Fri 30th Oct 2015Remember Remember The Fifth of NovemberTop Tips for Happy Horses This Firework's Night
Firework's Night is just a few days away and though many will be getting excited in anticipation of the colourful displays, many horse and pony owners will be aware of issues that can occur around this time of year. However, there are some steps that can be taken to ensure ponies' safety at this time of year. Ponies wintered out should be kept out of sight and earshot of fireworks, especially if their guardians think they may be at risk of becoming frightened by the noise and sparks. It may be worth bringing them in for a few nights until the firework parties are over. The charity World Horse Welfare recommends shutting the top doors of stables to muffle the sound, or leaving a radio on in the stableblock, which stops the noise of fireworks being so out-of-the-blue. Check your horses, both those in stables and in fields, regularly throughout this period. If ponies need to be sedated to help keep them calm, it is important to keep a watchful eye on them until the effects of the drugs wear off. Sedated ponies should not be turned out in the dark, as they may become disorientated, and it is also important to make sure that all fences and gates are secure, to make sure no frightened horse can escape onto nearby roads or get itself in trouble. Keep up-to-date on events in your local area via Facebook, Twitter and other social media, to enable you to establish when firework displays may be happening. If your horses are kept in a busy area, it is a good idea to ask around to ascertain what kind of events may be taking place over the next week. It is also good practice to carefully walk around fields in which horses are kept the days after fireworks have been let off. Bits of broken firework, and especially the shells of Chinese lanterns can cause serious issues if ingested or trodden on by ponies. Both fireworks and lanterns can travel quite some distance from where they were let off before coming to land, so don't presume your fields will be clear just because you haven't set off any there yourself. Chinese lanterns are also a fire hazard and have been known to set alight thatched roofs and haybarns, so precautionary measures, such as buckets of sand, fire extinguishers, and displaying emergency contact details and the postcode of the location the horses are kept in, to enable rapid response by the emergency services, are a good plan. Photograph: Fireworks Night is on Thursday 5 November |