Lightning -- a word of caution...

[guest@endurance.net]

Chris Paus paus@prodigy.net
We all do a lot of hauling, and I'll bet like me, you've hauled through
thunderstorms. I want to tell you about a recent experience that maybe you
can avoid. (It's been a very bad horse year for me. I wish I could put
everybody in bubble wrap until  2002.)

I was bringing a mare back home from breeding in Iowa last Tuesday, July
3. We ran into rain and then into a severe thunderstorm just north of
Lamoni, Iowa on I-35. I pulled off at a rest stop and waited out the
storm. It let up. I got back on I-35 and the storm started up again. All
of a sudden, the sky got pink. I couldn't see anything but pink, then a
huge crack of thunder. I had my 6YO grandson with me. We both looked at
each other like, Wow!

Well, we got off at the very next exit and waited the storm out again. I
checked on my mare through the front door and the side door. Looked her
over for leg wounds and head wounds from dancing about when the lightning
was so close.

A commercial horse hauler pulled in to the same truck stop and told me he
saw what happened. Lightning hit a semi truck that was passing me on I-35.
That truck lost all its electrical functions, onboard computer, etc.

After 40 minutes, we went down the road again. Got into the storm again by
Bethany, MO. Waited it out again. A 5-hour drive took 7 hours. We got home
at 11:30 p.m. Took the mare out of the trailer and my husband said, what
the heck is this!

Under her tail was a big, bloody mess of donut shaped flesh. I looked it
up in my vet book -- prolapsed rectum! I called our vet and rushed the
mare to the clinic. This is a very rare, life-threatening situation if not
treated promptly. We figure that she got so scared with the lightning, it
literally scared the poop out of her. My trailer door ws covered with poop
and blood. My vet said this condition is so rare, it is quite a topic of
conversation when one of the vets gets a case in. They might see this only
a couple of times in their careers.

Long story, short. She will be Ok, but it took two trips to the clinic and
she was kept there overnight for three nights. It required two epideurals,
lots of banamine, and of course, the vet to put everything back in its
place. We now have to feed her lots of mineral oil for a couple of weeks
to prevent her from straining. We can't do a pregnancy exam on her for at
least 60 days until her rectum heals.

All in all, it was a very expensive lightning strike, but it could have
been much worse had it hit us directly. I'm thankful my grandson and I are
OK and that the mare will be fine.

I was under the impression that many people are that lightning won't hit a
moving target. WRONG. Be careful when you drive in storms.

chris