'Boom, they were gone:' Alberta trainers mourn loss of two horses struck by lightning
SUNDRE, Alta. — A large dirt mound at the top of a green pasture in central Alberta is a reminder that tragedy can strike like lightning. Two high-value horses being trained by Ian Tipton and his . . .
www.timescolonist.com
This news story of a couple of horses killed by lighting in Alberta hit home for me. My grandfather was born in Oklahoma in 1893 and immigrated from the USA in 1913. He started a farm/ranch in Morningside Alberta (a hamlet 22 miles north of Red Deer) in 1919. My father had a lot of very old style photos from that time period, one of which is of a low rounded hill on the ranch with an entire herd of dead horses all over it. Apparently, Ball Lighting rolled along the ground and killed all the horses standing on it. My cousin's wife spent years compiling a very detailed family genealogy. There are photos in it of my mother holding a Tyee caught off Victoria in 1949 and one of my father also with a Victoria caught Tyee from 1959.
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