Desensitization
If you know your horse is terrified of fireworks, you have 364 days before each July 4th to do some desensitization work., and 364 days after if you didn't prepare for the pending holiday already. Employ round pen techniques to work your horse in the presence of fireworks, cap guns, or other things that go boom. I won't go into the finer details of those techniques here - but you can easily look up round pen work and apply those concepts. The center of a round pen is usually going to be a safe place to light some small firecrackers. Use common sense, folks. If there's dry grass in the middle of your round pen, don't dumb. Be aware of the legality of those fireworks. If you're at a shared boarding facility, perhaps arrange a group desensitization activity, or use other means to desensitize your horse. Just don't dumb.
There are other things besides popping that frighten horses during fireworks displays. Mine don't mind the actual boom noises, but they don't care for the sizzling, hissing sounds. If you want to desensitize your horse to those, even opening a well-shaken (not stirred) can of soda will provide the hiss you need. Compressed air (such as the air cleaners for computers, or Pet Corrector ™spray) will suffice. Fire extinguishers often get their attention. Be creative. You know your own horse, and if you think the horse is going to freak out, jump the fence, and do serious injury to themselves when you first make a noise they don't like, have someone a distance from the pen use it while you're working the horse in the round pen. You can always bring the noisemaker into the round pen and NOT use it at first when you introduce the horse to it, then introduce the noise after they've done a few rounds - and THEN use it at a slight distance. Let me reiterate: don't dumb. This is all about taking ownership, folks, not being a victim. Here's your "don't dumb" T-shirt as a reminder: https://www.cafepress.com/ranchochupacabra.537274868 (Proceeds benefit yours truly, and all the mouths I feed.)
Calming Supplements
Whether you've desensitized your horse or not, consider helping them through the Very Frightful Things with calming supplements. Your local feed store and numerous online outlets carry a variety of nutraceuticals and herbal supplements designed for this purpose. Some, such as the tryptophan pastes, are handy for one-time use prior to the event. It's a good practice to give your horse the calming aid about twenty minutes before you anticipate the Very Frightening Things. Those 364 days of non-July 4th I mentioned? You can use one of them to test each potential calming aid you're considering. Here's a product, Quietex, by Farnam that's widely used: (affiliate link - this means yours truly may receive a little extra hay money if you buy a product through my links) https://amzn.to/37LO9hE It's in paste form for your convenience. Those desensitization exercises I mentioned above? Consider trying them while using a calming aid (on your horse, unless you require a little help as well. I won't judge.) See if it seems to help your horse during Very Frightening Things.
Use White Noise / Safe Noise in the Barn
You can't drown out the loudest booms and hisses, but you can certainly play music or turn on loud fans in the barn or the breezeway of your mare motel during Very Frightening Things to minimize the trauma. Consider William Tell Overture for some additional bonus booms. Classical music is actually a great way of covering scary noises with more benign noises. Don't pick soothing music. Seriously, you're trying to minimize the contrast between normal background noise and loud, Very Frightening Things. Pick something lively. I love country music, but it makes us all want to drink beer, so choose classical for the July 4th event. And those big-ass fans? They're great for creating some white noise.
Work Your Horse that Afternoon Before the Very Frightening Things Occur
Horses with a lot of nervous energy benefit from being worked prior to the Very Frightening Thing, whether it is loading them on a trailer or facing down the annual fireworks armageddon. Let them get their ya-yas out. Work them, walk them out, and spend some time letting them be calm and serene prior to the big night.
Prescription Sedatives
If your horse is Jameel Ibn Basketcase, and calming supplements do nothing for him or if he's already on them for the day to day terrors such as plastic bags, crinkly plastic bottles, and dark spots on the road, you may need to up the ante. Talk to your vet prior to the big day - you know, those 364 other days - about keeping a sedative on hand. Your vet may be willing to draw up just the right dose to administer to your horse when you think Jameel needs some help. Again, you may want to give the dose about 20 minutes prior to the event. As a general rule you never want to sedate an already-anxious animal. Talk to your vet and plan in advance. If you don't know how to administer an injection, and you don't want to use this excellent opportunity to learn, plan in advance to have a helpful friend or neighbor do so for you.
Put Your Horse in the Safest Place
If you have options for where you can put your horse during the Very Frightening Thing, move your horse in advance to the calmest, safest place for the night. Maybe this means putting him next to that quiet geriatric barn-mate. Maybe it means putting him in a stall that doesn't have metal feeders he can gore himself against. Perhaps he's best when he's turned out in a very large turnout that he can race around and get silly without running into walls. If you know your horse, you likely know the place he feels safest.
Distract Your Horse with Forage During the Very Frightening Things
Sometimes all it takes is feeding during the Very Frightening Thing to take your horse's mind off the situation. Don't feed grain - but give him a big ol' bonus flake of hay and maybe some carrot shreds. Make the Very Frightening Thing a positive experience for him.
Buy Ear Plugs for Your Horse. Yes, You Read That Right.
There are things some mounted shooters and mounted patrol officers can tell you about bomb proofing, and one of these things is the presence of helpful devices such as the horse ear plugs in this helpful (affiliate) link: https://amzn.to/3dji01X. Introduce them to your horse on one of those 364 prior days, and give your horse the gift of silence.
Spend Time with Your Horse and Lend Them Confidence
On the night of the Very Frightening Thing, spend some time in the barn or corral with your horse. Simply framing the event as a "normal" night will help him out. Talk a lot, and boldly. Brush him. Walk him. Do something with him. Don't just stand and bemoan the horrible neighbors who light fireworks. That doesn't help your horse. And that leads me to one of the biggest tactics:
Don't Impart Your Own Anxiety to Your Horse
Nervous horse owners often have nervous horses. Anxious owners produce anxious owners. They're herd animals, and if you're the boss mare, they'll follow your lead. If you're NOT the boss mare, you have some things to work on. If you want your horse to be fearless and confident, be fearless and confident. Speak boldly. Move bravely. Don't baby your horse and tell him, "Good boy, Jameel!" in a baby voice while he's ramming himself in terror against the wall. That's not a good boy. Scold him and hold him accountable when he dumbs. Praise him when he braves. So often we build nervous dogs and horses by modeling for them our own nervous behavior and unintentionally rewarding them for being scaredy cats.
Now, plan ahead and get your horse ready for those Very Frightening Things, and your horse will have every opportunity to realize they aren't so Very Frightening after all.
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