You are out riding in the back country, and you hear thunder in the distance. What is the best thing to do? I’m Jeff Keane, stay tuned we’ll be right back to tell you. We’ve all heard the statistics about being struck by lightening and the fact that a spark can reach over five miles in length. If you can hear clap of   thunder chances are you are about ten miles from the epicenter of the storm and close enough to be stuck by lightening . Here is Susan Allen with some information   riders should know .  Jeff I used to think that if I was horseback I was more prone  to get hit  by lightening because of their metal shoes but now I know It’s simply because of the mass of the animal. Researchers have discovered that while lightening kills only five to ten percent of people it hits, for cattle and horses a strike is nearly always fatal. Humans stand upright so the ground current typically affects  our feet and legs. With four legged, large animals their vital organs are exposed to current as well  and remember lightening  travels over the surface or through the ground up to sixty feet from point of contact. The death is so instantaneous  that horses have been found with grass still in their mouth. Susan if you find yourself in a bad storm experts recommend staying out of river beds and off hill tops and to seek out the lower parts of slopes. Get off  your horse, tie  it to a bush not a tree , squat on your haunches, watch those spurs, and wait out the storm. I’m Jeff Keane.