This week has been a dual holiday week for us. Canada Day on July 1st and then the Fourth of July today. Sometimes it is hard to believe that not everyone is blessed to live in a free country, something that is so easy to take for granted when it is all you have ever known.
Although I love the 4th and everything it stands for, like most horse owners our goal is to get through the night! We’ve never had any problems with the horses going crazy over fireworks. We aren’t surrounded by subdivisions but there are a number of houses along our street. Every year around the 4th of July it becomes apparent to me that one of our neighbors to the east spends a small (or maybe a large!) fortune on fireworks every year. They buy the really big, loud and very colorful fireworks – and they buy a LOT of them.
They’ve already put on a pretty good show for the last two nights so I think the horses are pretty de-sensitized at this point. On Friday night there was a bit of trotting around but nothing crazy, I never saw or heard any running. A few of them would trot around after an especially loud and bright display. By the second night (Saturday) no one was even bothering to lift their heads from grazing as the fireworks were going off. Actually a few of the horses were watching the fireworks, but by their relaxed stance and their body language it looked like they were just enjoying watching the show and not bothered by it.
I used to put some of the really nervous horses in the barn. However I’ve learned they actually handle it better out in the pasture with their friends. They get over it very quickly when they realize none of the other horses seem to care. Plus I think if they can see where the noise is coming from it helps them to cope. They would get very worked up in the barn when they could hear all of the noise but had no idea what was causing it. In the pasture they just ignore it after a few minutes and go back to grazing.
Jason and I plan to spend one last evening tonight on one of the hills as we can see all of the pastures from there. We’ll watch the neighbors semi-professional fireworks display and keep en eye on the horses. Hopefully all will go as smoothly as the last two nights have. Even the fainting goats have been un-fazed by the fireworks the last couple of nights. The only animal on the farm having a hard time is Bush the coon hound. He also has a complete meltdown during thunderstorms as well, and I guess the fireworks sound like his worst nightmare coming true! Poor guy, he only has one more night to go!
Norman
Homer
Levendi
Elfin and Thomas
Baby
Hemi
Chance, Apollo and Ivan
Asterik, Sebastian, Faune and Winston
Lightening, Clay and Teddy
Faune
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