To ask people having fireworks this weekend to employ some common sense?

[Frillyhorseyknickers]

If you're having fireworks, and you live near horses or any sort of livestock, please have the forthought to go round and tell them your plans, so they can take steps to protect their animals, horses in particular are flight animals.

My friend's horse was badly injured this week as no one thought to let them know theneighbours were having fireworks.

www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/news/local-news/horse-left-badly-injured-leaps-702824

Please also think about how mindlessly stupid it is to send burning flames up into the sky (fireworks, Chinese lanterns) as they end up setting fire to straw stacks, livestock buildings etc etc.

Not blaming the animals owners but seeing as it is bonfire night this weekend I think the best idea is to assume that people around WILL be having fireworks and take steps to keep their animals safe regardless.

Whilst its a nice idea it is not always possible to know who owns what horse/field in an area, esp when several share a field. I would hope that all stock owners who keep their animals near housing would have the sense to take precautions this weekend without needing to be told.

Seeing as fireworks in November are as common as Christmas is December it’s absolutely the responsibility of the owner to employ some common sense to protect the welfare of their animals.

Or you know, just generally not be a dick about you a mature pyrotechnics. Don't set off one rocket every ten minutes for four hours, don't angle your fireworks into other people's gardens, if your gardening too small to contain them then don't have any etc.

And whilst I'm on my soapbox it would be really useful if each paddock/field had details if who to contact in case if emergency attached to each gate. That way when their occupants scarper you'd know who to call.

Yanbu but horse owners also need to employ common sense and realise that there will be fireworks around bonfire night and secure their horses accordingly. Yes it's annoying that it's not just on the 5th and the nearest weekend, but it happens every year.

I think it's a good reminder - obviously you can't be expected to track down every horse owner. But if you know there are horses or other animals near you, and you know the owner, let them know.

I don't get Chinese lanterns - I've seen some horrible stories of where they can end up.

I think like so much in life it comes down to: just don't be a dick, please!

I think it’s incredible that any adult can buy and use fireworks, I think they should be controlled because not everyone can be trusted to use them safely.

just generally not be a dick about you a mature pyrotechnics

Or go one step better, don't think you can handle dangerous, explosive chemicals in your back garden and just go to a properly organised show. However, I'd be glad if fireworks didn't go off for hours on end either, it's going to sound like WW3 in my neighbourhood tomorrow, for the first time this year I'll be glad my poor old dog isn't here anymore. This time of year was always terrible.

Same with alcohol, prescription meds and cars psycho. To name but a few. Can't ban everything that some dick will misuse.

How can fireworks night surprise anyone, it’s always in November just a Christmas is in December.

Any responsible animal owner will one would assume know it’s fireworks night and take precautions to keep them safe. Animal owners need to use common sense too!

Ttbb, absolutely this. It really bugs me when people set one firework off every 10 minutes.

I know barbarianMum but generally speaking, those substances only physically harm the user, but fireworks can harm onlookers, wildlife, farmland etc so some form of regulation wouldn’t go amiss, even if it’s a short course that gives you a licence to use fireworks safely.

Part of the problem is fireworks are getting bigger and louder every year. It ends up sounding like a war zone. I like watching the pretty ones, as do my horses, but I don't see the need for the bangs that sound like a bomb exploding. It's also sometimes tricky to know what to do for the best. For the first time this year I'm planning on leaving mine in the field this evening but I will be staying with them until late on to make sure they are ok. Same again the day after when the neighbours are having fireworks. Hopefully this will be less stressful for them than being cooped up, not being able to see what is going on due to the setup of the stables, and just deafened for hours on end. It makes me feel sorry for all animals at this time of year, their hearing is so much more sensitive than ours and I know my ears can be ringing by the end of the evening.

Obviously it's not OK to be inconsiderate to animals, but all the firework frothing on here makes me laugh.

I live in a tourist town, with fields, horses and other livestock on the outskirts too, and there's a fireworks display at least once a week for most of the year.

I live in a tourist town, with fields, horses and other livestock on the outskirts too, and there's a fireworks display at least once a week for most of the year.

Where is that? I'd like to avoid that place like the plague!

It's not just animals is it, though it's awful for many of the poor creatures. What about people who can't cope with it, certain individuals with autism, suffering PTSD, very young children? Perhaps if it truly was only a few nights a year, it could be excusable to have home fireworks. As it goes, people take the piss, even if we take the danger element out of it.

It is actually really antisocial behaviour, as much as a neighbour blaring music or someone drilling for hours on end, several days a week, for months. No one is trying to be a 'spoil sport' and take fireworks away completely. Just not allow them to be sold in any old shop to joe public, or at least put much higher regulations on the bloody things (and actually heavily fine people who don't adhere to the rules). What we have now isn't a compromise in any way.

I wish people could see the damage they do. I wouldn't mind if it were just organised displays but the amount of idiots that have them in their back garden is scary - where do you think the wrapping goes?

My stables very nearly ended up on fire four years ago when a firework ended up on the roof.

Please explain to me how I can genuinely rest assured my animals are safe this weekend? I've spent £60 on sedative campers because the noise scares them. They are not safe in their paddocks because they might jump out onto the road in fear. They are not safe in their stables in case a stray fire work alights their beds. How exactly can I keep them safe? It shocks me that in 2017 anyone over yh age of 18 can buy explosives.

*calmers

firework frothing

That is the perfect phrase. I've never seen it anywhere else either.

Obviously I'm not condoning people being dickish with fireworks, but fireworks in November is hardly a surprise is it?

People do stuff I don't like all the time that have an effect on me - playing loud music, letting their over excited muddy dogs run up to me and jump up, voting Tory - but none of them are new or unexpected. Bit like fireworks in November.

yanbu
especially if everyone has their fireworks on different days. and in london almost constantly since diwali.

fyi, when I was a horse owner many many years ago, the horses were kept in a small paddock so they could run without getting injured.
but in those days the middle ages there was only one night of fireworks and that's it.

I live near your friend OP and we've had fireworks every night this week.
I'm lucky(?) that I have lapdogs so find it easier to calm them.

I also think that there may be different issues in different parts of the UK, reading the threads on here. Around here the culture seems to be a whole week of fireworks with the bigger, organised displays taking place over both weekends (I guess it's to attract more/the same people to each), then "family fireworks" whichever night the parents/friends have off together. They also seem to go on and on - on Tuesday (?) night they were still going off at half 12.

When I lived in a more urban area down south, it was one organised display and very very few backyard pyrotechnics.

Firework Frothing

Very apt description really, I read on another thread about a dog that vomits and froths at the mouth due to the stress. My horse doesn't bother as he was brought up in an area where shooting is common, pony is a different matter, he was frothing white foam last year from spinning round his stable in fear every time a bang went off.
I have sedation for my dog for sat and sun, because it seems like it's going to be bonfire weekend rather than just bonfire night, and she gets very stressed. Vet has given me a mild sedative for pony, but only to be used if he's in imminent danger of injuring himself.
I've planned for bonfire night, and the times that I think the fireworks will start and end so to be there and sedate the dog at the appropriate time, and keep an eye on pony too. But I can't plan for what I don't know about, and I don't want to be giving sedation just in case, it's not good for the animals. So other than sat and sun eve we're all just having to deal with it, but it's infuriating when half a dozen randomly go off at 8.30 the Wednesday before bonfire night.
I do think that fireworks should only be for organised displays - there's plenty about to go and see, and they're a lot safer. It's not just the risk to property from stray sparks and fireworks, the stress it causes animals, young children and vulnerable people, it's the injuries that they can - and do - cause to people who are handling them, nearby etc. My mum was an a&e nurse - fireworks were display only for our household because of some of the awful injuries she's treated over the years.
I don't think it's unreasonable for someone like the OP to ask that common sense is applied to people setting off fireworks near farms and livestock, that care is taken to not direct them over the animals and their shelters and barns.

I totally understand what your saying OP. I used to adore fireworks when I was small but the older I've gotten the more I hate them. I even hate Sparklers thanks to my MIL not supervising my kids properly when she decided they needed to have some

At the end of the day a lot more people are able to enjoy fireworks than are able to enjoy horses.