Newbury Racecourse... Bizarre incident

[Dodger]

Prior to the first race today, when the horses were in the paddock being lead round for the public to see, two of them collapsed independently at the same time and died seemingly of heart attacks.

Reports also that another 2 horses were unsteady on their feet and "wobbled" at the same time.

Nobody has any idea what has happened and why.

An suggestion has been given that an electric current running underneath the paddock may have been the cause as a farmer has seen this happen with farm animals in the fields.

However the paddock area is a circle surrounded by viewing areas for the public so why has this not affected a human

More to follow no doubt

Totally weird!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Saw some of the coverage on Channel 4 racing as I was flicking through earlier. Very sad for the owners and connections and very weid looking at the footage. I can't understand though why two horses were affected but other passed the same spot. However there are reports on the news that the grooms and jockeys were reporting getting shocks of the tack and saddles of the others too like a static shock.

 

[chris661]

Being a sparky and having wired up a few milking parlours for coos I know that even the slightest shock can kill a cow, maybe something similar for horses too?

 

[RobCowan]

Explaination as per Horse & Hound forum (a strange place if ever there was one...)

Electricity effects four legged animals in quite a different way to humans. Because of the great ground covered, the charge is multiplied. As electricity radiates, the charge becomes less, like rings on a pond, but the four legged animal will get the charge from both the inner and outer rings, so effectively gets a double charge, whereas the human will get just the one charge. It doesn't have to be a very strong current to kill a horse, and will often be totally unnoticed by a person.

 

[Bacardibatman]

living near Newbury

and im at the Newbury Racecourse (NRC)3 times a year for 4 -5 days at a time at a Lan gaming event every april august & november

im struggling to understand it as far as i can remember there isnt any electrical sources near the parade ring

on the local news the NRC guy said there hasnt been any new stuff laid for 30yrs near there

from what was said jockeys and other ppl felt the electricity so tbh it must be that

unless its from a temporary source Tv etc they'll have to rip up the area around the parade ring looking for the problem. whoever its down to tho will be in the poop im guessing 2 horses dead - loss of meeting revenue think their insurance will go through the roof

if i was out tonight id get the lowdown from my stable lad friends in the village - but im being sad and staying in

 

[grumpyjock]

Dont know if this is any good, an animal urinates and the liquid passes into the ground causing a path for the electrical current.
as said this can pass through the length of the animal and only a low voltage can kill
All it needs is a small ammount of damage from stones to effect a break in the insulation.
cables need to be buried only 400mm below the surface and embedded in soft sand.
we had one where a piece of metal was forced down through the earth and cut the cable poor dog was electrocuted when he went against the lamppost.
what a way to go.

 

[sev112]

i heard on the radio that they had recently aerated the area - coudl easily damage a cable ?