BrianH
At the Start
The ragwort thread reminded me of yet another danger to horses of which many, like me, are unaware.
Earlier this month there was a massive storm overnight on the Oxfordshire/Berkshire borders with heavy rain, thunder and lightning. Henrietta Knight inherited her mother's Connemara pony breeding hobby and the morning after the storm when inspecting the outlying fields she was shocked to discover one of the Connemara brood mares dead in the field. She had been struck by lightning and killed outright. Hen says that she had had a two month old colt foal with her and he looked very lost and thirsty and it was all a very tragic sight. There had been two mares and two foals turned out together in the paddock which had been grazed by ponies for years. Luckily the other mare and the two foals were unscathed. The dead mare was very close to the water trough so she may have been having a drink and the water may have acted as a lightning conductor.
They were given plenty of advice as to what to do with the foal and they weaned him with his little friend. They took about a week to settle and stop neighing but they soon learned about the special foal food and the milk nuts. They are now very confident and lead well to and from the little field where they spend their days. They are stabled together at nights. Hen says that lightning damage is very rare and has never been heard of before around Lockinge. On the same night however Jenny Pitman's sister Mandy Bowlby, who lives about five miles from Hen's atables, lost her son's little pony in the same way.
Another problem caused by global warming?
Earlier this month there was a massive storm overnight on the Oxfordshire/Berkshire borders with heavy rain, thunder and lightning. Henrietta Knight inherited her mother's Connemara pony breeding hobby and the morning after the storm when inspecting the outlying fields she was shocked to discover one of the Connemara brood mares dead in the field. She had been struck by lightning and killed outright. Hen says that she had had a two month old colt foal with her and he looked very lost and thirsty and it was all a very tragic sight. There had been two mares and two foals turned out together in the paddock which had been grazed by ponies for years. Luckily the other mare and the two foals were unscathed. The dead mare was very close to the water trough so she may have been having a drink and the water may have acted as a lightning conductor.
They were given plenty of advice as to what to do with the foal and they weaned him with his little friend. They took about a week to settle and stop neighing but they soon learned about the special foal food and the milk nuts. They are now very confident and lead well to and from the little field where they spend their days. They are stabled together at nights. Hen says that lightning damage is very rare and has never been heard of before around Lockinge. On the same night however Jenny Pitman's sister Mandy Bowlby, who lives about five miles from Hen's atables, lost her son's little pony in the same way.
Another problem caused by global warming?