I ended up watching with them, with a arm drapped over each of their backs. It was a good night.
I'm moving my new (and first!)horse this weekend... I'm praying the neighbors at the new barn don't light up fireworks. Not a necessary extra stressor, ya' know? He'll be stalled though so hopefully he'll be fine... keep your fingers crossed for us though!
Wazzoo - CUUUUTE story! Awww!
I went to a 4th of July show once... the showgrounds were adjacent to a public park at the edge of a small town, and of COURSE there were plenty of fireworks.
Some horses were going NUTS, my mare didn't care a bit. Her only freakouts were riding crops (but not long whips!) and horse-drawn conveyances.
I personally LOVE fireworks (rollercoasters too, but don't even put me on the Ferris Wheel or Drop Zone or I will DIE). My dog isn't very happy with them, but she doesn't flip out like our old family collie mix, who would bust thru neighbors' screen doors to come inside if she heard fireworks or guns, and once chewed apart our bay window to get in, presumably because of same - since she was an exemplary dog otherwise.
It's nice to live in a low fire danger area at this time of year!!!
So do the herbal calming supplements REALLY work? Is it like Horse 420? ; )
Hey, I know "hemp" grows wild in the ditches all over NW Iowa... any danger to horses grazing?
I had to arrange my work schedule to be home the night of the fourth, and bought extra hay.. everyone's staying in, and some are getting Ace.
You know who won't? Bonnie! The original Spooky Mare used to be boarded at Grand Cypress Equestrian Center, about three miles from Walt Disney World. I could ride her and watch fireworks at the same time. If the wind was right I could even hear the music.
"Starlight, starbright..."
Only thing that damn mare isn't afraid of.
My kids and the neighbor are really into fireworks, so my horses just calmly watch for the pretties...it helps that the babies are exposed from birth so they never learn to freak.
Damn.... it rained all day and into the evening, so our town's display is postponed, but it sounds like friggin' Gettysburg out there right now!!
Dog is OK as long as we're accessible. Kidlet got worn out at reunion festivities, thank god.
Actually I miss going out to my Dad's family reunion this year, where all the cousins of my generation pool together some awesome firepower out in the middle of the prairie.
While the cows & horses across the road calmly watch. I guess there's enough muskrat shooting to desensitize them...
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