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  Discussion on Lightning and Storms
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Member:
rackn1

Posted on Sunday, Jun 6, 2010 - 2:34 pm:

I have read several discussions on lightning and would like to pose this for thought anyhow.

I live on a hillside and my barn is at the top of the hill out in the open - all trees are several yards away. It is a large older cow barn that I have converted into stalls and is secure - concrete foundation, wooden structure, and tin roof. I have had good electric installed. The stalls open into the field and the horses can come and go as they please.

We have VERY VERY severe lightning here. My phone gets taken out almost every storm. I have lost countless trees and several appliances in my house. We get tons and tons of strikes on this open hillside. I have never seen anything like it.

I am just at a loss as to what to do with the horses. When I first moved here I was of the thought that they would do what was best and take care of themselves. But they do not go in the barn during a storm (I don't think they like the rain on the tin roof). They run out into the open field. They do not seem to go under trees. But over the past two years the lightning seems to be getting worse and I have started putting them in the barn but now I wonder if my barn is a target. I do not have a lightning rod b/c I have heard that is not good to attract the lightning to the barn b/c even with a rod it can catch on fire.

I live in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mts. in VA and occassionally they have tornado warnings which poses yet another question, in or out? Lightning or tornado.

What is the lesser of all the evils?
I have done tons of research and MOST people's vote seems to be in the barn. I guess that is the lesser evil. Would love to have any feedback on any of it - lightning rods, tin roof as target?
Etc. Does the modern electric give the barn grounding?
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Sunday, Jun 6, 2010 - 3:35 pm:

Joanie,

My barn is also on top of a hill. Lightning took the phone out so many times that I finally quit having one in my barn and my husband and I communicate by walkie-talkies when necessary.

My horses do NOT want to be in the barn during a lightning storm.

My dog and I were trapped up there once in the worst lightning storm ever.

Lightning struck a tree several yards from my barn during that storm before striking the barn itself, taking the nails right out of the trim wood.

It hit the electric wire on the paddock fence shattering the wire into pieces.

It burned out the lights and 6 ceiling fans and the one in my feed room was smoking while I was in there taking refuge.

When I moved to the tack room my dog and I huddled under the saddle racks and watched as a ball of electricity shot out of my fence charger that was located in there.

Being in the barn was terrifying.

Meanwhile I could peek out now and then and see that my horses were out in the back pasture, a ways down the hill, well away from the fences and trees. They were out in the open of their own choosing. Only when the lightning stopped but while it was still raining did they venture higher up the hill and under the trees.

During the hurricanes I let my horses decide what they wanted to do and two of them were as low elevation-wise on my acreage as they could get (in the open away from trees with their tails turned into the path of the wind) while one elected to stay in the barn for much of the time. Tree branches had blown down and were piled next to the paddock fence and the horse seemed afraid to go out past the downed branches.

During lulls in the hurricane winds they were all willing to come up to be fed but when my barn roof came loose on one corner and began banging they all left the area completely.

Part of my nearby tractor shed roof blew off and fortunately no one was injured because they didn't want to be anywhere near that banging sound.

In the area where I live (a real "lightning capitol") horses have been killed by lightning out in the pasture but also right in their stalls in the barn.

Sometimes I have had to have a horse shut in due to illness or injury but I do not attempt to put my horses in the barn as a storm approaches.

First of all this puts me in danger (that's how I got trapped in the barn myself during that bad storm) and I am not convinced that it does much to protect them.

But my barn is rather open with a center aisle 12' wide, under roof but open at each end to take advantage of breezes. It is also open to the outdoors above the stall doors

If I had a barn like yours I might feel differently though the possibility remains that you could have a fire due to a lightning strike. I don't know what to say about the lightning rods but would expect your barn is properly grounded as I know that mine is.

It seems to me that my horses have been pretty smart about doing their best to protect themselves from the elements but they are fortunate to have a variety of choices as far as elevation and exposure is concerned.

They have enough pasture space to get away from various dangers.

I hate to have horses shut in the barn when I am off my property. I cannot help but worry about the danger of fires and had a wild fire come very close to my property years ago. The fire department put out the grass fire and also had to cut a trench in the ground to protect some of my woodlands.
Member:
tpmiller

Posted on Sunday, Jun 6, 2010 - 3:43 pm:

Having lost a 6 week old colt to lightning, and major damage to mother, at any hint of lightning all or put in the 1st level of a 2 story bank barn. Details in another lightening thread here:

https://www.horseadvice.com/horse/messages/3/71776.html

All stalls have rubber mats. There is a well-grounded lightening arrestor on the roof.

Any fencing that conducts electricity should also be well-grounded.
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Sunday, Jun 6, 2010 - 6:06 pm:

Joanie,

IMHO, I think if your horse is going to get struck by lightening, it will happen no matter what you do, outside, inside etc. There really does not seem to be any rhyme or reason to them getting struck.

My horses have a run in shed that they use all the time, I also live on a very wooded property where the trees are very tall and old that have been toppled by severe thunderstorms several times in the past.

A number of years ago, we went out to dinner and during dinner a very severe storm came through, when we got back we had no electric and unfortunately no flashlight either, but we didn't hear anything that would make us think there was anything wrong with the horses.

The next morning, my husband came running back in the house and woke me up to see the devastation that used to be the paddock and the run in shed. Just about everything had been destroyed by a freak tornado, I had trees down, most of the fencing, the metal gates and the run in shed were demolished and the horses, well they were standing by the gate that contained their feed buckets even though that gate was on the ground and the feed tubs were underneath it. Amongst all that devastation, not a scratch on either one of them, all they wanted was their breakfast. I don't know how they survived it, but they did, I think most horses when left to their own devices use their instincts to sort out where the safest places are even when it is not the optimum situation.

Rachelle
Member:
tpmiller

Posted on Sunday, Jun 6, 2010 - 6:48 pm:

No 100% guarantee, but there are measures that can be taken to lower the odds of losing a horse to lightning.

A bare wire high tensile fence with no grounds on steel posts is patently more unsafe than than the same fence with wooden posts, grounded and clad in plastic.
Member:
canter

Posted on Sunday, Jun 6, 2010 - 7:13 pm:

I have heard of several horses around here killed by lightening strikes (either directly or from the lightening hitting a tree with the horse standing under it) but have yet to hear of a horse being killed while in a barn.

Some horses seem to have sense enough to stand under shelter and some don't - can't even count the times I've gone out to the barn to bring horses in during a storm and those with shelter are standing right out in the open. Many do not seem to seek the lowest area of the pastures.

In my opinion, the horses are safer in a well built, properly grounded structure than out in the open. As Timothy states, nothing is guaranteed, but you'll never hear a weather man advise viewers to go stand out in the open during a thunderstorm; we're always told to seek shelter. Probably best for our horses, too.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Sunday, Jun 6, 2010 - 7:32 pm:

Hello Joanie,
I too vote for the barn as the safest place from lightening but if it is prone to getting struck I would not store combustables in it.
DrO
Member:
ajudson1

Posted on Monday, Jun 7, 2010 - 7:17 am:

Joanie,

I always try to put my horses in the barn also before a storm hits. I've been a very slow learner in regards to getting them in BEFORE the storm; after a few times of being in the midst of nervous horses in my pajamas, I've finally learned to put them in any time I suspect bad weather is coming. Ours is also a metal barn, with half doors, and the ceilings over the stalls are high. My horses are nervous with rain or hail pelting the roof, but they settle down with hay in front of them.

I figure they are safer in the barn for several reasons:

My pastures are flat, and horses standing out there would be an easy lightening strike.

We have hard woods on 2 sides, and I've heard stories of flying tree branches hitting and wounding or killing horses. And parts of the metal barn roof flying off and causing a horse to be hurt bad enough to be put down.

Branches coming down on the fence could provide an escape for the horses, that has happened in the winter after a snow storm. Luckily following the trail of 4 horses in new snow was pretty easy, and they had stayed on our property.

There is always a chance of fire of course. We had one in April in our own woods, thank God the wind was blowing away from our buildings. The horses were very nervous!

I figure the best I can do is put the horses in, and monitor the weather until it passes.

In the event of a tornado, I don't know. Such freaky things happen with tornadoes that we could find the horses on the roof, or in a tree, or the barn gone and them standing. Again, I think I'd rather have them in, than running around the countryside terrified.

Some fascinating stories, WOW guys! And good tips.
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