Another Independence Day has come and gone. After two years of no neighborhood fireworks of any consequence, last night pretty much made up for the hiatus. The neighbor across the street came up with about two dozen commercial display quality air burst mortar rockets. I mean the kind that sound like a shotgun going off just from the launch! And the actual star burst was akin to a 40mm canon round explosion about 100 feet overhead. I was outside in the paddock almost immediately after the first one went up. Jewel and Al were apoplectic. And Jack? Well, I had to go poke him with a stick to see if he was dead. He was at the separation fence just watching the other two running laps.

Thanks FH! Good read! I always wondered what to do with them when they are freaking about fireworks. I enjoyed the reflection on trust.

I <3 you. If only more people knew/practiced this!!!

 Good to know I wasn't the only one out at the back last night bringing in the 4th with my horse. We occassionally run into real gunfire here in the wild west, thanks to hunters and touristy gunfights, so I am especially keen on getting my horse desensitized to the racket on July 4th. Problem is, over the past several July 4ths I've made the mistake of putting him in his stall. We do our fair share of lighting off fireworks in the back pasture and the stall always seemed like a sensible option. But, I don't think this has served him well, becasue he seems to get more nervous as the years progress. Obviously, not being able to move when one pops off can be very stressful for him. So last night, while the works were still going on around us and long after we had run out of our munitions, we settled in for an evening of roundpenning. I started out using a lead line in order to simply get  him moving and to give a reminder every once in a while that I was there. Within 15 mintues he was dropping his head and licking through much of the pops, so I turned  him loose and gave him plenty of change of direction to occupy his mind. When things were going good there, I became like a pasture buddy. That went well until one nearby cracker lit up the sky with a bang and he came barreling down the paddock bound for my pocket. Fortunately, he's not usually the kind of horse to get in your space, so I was able to point and cluck to move him around me. We spent the remaining hour or two just wandering around, with him in tow. This horse is especially difficult to get to hook on, so overall I think the fireworks helped us establish a much more solid relationship. I hope this translates out on the trail when we run into those mock gunfights at the ghost town we frequent on occassion or when we're out riding during hunting season.

 

 

 Great post FH.

the first year i had my horses, 2 years ago, halloween came around.  i'd moved them into my home about 3 months prior.  first there were municipal fireworks.  a ways away, but still loud and colorful.  then my neighbors decided to compete with their fireworks.

i was so worried about my 2 boys.  i was out there several times throughout the night.  but, it turned out, they LOVED fireworks.  they were like kids.  pressing against the fence, heads up, eyes to the sky.  you could almost hear them....Ooooh!  Aaaah!......it was so cute.

weird though.  all my dogs have been terrified of fireworks.

guess it's from being on the track.  probably saw that.  now a large grey rock?  scares the crap out of the one i have still.

I agree 110% but there are exceptions to every rule:)

My guys are on 22 acres these days so, my approach is different for a couple reasons.

I could easily bring everyone up to the one acre pasture by the barn and manage them for night time fireworks, but their routine is to come in at night anyway, so I make sure I get everyone in before dark.

When I lived in SoCal and the neighbors were really close, one neighbor's 20-something QH died of a heart attack thanks to another set of NEW neighbors that just had to fire off those mortars on that horse's fence line.  The horse onwer asked them to please move to the other side of the house but nupe, that was too much trouble.

He did take them court and got some $$$ compensation but how do you pay a person for the loss of a horse that had been with him its entire life and had shared a Montana cabin in the dead of winter while moving cattle?

Anyway, my alpha horse never got over that.  I am sure he doesn't remember the smell of death but he sure does remember that those loud noises at night mean bad things.  He's fine with all that stuff during the day time, but once dark settles in, I need to get him in the barn.  He's the same way with lightening storms - daytime he's fine, night time he is far from fine.

He is now also insulin resistant.  Sadly that miserable disease has made him anxious; something he NEVER used to be.  So that metabolically-caused anxiety adds to his dislike for loud noises at night.

At age 23, having smelled death from those loud noises and having anxious moments thanks to the IR, it is a far better thing to bring him and his herd into the barn, turn the fans on high and load everyone up with hay.

My other horses get confused by his behavior because the fireworks don't bother them - they look to me for help and I just tell them loud noises after dark bother Duke, it's ok, it's time to come in the for the night anyway.

I will stay at the barn for a bit to make sure no one's going to have the heart attack my friend's QH did -- I will never in this lifetime forget that horrible horrible event.

Thankfully my closest neighbor is 2,000 feet away, everyone has livestock and only want to light up the sky a little bit for their grandkids.  It's over and done by 11:00 PM and there aren't any drunks driving up and down the road throwing twizzlers out the window. 

 Great post FH!

 

I whole heartedly agree.  Specific to fireworks, I live by a gun range and luckily neither of my horses give much notice to fireworks.  It has to be pretty big to get them to "alert" to it.

 Yes, that's a real good instruction for all the horse owners! I start this kind of desens. with some little "clicks" and we went on to "little boys gun" and if the horse gets calm with this, we start with small gunfire till the horse will stand by me.