Keeping your Horse Safe in Fireworks Season

With fireworks season now here, as horse owners ourselves, we understand how worrying and stressful this time of year is. The sudden noise and lights from fireworks can cause huge distress for horses. Being flight animals, horses may panic and run blindly, injuring themselves – sometimes fatally – in the process.

According to BHS figures, since 2010, the BHS Safety Team has received almost 1,030 incident reports involving fireworks, including 270 horse injuries, 69 human injuries and 35 horse fatalities.

Should your horse be negatively affected by fireworks, The British Horse Society encourages all horse related accidents and incidents to be reported to help understand equine related incidents and possibly help change safety laws in the future. To report an incident please visit  www.bhs.org.uk/go-riding/record-an-incident or download the BHS Horse i app.

Redwings Horses in Mind Petition

Redwings Horse Sanctuary is asking the government to reduce the maximum noise level for fireworks from 120 decibels to 90 decibels. The aim is to reduce many of the harms fireworks can cause while still allowing displays to be enjoyed.

To sign the petition, please visit https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/738192?filters=418 Join the 100,000 people that have already signed to support this campaign.

Precautions to take to try and keep horses safe

• Find out if anyone nearby is planning on letting off fireworks:
• Speak to neighbours to let them know that you have horses and need to prepare for any fireworks displays so they can let you know in advance if they are planning any.
• Ask locally, check local social media pages and any local newspapers.
• You can download World Horse Welfare’s poster to help raise awareness in your area.

Decide whether to keep horses stabled or in the field:

Many people suggest keeping your horse in his normal routine during fireworks season. There are arguments for and against stabling over-night when there are fireworks nearby. Horses may take fright in the field and gallop and panic. But they could also become stressed in a stable.

Adequate third-party insurance

Ensure you have adequate third-party insurance in place: Should the worst happen and your frightened horse escapes and causes an accident, you could be liable.

Check your field the morning after any fireworks nearby:

Before putting your horse out the next day, it is advisable to thoroughly check the field for firework debris. Even if the local firework display is not particularly near, firework packaging can travel quite a distance when it heads skyward on a rocket.

If you are in any doubt about your horse’s wellbeing, always go back to check him in the evening. This can be as reassuring for you as for him to make sure all is well. Maybe even put together a yard rota for checking the horses late at night during late October and early November.

What to do if your horse lives near an organised fireworks display

Many people suggest keeping your horse stabled over-night when there are fireworks nearby so they don’t take fright and run blind in the field – or worse. This can work well if the horse/s are used to being stabled. However, if horses are not used to coming in to a stable then this can be stressful in itself for them, add in the firework bangs that they will undoubtedly hear and horses can become very agitated. If you decide to bring your horse in ahead of fireworks, it is likely to be best to remain around the yard whilst the fireworks are on and to definitely check the horse/s once the fireworks have finished.

For particularly highly strung or sensitive horses, some people will turn a radio on in the yard and put cotton wool ear plugs in their horses’ ears to minimise the effect of the loud bangs.

What about smaller, private fire work displays?

The above may work well for when you know that an organised firework display is taking place locally, but for those bangs and flashes that may be taking place relatively nearby for the few weeks either side of the 5th November, keeping your horse in overnight for several weeks may not be an option.

In this situation, keeping to the horse’s normal routine can be best and should reassure him as he knows that life is as normal. Be sure to communicate with people living locally to where your horses are kept and ask them to keep you informed if anyone is planning to let off fireworks. Also, make sure to communicate with people from other yards locally and ask them to keep your yard updated with any firework related news. Mentioning to neighbours that horses are frightened by fireworks can be very useful as it will not always occur to people that they could be causing animals distress by letting off fireworks.

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