Horses That Hate Fireworks by Don Jessop
This can help!
Number 1: Is their home environment safe? Safe fences, no loose boards, wire or nails ready to jump out and make a new vet bill? If your horse’s environment is safe, then you can breathe a little. Even if they hate the fireworks show, they’ll live, and you will too. Be careful not to project your own emotions onto your horse. That’s called anthropomorphism, and it could mean you’re preventing your horse from having his own learning experiences. He or she could be better than you give them credit, and all may work out fine and dandy.
Number 2: Not everyone has options, but if you do, and you have a particularly sensitive horse, tuck them away in their stalls, preferably with companionship nearby, and plenty of food and water. Bring them out when the morning sun peeks over the horizon and all will be well.
Closing the horse away will prevent them from engaging and running about when they hear the noises. Companionship is most important, but not running around and bouncing off the fences is a calming experience, at least for you because you know they are safe.
I personally have large open fields, safely fenced, with calm, trained horses. I simply let them be and after a few startles and a bit of running and playing they settle in for the show. I let my calm and my excited horses in together all year anyway, and the energy always stays neutral as a result.
Number 3: Train your horse to be smarter about their spookiness. Listen, you can’t make a horse completely startle proof. It’s the same with humans. I still get startled when my wife pokes me in the ribs when I’m trying to concentrate. It’s how we startle that makes us smart. I teach my horses to spook in place rather than run into open spaces and crash through whatever is in the way. Once they learn how to “spook in place” I begin to help build even more levels of trust and confidence through bonding and other training exercises.
As a result of our training, riding improves, the relationship improves, and levels of fun increase because I never have to worry about a firework show again.
In summary, you now have a few tips to both manage and train your horse to handle this season’s firework shows, and of course, all future challenges related to confidence.
All of these tips and more are in my total confidence course. Check it out today! Don
