How is your horse with fireworks?

My horses are perfectly fine with fireworks. Our barn is nestled on property that runs behind a large amusement park that has a huge nightly fireworks display throughout the summer. You can sit and watch the fireworks go off above the pastures with the horses grazing quietly, not even twitching an ear at the loud booms and lights above them.

I once arrived in a horseman's camp on 4th of July night shortly after people on property neighboring the camp had started lighting off huge, illegal Class C fireworks. Camp was packed, there was about 200 horses picketed when all this started. Horses and mules were going bonkers, ripping out picket lines, running through camp tied together and dragging the posts behind them. Total and utter chaos. As I parked my rig (I was alone) and opened the trailer door a woman that works at the camp comes running up hollering at me not to unload my horse. Now my fella had been riding in the trailer all day and knowing him as I do, I knew he had to pee something fierce and wanted off the trailer to tend to business. Before she got up to my site I had him off the trailer and tied with fireworks still going off overhead. When she got to me, breathless, she watched in wonder as my boy stretched out and took a wizz in front of her in the middle of all the action. Then she asked me what the hell was wrong with him, is that horse deaf? Nope, it's just another light show for him!

She expressed concern with me turning him out in a small paddock to stretch while I went off with her to help other campers gather their horses. All that was put to rest when he immediately settled in and started grazing after helping himself to a long drink, she couldn't believe none of what was going on fazed him.

He was one of only a handful of horses that didn't go batsh!t crazy over those fireworks, the rest being a group of horses belonging to some guys from a Sheriff's department that compete in cowboy mounted shooting. After all the action died down quite a few people expressed surprise that he handled himself so calmly through it all (without a barn buddy to boot!) and I even got a few offers on him. I politely declined but told everyone who inquired about him they could board their horse at our barn for a summer and get the same results!

As far as I know, he's fine - he's only been close to one before - I was having a lesson in the evening about 3 days before bonfire night and some fireworks were going off right behind the barn, which was opposite the school I was having my lesson in. He stopped, the head went up and he just stood and watched them - I was the one jumping every time one went off!

We had to call it a day though as I couldn't hear the instructor

Has been about 5-6 years since he's seen fireworks - each year, radios are put into the barns at the yard I'm on and turned up full blast to drown out the fireworks. We have happy horsies in the morning instead of sweating, quivering wrecks that way :)

My horse loves them in the dark, he winnies at them and he just gets really happy its soo funny:P ill try to post a video, he also gets mesmorized if a house has lots of bright colourful christmas lights:P

FBFO............

My horses are not fans of fireworks...particularly bottle rocks, firecrackers.....no doubt a person could do a bit of desensitization with horses around fireworks but I would think there are some horses who will never accept them....Police horse patrols HAVE TO become used to them........

He is so so with fireworks.

My horse doesn't care for fireworks. She doesn't flat-out panic or anything, but she'll run back and forth along the fenceline and get really excited. I think she just doesn't like the noise...although when she sees the lights from the quieter fireworks she still gets really high-headed and prick-eared. So I don't think she hates them, she just doesn't like them. Needless to say, July 4 isn't her favorite day of the year!

Most of my horses are fine with them, but we never leave them out in the pastures on the Fourth of July just to be safe. In fact one of my geldings will stand in his run and stare at them. Not like he's nervous, he has completely relaxed body language, he just stares. It's as if he is mesmerized by them! I used to have a mare who would gallop herself into the ground on the Fourth though, when all the neighbors shoot fireworks. We would always end up having to put her up. Thats why we never leave anyone out anymore.

all of my horses hate fireworks and go nuts and so do the neighbors horses, we have a neighbor every summer that's shoots off a ton of them, my show horse at my boarded stable doesn't mind them i wouldn't say he tolerate them very well but hes not spooky, its a touchy thing with animals even my dogs will hide under the couch if they hear them going off, but your lucky alot of horses dont like loud bangs and noises

My horses are fine with them. Of course the nearest fireworks are 3 miles away as the crow flies. I have been at the racetrack with fireworks going of all around and I had to shut the bottom doors and spend the night walking the shed row. Having been stabled at Aquaduct I believe they are more receptive of airplanes because the noise is constant. Fireworks only go off occasionally. So I think it is more of a startle response.

Well, she's okay if they're far away. Our neighbors had a bunch of the ones that make a loud boom over the summer, and she was okay with them, and one day I was even riding right by and they used one and she was okay with it. So that's big considering my horse is scared of fourwheelers, guns, a lot of other stuff that's loud.