Single bolt of lightning kills three Clydesdale horses right in front of owner
A single lightening bolt killed three Clydesdales horses in front of their devastated owner who was only "three and four feet away".
Lynn Brierley was inside her home near Mount Gambier, South Australia, on Wednesday with a storm rolling in when she realised one of her horses still had its rug on.
She quickly ventured outside to remove it only to look on in horror as three of her five horses were struck by lightning.
She announced the devastating news on Facebook.
Ms Brierley with her horse Asha. Source: Supplied
"Sadly tonight we lost three of our four-legged friends tonight due to a lightning strike," she wrote.
"So please not only cuddle your four-legged friends a little harder but also be aware that lightning does strike and kill horses we don't want to see any of our family feel like we all do right now."
Ms Brierley said she came very close to the lightening strike herself.
“I went outside just as it started to rain heavily and I realised one of my Clydesdales still had his rug on,” she told News Corp.
“I got roughly between three and four feet away and I saw a white ball of light the size of a soccer ball.”
Ms Brierley, who runs the Kehsarra Clydesdale rescue, described the lightning bolt like "a gunshot" and was devastated when her horses died instantly in their paddock.
Two other horses were just metres away and avoided being hit by the strike of lightning.
Asha tragically died when she was struck by lightning. Source: Supplied.
One of the animals hit by the lightning worked with the elderly as a therapy horse and another was a special needs horse with no teeth.
The third was in retirement.
Ms Brierley said she couldn't believe that all three horses were killed by the single bolt of lightning.
“I was just terrified,” she said.
"It shook us all to our cores tonight more then we will ever say," she said.
