Preventing lightning strikes for turned out horses

[beowulf]

Even when they are inside, they can be killed by lightning while their buddies outside are unharmed.

That is how I lost the gelding in my signature - he was standing in his stall (wooden shed-row), full rubber mats on concrete. There was a lightning rod affixed to the structure right next to the barn. I still don’t understand how it happened or why he was the only one killed. This was the big storm in Aiken, SC in 2012 that also killed several other horses across the county.

For a while I looked for ways to “lightning proof” and really… there weren’t any. Structurally, everything was done right in this barn… my horse just was in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

At the risk of sounding blasé, I think there is very little you can do if the structure your horses are housed in is struck beyond hope that they are in the right spot at the right time. It really is a crapshoot.

[moonlitoaksranch]

During late summer, here in Florida, the lightning capital of the US, it’s best to move them to lower pastures if you’re expecting nasty storms, if you have a choice. I lost one of my favorite cows who stood under a nice oak tree in a slightly higher pasture. Pasture rotation put them there that month. It wasn’t even our stormiest month. Some things just happen. Poor old Bonny. The other cows wouldn’t go near that tree and the grass always had to be mowed underneath it after that. The oak survived.

Our horses are barefoot. I think that lowers the risk when the rain sheets across the pastures and they’re standing in water.

[Texarkana]

@beowulf

Even when they are inside, they can be killed by lightning while their buddies outside are unharmed.

That is how I lost the gelding in my signature - he was standing in his stall (wooden shed-row), full rubber mats on concrete. There was a lightning rod affixed to the structure right next to the barn. I still don’t understand how it happened or why he was the only one killed. This was the big storm in Aiken, SC in 2012 that also killed several other horses across the county.

For a while I looked for ways to “lightning proof” and really… there weren’t any. Structurally, everything was done right in this barn… my horse just was in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

At the risk of sounding blasé, I think there is very little you can do if the structure your horses are housed in is struck beyond hope that they are in the right spot at the right time. It really is a crapshoot.

I am so sorry. How absolutely awful.

It’s so frustrating. Horses succumb to lightning with an alarming enough frequency that you would think we would have some way to protect them. Or you’d think we would at least better ways to predict the likelihood of lightning strikes in 2021.

[Texarkana]

@moonlitoaksranch

During late summer, here in Florida, the lightning capital of the US, it’s best to move them to lower pastures if you’re expecting nasty storms, if you have a choice. I lost one of my favorite cows who stood under a nice oak tree in a slightly higher pasture. Pasture rotation put them there that month. It wasn’t even our stormiest month. Some things just happen. Poor old Bonny. The other cows wouldn’t go near that tree and the grass always had to be mowed underneath it after that. The oak survived.

Our horses are barefoot. I think that lowers the risk when the rain sheets across the pastures and they’re standing in water.

Do you even have lower pastures in Florida?

We certainly don’t have many here on the Delmarva peninsula. My current farm is an anomaly for the area with rolling hills; most places are flat as a pancake. The flatness makes me worry about lightning more.

[moonlitoaksranch]

We do have some hills. It depends where you are.

[frugalannie]

Lightning is actually a little counterintuitive. Protons build up from the ground, and electrons from the clouds meet up with them with a wild release of energy. I’ve always heard that the protons concentrate on lightning rods which is what “attracts” lightning and can sometimes be seen before a strike as St Elmos Fire. As I understand it the protons are equal if not greater players in the reaction.

I have no idea how this could keep a horse safe!

[lenapesadie]

@Texarkana

Do you even have lower pastures in Florida?

Naturally. All of them.

No hills near me. I have a mild slope from front to back, does that count?

My barn is grounded and close to trees that are taller. I dunno what else I can do really.

Locally, a driver and their passenger were injured when lightning struck the road and blew a chunk of asphalt through the windshield.

[Southernboy]

No hard data, just an experience. I was standing in the middle of a 20 stall barn full of horses during a bad storm. The barn had lightning rods across the roof with cables running into the ground. When the lightning hit, The experience was like being inside a very bright light bulb, not to mention the thunder. Horses ok, barn ok, my Aussie was never the same again but he was always a little weird.

[SuzieQNutter]

We had a tree struck by lightning near a house I used to live in.

As above the noise is so loud that you freeze in your tracks.

This noise is so loud that people/horses can have heart attacks.

The tree was not on fire as above, however a good 200 meters from the tree were 3 spears of wood. These spears were 3 foot out of the ground and half a foot speared into the ground. The wood was as hard as a rock and if anything had been standing in those spots they would have been speared into the ground.

The tree did die.