July 4th Fireworks, Horses and their Owners

DAP · Jun 30, 2004

Any horse owners find the 4th to be a trying evening?

I'm surrounded on 3 sides by 180 acres of forest. The other side is near a suburban like cul-de-sac. Folks having a good time - their right. There's about 60 yards of forest between the paddock fence and the nearest back yard. I've had the unsuspecting shooting roman candles into those paddocks. I had to remove the suspicion (that there were some horses behind their house) for them a couple of times.

It makes my mares (which are in the paddocks at night this time of year) VERY nervous for a while.

The "It" here is fireworks, which started sproadically yesterday, go bonkers on the evening of the 4th and die down slowly for a week or two.

I usually end up bringing them into the barn that evening too.

gsganzer · Jun 30, 2004

Both myself and my neighbors on all sides have horses. We all live on 3 - 5 acre lots. We shoot our fireworks in the pasture every year. Yes, the horses get a little jittery. We usually leave them in our pastures, instead of penned up in stalls. I'd rather have them where they can run, then to be confined in a space where they feel they have no escape and can hurt themselves.

When we first start the fireworks show, they all break into a run. They all eventually find a part of the pasture where they feel comfortable and settle down. I'm not sure it's any worse then a good lightening storm.

Fireworks coming directly at them.... now that would be a different story.

chucko · Jun 30, 2004

When I was a kid we would always shot bottle rockets at the cows. they Went through the fence more than one time. Boy would we get chewed out by my granddad but come to think of it he would get us more bottle rockets knowing what we would do /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

MikePA · Jun 30, 2004

<font color="blue"> Any horse owners find the 4th to be a trying evening? </font>
We used to, but since the kids in the neighborhood have gotten older/moved away, it's been less of a problem. While I like fireworks as much as anyone, since they upset the horses, I don't set them off.

BTW, when the neighborhood kids were younger, the family who lives right across the street from our barn set some fireworks off just as my wife was feeding the horses. She was in the stall and the horse got spooked. She could have been hurt. Fortunately, she was not. However, she was very /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif and walked right over to the neighbors house and read them the riot act. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif When she told me about this, I thought, but did not say, "How were they supposed to know you were feeding the horses?" /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

BIGUN · Jun 30, 2004

We don’t have horses, but my little Weiner dog goes nuts when he hears fireworks going off whether he is inside or out. He runs back and forth barking his head off and won’t be consoled. I would not like being around large animals with fireworks going off if they get as excited as he does. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

The legal time to sell them up here in Oklahoma seems about 3 times as long as it is in Texas, there is a stand selling them at just about every major intersection, and the people living in my area really love to shoot them off, so it a lot longer than just the one evening here.

RobertN · Jun 30, 2004

No horses, but my Aussi Sheperd goes NUTS near fire works, thunder... She is already on meds for seizures; those sounds can still put her over the edge.

Not much happens up here; fireworks are illegal in our county. Fire danger is WAYYY tooo high.

rockyridgefarm · Jul 1, 2004

Ok, my horses are weird. It would never occur to us (or them) that fireworks are a problem. Except that they'd want to play with them, too. Brats!

cowboydoc · Jul 1, 2004

Mine must be weird too, /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif. The last thing my horses are going to get scared of is fireworks. With all they are exposed to fireworks are not much of a threat.

MuncyBob · Jul 1, 2004

Ours will get a little nervous but then they settle down together.....but, the other week-end we decided to shoot some clay birds and I thought our dogs were in the house...when we were done we looked for "Casey"...seems she took off about 1/4 mile to the nearest neighbors house and clawed at the door until they let her in!...I felt bad and she got a "goodie" when she returned...made me feel better anyway!