FEAR OF WIDESPREAD AMONG HORSES

Independence Day fireworks may enthrall your community, but for the horses nearby the celebration can be extremely stressful.

A recent study from New Zealand showed that nearly 80 percent of horses in the vicinity of a fireworks show exhibited signs of anxiety, despite attempts to manage the situation.

“Fireworks are sold [in New Zealand] for the three days leading up to Guy Fawkes Day in November, and the majority are probably set off in the weeks following,” says Gabriella Gronqvist, PhD, with Massey University. Each year, she adds, there are media reports of injuries or deaths in horses who were spooked by the pyrotechnics.

Public backlash to fireworks also occurs annually, Gronqvist says. “Almost yearly, petitions float around lobbying for a ban on fireworks in New Zealand, partly due to the anxiety they cause in animals. Recently, the national fire service and the Royal New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals promoted a legally binding referendum to try to have private use of fireworks made illegal. The difficulty with the fireworks debate has been a lack of data to back up the anecdotal claims.”

To collect such data, the researchers surveyed 1,111 caretakers of 6,431 horses, a number that represents about 9 percent of the non-racing horses in New Zealand. Half of the respondents identified

The reactions of the horses to fireworks were consistent: Nearly all at some time exhibited at least one anxiety-related behavior, such as galloping, sweating or trembling.

as living on “lifestyle blocks,” which are the equivalent of small “farmettes” in suburban areas of the United States. Only six percent of respondents indicated their horses had not been exposed to fireworks in the previous year.

The reactions of the horses to fireworks were consistent: All but seven respondents indicated that their horses had at some