PICKENS COUNTY, Ga.,None — Horse Killed IM1 Rose Colored Glasses is 1 of 4 horses killed by lightning on a Pickens County farm. Rose Colored Glasses
Four championship race horses were struck and killed by lighting Monday in Jasper in Pickens County.
James and Irma Green told Channel 2 Action News reporter Diana Davis that they have raised thoroughbred race horses on 66 acres in Pickens County for the past 15 years.
Green said she saw two lightning bolts hit the pasture where the horses were grazing. She said thunder shook the house.
"It was really, really bad," said Irma Green.
About an hour after the storm, ranch hand Tyler Mitton spotted the horses lying on the dam.
Horse Killed IM2 Barbie is another horse killed by lightning on a Pickens County farm. The horses are valued at more than $100,000. Barbie
James Green raced back to discover two geldings and two prized mares were dead. The mares were both pregnant.
"It's a tragic thing. One minute you got them, the next minute you don't," said James Green.
The horses were valued at more than $100,000. To the Greens, it's not just a financial blow but a tough emotional loss.
"Well, I just feel empty, you know. We had 18 … now we're down to 14 just like that. Those were my top mares," said James Green.
The Greens believe that the lightning hit a drainage pipe in the pond. The pipe runs underneath the dam where the horses were standing.
Green told Channel 2 that he has always lived in fear of one of his horses being struck.
"Lightning's a funny thing ... I don't know much about it, but I know one thing, it's a killer," said James Green.
All four horses and the two foals are buried in hillside pasture.
The Greens did not have insurance.
WSBTV
