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KIDS' LIGHTNING INFORMATION AND SAFETY
by
Sabrina
Animal Lightning Stories
I never really thought much about it before, but animals get hit by lightning too.
Here is a sad story from a woman in Tennessee about her horse that was killed
by lightning.
Horse Story
by
Georgiana
It was 3:00 in the morning. I was in bed but only half asleep. It was so quiet outside, too quiet for a Fall evening. Suddenly, like an explosion, wind and rain hit the house with a loud roar. I bolted up in bed. "What was that?" I said to my husband. I was afraid it was a tornado. Soon, it was clear that it was only a storm so we turned off the light and settled back in to enjoy the sound of the rain that everyone in Tennessee had been waiting for.
The rain gradually softened to a pleasing patter, lulling us back to sleep. Then, BOOM! BOOM! Two loud crashes shook the house, one on the heels of the other. Startled, I jumped out of bed again. "That hit somewhere in the yard, I know it," I said to my husband. "I hope the animals are okay." I felt worried but stayed under the covers and hoped for the best.
The next day we discovered that the worst had happened. The lightning had hit a barbed wire fence, traveled down it and killed our horse, Belle, as she stood in her shed trying to keep dry. The bolt entered her shoulder which was close to the wire then came through her chest close to her throat. The wound was ragged. A small amount of blood oozed out. She died instantly, I'm sure.
Belle's pal, Pancho the Donkey, was not hurt as far as we could tell. But his heart was broken. Belle was his best friend. He followed her everywhere and didn't even mind if she bit him or took his food. After she was killed, he just stared at her body and when she was buried in the pasture, he pawed at the dirt mounded up around her grave.
My daughter, Kerry, who is in college in Ohio, cried when she heard the news. And she is not a cry baby. She has happy memories of riding Belle around the farm. Many other people miss Belle too. She was a kind horse who was gentle with children. She let anyone ride her and once she had 7 kids brushing her at once and she didn't mind at all. If you wanted to pick up her feet to clean them, she would pick them up before you reached for them. If you fussed at her, she listened and tried to be good. She was a Tennessee Walking horse, dark brown with a long black tail and mane that everyone enjoyed brushing. A white star was on her face. She didn't wear shoes because she had strong black hooves. She liked to show off in the pasture, doing her special gait and holding her head and tail high.
Too late we learned that fences can carry lightning. Belle has helped us understand lightning better and now everyone who knew her will be more cautious about it. Maybe that will help us all feel better - except Pancho.
Georgiana
Dunlap TN
Your back arrow will return you to the place that you came from.
The following link goes to the top of my lightning page.
Back to my Kids' lightning safety
page.
anubisbastet@earthlink.net
Copyright 2003 by the authors and Anubis Productions International. All rights reserved.
All text and
images (art work and photographic) on this website are copyrighted.
E-mail us regarding permissions for
use.
Sabrina
It was 3:00 in the morning. I was in bed but only half asleep. It was so quiet outside, too quiet for a Fall evening. Suddenly, like an explosion, wind and rain hit the house with a loud roar. I bolted up in bed. "What was that?" I said to my husband. I was afraid it was a tornado. Soon, it was clear that it was only a storm so we turned off the light and settled back in to enjoy the sound of the rain that everyone in Tennessee had been waiting for.
The rain gradually softened to a pleasing patter, lulling us back to sleep. Then, BOOM! BOOM! Two loud crashes shook the house, one on the heels of the other. Startled, I jumped out of bed again. "That hit somewhere in the yard, I know it," I said to my husband. "I hope the animals are okay." I felt worried but stayed under the covers and hoped for the best.
The next day we discovered that the worst had happened. The lightning had hit a barbed wire fence, traveled down it and killed our horse, Belle, as she stood in her shed trying to keep dry. The bolt entered her shoulder which was close to the wire then came through her chest close to her throat. The wound was ragged. A small amount of blood oozed out. She died instantly, I'm sure.
Belle's pal, Pancho the Donkey, was not hurt as far as we could tell. But his heart was broken. Belle was his best friend. He followed her everywhere and didn't even mind if she bit him or took his food. After she was killed, he just stared at her body and when she was buried in the pasture, he pawed at the dirt mounded up around her grave.
My daughter, Kerry, who is in college in Ohio, cried when she heard the news. And she is not a cry baby. She has happy memories of riding Belle around the farm. Many other people miss Belle too. She was a kind horse who was gentle with children. She let anyone ride her and once she had 7 kids brushing her at once and she didn't mind at all. If you wanted to pick up her feet to clean them, she would pick them up before you reached for them. If you fussed at her, she listened and tried to be good. She was a Tennessee Walking horse, dark brown with a long black tail and mane that everyone enjoyed brushing. A white star was on her face. She didn't wear shoes because she had strong black hooves. She liked to show off in the pasture, doing her special gait and holding her head and tail high.
Too late we learned that fences can carry lightning. Belle has helped us understand lightning better and now everyone who knew her will be more cautious about it. Maybe that will help us all feel better - except Pancho.
Georgiana
Animal Lightning Stories
I never really thought much about it before, but animals get hit by lightning too.
Here is a sad story from a woman in Tennessee about her horse that was killed
by lightning.
Horse Story
by
Georgiana
Dunlap TN
Your back arrow will return you to the place that you came from.
The following link goes to the top of my lightning page.
All text and images (art work and photographic) on this website are copyrighted.
E-mail us regarding permissions for use.