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Re: [RC] [RC] snakes - V.RoushOk, wait a minute, here. I understand people have their opinions, but this is really hurtful. I happen to have four pet snakes that I love dearly and consider to be family members. Please be careful what you say about other people's "kids". Besides that, there is no creature on earth that is "better off dead". We as people have no right to pass judgement on another living thing that way, just because we don't consider tham cute and cuddly or useful to *us*. - Victoria ----- Original Message ----- From: "Howard Bramhall" <howard9732@xxxxxxx> To: <heidi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, April 11, 2004 1:23 PM Subject: Re: [RC] [RC] snakes I agree, I agree (I feel that I've entered "Bizarro-world," an alternate universe from Superman Comics, anytime I agree with Heidi). The only good poisonous snake is a dead poisonous snake. The one creature nastier than the snake is the rat. I'm glad that the snake kills the rat and then I kill the snake. Sounds like the natural order of things to me. Then, of course, the horse kills me, and nature remains in balance. At the Big South Fork ride last September I remember this Ranger fellow named Officer Justice (I'm not making that up) giving us all a talk on the critters that live and breathe in that area. He then went on discussing the snakes. Told us it was against the law to kill them within the park boundaries. Not allowed to kill snakes, even poisonous ones, in that part of Tennessee. I'm sure Florida has some silly law like that also. Might as well protect the rocks next. Save a rock. They're endangered. Not too many active volcanoes any more making them, so, we gotta save as many as we possibly can. It's agains the law to break them, throw them or to make walls out of them. Some laws were made to be broken. Killing poisonous snakes is one of those laws.From: <heidi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <Vallonelee@xxxxxxx> CC: <Ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: Re: [RC] snakes Date: Sun, 11 Apr 2004 09:38:08 -0600 (MDT)I also ride in an area with a lot of snakes and have always worried about what to do in this event. I would like to know a good protocol to follow if my horse is snake bit while out riding. I am sure someone has a list of things to carry and do in this horrible event. Please share.At the risk of having somebody land on me with both feet for cruelty to snakes, the FIRST thing I do in an encounter with a rattlesnake is get off my horse and KILL the darn thing. Basic physics--a snake HAS to have part of his body on the ground in order to strike, and his strike range is approximately 2/3 his body length--so instead of throwing rocks, I try to get BIG rocks and get in close enough to DROP them on him. A long, hefty stick is also a good weapon--either to smack him on the head, or to pin him while you drop a big rock on his head. When I was a kid, we used to ride with homemade reins that clipped to the bridle with big heavy harness snaps. One one occasion when I couldn't find another "weapon" I took off one of my reins and killed the snake by whacking him with the harness snap. That said, the FIRST thing to do in the case of a snake bite is to stay calm and not hurry. If the horse is bitten on the leg, calmly walk home, or back to the trailer, or wherever your closest bit of "civilization" is. Apply cold if at all possible, and as soon as possible. (If the horse is bitten on the leg and you happen to have streams to cross to get home, stop and let the horse stand in the cold water for several minutes before resuming your homeward trek.) The venom itself is not apt to kill a horse unless it is a REALLY oddball shot straight into an artery or major vein. It WILL cause swelling and infection, as well as some local tissue necrosis. The sooner the horse can get on antiinflamatory drugs and antibiotics the better--but not at the risk of rushing and adding stress and increased circulation to the picture. If the horse is bitten on the nose, you DO have to watch the swelling and make sure that the airway is not occluded--if the swelling is extremely rapid and severe, keeping the nostril open with any cylindrical object is helpful. You don't have to insert anything very far--only a few inches. Pieces of garden hose, the old hair curlers, a syringe barrel--most anything cylindrical of the right size will work. Otherwise, REMAIN CALM (yes, that is worth repeating) and just turn around and go home at a walk. Heidi ============================================================ Common sense should also be a part of the decision making process. 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