Leaving pony out in thunder

Carrots&Mints said:
who leaves their horses out in the thunder and lightening? Over here in North West England it was pretty bad at night for about an hour - people from my yard posting photos on how they had rushed up in their pjs and 'rescued' their horses from being zapped by lightening.

I was insulted on the good old facebook by some of the owners saying that 'why would you leave your pride and joy outside in this weather'? Im sure the likelyhood of them ever getting zapped is pretty minimal.
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Actually I know of 2 horses just in my area who DID get zapped and killed by lightning, so yes if I know lightning is coming I will bring all my horses in. I don't care about the thunder, but having stood with my horses sheltering from a big thunderstorm a few years ago, there was suddenly a huge crack and massive flash right in front of my face - all horses behind me started trembling all over terrified and I was rather shocked to say the least, I think it struck my water trough just across the yard from me.
 
Carrots&Mints said:
who leaves their horses out in the thunder and lightening? Over here in North West England it was pretty bad at night for about an hour - people from my yard posting photos on how they had rushed up in their pjs and 'rescued' their horses from being zapped by lightening.

I was insulted on the good old facebook by some of the owners saying that 'why would you leave your pride and joy outside in this weather'? Im sure the likelyhood of them ever getting zapped is pretty minimal.

Our YO was out at 11pm last night right in the middle of the storm after a horse was being dropped off by a transporter, and she reported no zapped animals or distressed animals, so didnt think i would bother getting out of bed to rescue my ned!

Do you leave your horses in or out?
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i left mine out, they were not bothered at all

few years back in one of the big storms around here 8 horses died due to lightning and one ended up with wobblers sydrome
 
Gosh Cortez so sorry to see about the loss of your 7 horses. What a dreadful thing to happen.

Reading some of these stories has made me more worried now! But last night it was very late (3 am round here) and I didn't think I should go rampaging round the yard at that time of night - plus from what I could tell by the time the storm woke me it was a fair way off, judging by the gap between lightning and thunder, so wasn't worth it by then. I did worry about my horses but it didn't keep me awake… like others I would also worry that they can do themselves a deal of damage if they panicked in the stable so think on the whole I would probably leave them out.
 
Horses out 24/7 and that includes if its going to stormy with thunder and lightening. My horses would be far more upset at being in than having the storm pass over. Woke up in the night due to the storm which did upset my two dogs a lot, but when got down the field everything was fine. Its the same around bonfire night they are used to the fireworks and would be far more upset by the loud bangs if they couldn't see where they were coming from. Also we had a local air show a couple of weeks ago and had all sorts of air craft flying over the fields, the horses didn't bat an eyelid. It does depend on what your horses are used to, if they stay out or if they are stabled at night, I just wouldn't change their routine for one night.
 
To be honest I'm more worried about mine in than out in summer he lives out 24/7 in winter he's in overnight if we have bad weather and I check him in the field he's fine in winter if we have a storm his box is trampled and I feel guilty he had to stay in
 
I'd bring in if I felt the field was "unsafe" large dodgy trees etc, Powerlines. But my boy was out in the thunder a couple of a days ago probably safer that than getting spoked in the stable!- not that much scares him!
 
We have thunder and lightening at the moment and I am watching 29 horses out the window in 4 different fields. 24 are grazing with their tails tucked in against the heavy rain and the other 5 are standing together in the middle of the field with heads down and tails tucked in just as they would be in any heavy cloud burst, none seem to react to the flashes of lightening or the crashes of thunder which seems to be over head at the moment.
 
I was worried about mine the other night but they were clearly fine.. Was a tiring night by the looks of it though!! :D

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