Trail building equestrians of New Mexico

[Una Smith <una.smith AT att.net>]

This is Lightning Safety Week in the US.  One point made over and over
on http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/ is that shelters without wiring
and plumbing throughout are not safe unless protected with lightning
rods.  Such shelters include many barns and picnic pavilions.  NOAA
advises you are safer in a vehicle than in such a shelter, especially
if the shelter has a dirt floor.  Probably your horse is safer in your
trailer than outside tied to trailer.

In the field, away from your vehicle, you are safer in woods than on a
road, especially safer standing on thick leaf litter or pine straw. The
organic material is insulating.  Another place to seek shelter is under
high voltage power lines, because they are exceptionally well grounded.

Be advised:  depending on the soil type and other factors, under high
voltage lines horses may feel electrical current even at times when there
is no lightning, because current in the lines generates a magnetic field
in their vicinity.  The effect is similar to what happens in a lightning
ground strike:  the magnetic field induces current in the ground, which
passes through the horse from one foot to another.  Because the induced
current is parallel to the high voltage lines overhead, the effect is
less when the horse stands perpendicular to the lines overhead.

Stay safe (and in the saddle),

        Una Smith
        New Mexico