LEXINGTON, Ky (LEX 18) Central Kentucky may be horse country, but some local horse owners say that the public doesn’t seem to know how terrifying the Fourth of July is for horse owners.
On the night of July 3, fireworks caused 40 horses at Fantasia Farm to panic.
"Every year. Worst time of year, every year," said Fantasia Farm owner Debbie Grier.
Grier said that the fireworks have to stop.
"I’ll be up tonight till probably 1:00 in the morning babysitting horses," she said. "The neighbors in the blue house were shooting off the aerial fireworks that shoot up in the air really big and all the horses on the farm started running. The ones in the front were wanting to go through the fence and I brought some of them inside."
Grier said she asked her neighbors to stop, but they told her sorry, but they would be shooting off their fireworks. Any fireworks that go up in the air are illegal in Fayette County, so Grier is hopeful that police will catch anyone who shoots them off.
If Grier could bring all the horses in her barn, she would, but she said there are 40 horses and only 23 stalls. This is a common problem on many horse farms.
"I don’t want to come in and see his foot completely bleeding and gouged, and then I’m spending hundreds of dollars on vet costs to help him on something that could have been prevented. And on horses, who knows if it becomes a permanent injury," said horse owner Rebecca Wilcutts.
"They get scared, they run through a fence, they put something through them, you know, do damage. There’s no, I mean you can’t. If they break a leg or puncture a lung or you know, you just have to put them to sleep," said Grier.
