Does anyone know what the position is of an insurance company whereby the insured horse sustains serious injuries due to a neighbor setting off fireworks without providing the owner any warning? It is illegal, however, that will result in a neighbor WAR. If this is already addressed, kindly direct me to that. I don’t see to have the ‘search’ option on this via iPad anymore. Thanks!
Your insurance is your insurance. It doesn’t ask why your horse got injured. I imagine you would need to sue your neighbors if you wanted them to cover expenses related to injuries because of their actions. And I doubt that your insurance company would sue your neighbors like a human insurance policy might. Big difference in premiums and coverage for humans v animals.
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While it’s a nice thought that neighbors give warning to horse owners about fireworks, they aren’t obligated to. We know it’s going to happen, and it’s our responsibility to do whatever we can to help keep ALL our animals safe (dogs and cats included).
The legality issue is a whole different ballgame, and not something your equine insurance company is likely to get involved in. I would be talking to your local LE to find out how to proceed in that area.
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Ask your neighbors to help train your horse to be tolerant of explosions by starting earlier and with smaller fireworks and gradually work up to the bigger stuff while you are home. Offer to pay for the extra fireworks. If it doesn’t work, at least you’ve started a dialog with your neighbors and they might be more likely to communicate with you about future firework shows. Horses can learn to become tolerant of most anything. Mine live 20 acres from a gun range. No one bats an eyelash about the gun fire.
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When an insurance company pays a claim they may subrogate against the person who caused the injury. This means they may “stand in the shoes” of the injured party and proceed to litigate against the miscreant. The injured person, as a term and condition of their policy, is usually required to cooperate with the insurance company. They must provide medical records, other records relevant to the event, answer written questions, be deposed, and testify at trial (if it goes that far).
The company has no greater rights than the insured. So if the insured has a claim in their jurisdiction against a neighbor in tort for using fireworks (legally or illegally) without notice then so does the company. But if not, then not.
G.
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No, are you kidding??? OP, you can get the noise of fireworks on your phone via youtube or many other avenues, and use that to desensitize your horse. I’m in redneckville and my horses are totally desensitized to fireworks and gun shots since they happen so much.
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Yes you absolutely need to train the horse to accept fireworks. My neighbors would have an hour long firework display every single year- I’m talking about the actual professional firework displays, not just some backyard fireworks. They always aimed them right over my barn/pasture. I move the horses away but it still is loud.
Sorry your horse got hurt. I would report it to the insurance and see what they say.
For my horses, the noise isn’t the issue. They can listen to the noises going off all day long.
It’s when they start seeing all the flashes of colors, a constant barrage, that they start getting upset. So yes, you may truly need REAL fireworks going off to help do the job. But that can be a pricey job.
Do you have a barn to put them in? What actually sets them off - the noise, the flashes, or both?
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Are they setting them off now and your horse injured itself? Or are you asking due to the 4th coming up?
If you are worried about the horses then just put then in the barn in the evenings ( until fireworks are gone) or a safely fenced small dry lot area .
Sadly neighbors don’t always think about the consequences of their actions and how it might affect their neighbors.
Are you asking about YOUR equine health insurance? Or your NEIGHBOR’S homeowner’s insurance?
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You have to prove negligence of your neighbor caused your horses injury. Horses being horses, it’s very hard to prove what caused an injury to them.
I work for an insurance company in claims…I didn’t attend but we just had a huge anniversary party at a fairgrounds with a band and fireworks. There was a horse show going on and a fellow boarder was there- said several of the horses got very upset and some were hurt. I’ll let you know if I hear anything come from that, but I doubt it…
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IMO fireworks may be expected at a fairgrounds. A neighbor using them illegally is different…
True, but no fair was going on.
When you take your horse places, you have no control or say in what goes on there. It’s their “sandbox”. The only thing you can take any action on is if what’s going on is illegal or blatantly dangerous to the safety of others. Unfortunately, proper use of fireworks doesn’t fall into that category.
It’s hard and takes time to teach horses that new things aren’t going to hurt them. You can’t acclimate them to all the things, but over time they learn that “new scary things” just aren’t a big deal, no matter what it might be. And even then, some horses are perfectly fine with all the craziness when they go somewhere, but change one little thing at home and their world is ending :lol:
It seems the illegal use of the fireworks is the only variable in this case that has any potential to have anything done about it.
You know what? Sometimes, horses don’t get “desensitized” to sudden noises or lights. No matter what one tries. Horses are like people (or dogs), everyone is different. Some horses have a bit of PTSD to loud, sudden explosions no matter how old they are or where they’ve been. I get a bit frustrated when someone says any horse can “get over” the things that scare them. I know my friend’s blind mare sure couldn’t “get over” fireworks! Ours don’t mind the guns that shoot regularly here, but sudden onslaughts of overhead mortars by our neighbors? Yeah, that’ll set them off! Do they settle? Yes, most times. But the first moments of panic can cause injury for sure!
That being said, OP-- which insured party are you talking about? If they fireworks are illegally used then perhaps a lawsuit is the route to go?
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You are correct, but in many places, they are illegal, so you can’t use actual fireworks. I used my phone, a cap gun, sparklers and flares to desensitize. My neighbors also light em up right over my barn and fields (with the big illegal ones), and one year started way early and I hadn’t brought the horses in yet. They startled a bit, then settled down and ignored them.
Yeah, let’s shoot off enough flares, enough days, to get a (hopefully) decent chance at desensitizing a horse to the idea of flashing lights overhead, and hope you don’t start a fire wherever those flares touch down. I can’t imagine how much damage a burning flare coming down in someone’s back yard could do. Forest Rangers use flares to start controlled fires in some situations.
And if you’re talking about the little mini flares for, say, starting a campfire, That does’t begin to approach the same visual as fireworks 100’ in the air.
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Last summer we sent two of ours to a trainer (Woman’s CMSA runner-up from a couple of years ago; very good, very quiet, no weirdness). Neither “made.” My wife’s mare didn’t do anything stupid but just became nervous and very “sloppy” in her behavior. My gelding was 3/4 horse. He did reasonably will three days out of four. I rode him one on of those “fourth” days and it was quite the rodeo. I didn’t get dumped but he just forgot everything he ever knew about being a broke saddle horse. It was 50 min. of “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.” I did 25 and our trainer’s assistant did 25 and he finally got the “red headed stepchild” to settle down he fired six rounds without much ado. But it was not pleasant and we’ve not done any more since. I don’t know if I’ll try again or not.
The reality of desensitization is NOT that you show them all manner of stuff not to be afraid of. The world, to a prey animal, has an infinite number of things that want to eat them. Your goal is to get the horse accept YOUR assurance that YOU won’t let any harm come to them. You won’t LET anything eat them. Once you get that they you can charge a line of cannon with no difficulty. I’m not there yet; maybe I’ll make it, maybe I won’t.
G.
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This is exactly what NOT to do when desensitizing a horse.
You start small and progress. It’s actually a very important part of colt starting, or retraining a horse that is already broke, and it’s beneficial to all horses. OP, if you don’t know how to correctly desensitize a horse, please ask around for a trainer who does. It’s not difficult, and you’ll be amazed at what a horse is willing to do once they learn that unusual things don’t equal danger. My horses will walk through fire, right next to police cars with lights and sirens going, flares, smoke, etc.
I love it. Once again, you didn’t understand what I wrote, put words in my mouth, and totally missed the point :lol:
I’m sure everyone else understood that 1) flares are dangerous, and 2) I didn’t say how to do the training.
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