# Rattlesnakes On Trailrides



## Light (Mar 4, 2012)

So, out on trail with a friend. I was leading. My horse is fairly new to me and only has about 20 trail rides with me on him. 

We got to the top of a mountain where it’s a drop off to the left of the trail and pretty steep incline to the right with very thick overgrown brush and trees. It is a single horse wide trail. 

On the right was what sounded like maybe an animal, coyote, small deer, crazy rabbits leaping together, I didn’t think much about it for that millisecond before it rattled. It was crazy loud!

My first thought was to move him out so as not to block my friend in since I didn’t know exactly where it was. But all of my body muscles tensed to the point where I was basically doing a madigan squeeze on the poor horse! So he hesitates, ( can’t blame him) I get him foward, and all this lasted about 2 seconds. Everyone was fine. Never got a visual on the snake. My friend is very afraid of snakes too.

All in all reaction to the snake scale 1-10 with 10 being the best possible answer, horses=11, humans = 0.

Very happy without his response since last time we ran into one on the trail, I didn’t see it, Burbank he did and his response was to try to toss me on top of it for safety. Not really but a couple of bucks! That was 6 months ago. I think he is coming along nicely!


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## ksbowman (Oct 30, 2018)

Wow, that add to the excitement of a ride! Glad no one got bit.


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## lostastirrup (Jan 6, 2015)

I have so many rattle snake stories. And I've only lived in a place with snakes for the last four years. I've walked over them in the barn (I was nervy for days after going in the barn) I've put my feet in a nest of four of them once while working. And I've run up on countless others while out riding. I have to say as much as my blood runs cold the moment I hear that noise- I'm so grateful that they are quite docile snakes that want to warn you, and if you give them time will generally get out of your way. I try not to kill them if they're not an avoidable threat, after all they keep the ground squirrels down- though the one in the barn doorway that was as thick as my fist got blown to bits with a shot gun. I'm so glad your horse stayed calm and you guys were able to navigate that well.


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

Glad it turned out well.

I've ranched around them for decades. 

In the pastures. In the hay. In the shop. In the house. 

Rode one outside mare that had the best ability to sense when a rattlesnake was nearby. They wouldn't even buzz, and she'd let me know there was one around. I took her to the rough country as much as I could in the month of August that summer I had her. That's when they shed here and are so grouchy


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## Keira Cloudhawk (Nov 18, 2019)

What an exciting story. In my area (as if Covid-19 wasn't enough) we are having a major rattlesnake problem. Anyways, I am glad to hear that you are safe!!


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## Light (Mar 4, 2012)

Was on the trail again, this time alone. Riding in the same area. Going up the mountain, thinking to myself “Thankfully no snake today!”, as I scan the trail in front of me. Riding along and the ground in front of me comes to life as a huge snake with the loudest rattle ever!! Fortunately my horse was paying attention and did the start of a 180 spin, taking me with him, and I pulled him up, looked over my shoulder to the trail now behind me that was a second ago in front of me and I saw the biggest flipping rattlesnake ever! Same color as the ground and deafening loud and mad as hell.

My horse was a bit nervous. Nothing compared to me. I waited for the snake to leave but it didn’t. Just partially coiled with the front of it off the ground like a cobra from the “ Jungle Book” and so angry. After thinking about it for, oh, a good 1/2 a second I decided to go back the way we came. 

The ride back was filled with the phsycotic ranting of me with “HOLY SMOKES!!!! That thing was HUGE!!!” and followed by excessive pathological shoulder ( of the horse) petting with extra high pitched nervous “ GGGGGOOOOOOD BOYYYYY!!”. 

Really, horse was perfect! I am an idiot. Horse has successfully passed the idiot rider snake challenge. It’s kind of like 3rd level dressage.😺

Considering 6 months ago when he saw a snake he thought he should toss me on top of it for safety (going uphill fortunately I stayed on) and now he is responding to a threat appropriately even when his rider is loosing it. I am pleased with this guy. 😺


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

1. I hope you have other trails because this is enough for me to stay off that one. You do know the likelihood of there being a den if ‘em close by is as high as your HORSE’S rattlesnake GPA, it yours, lol

2. Better hang onto that handsome fella for the rest of his days - horses like him don’t often come around. If he were in my barn there wouldn’t be enough $$$$ to get him away from me

3. Last but certainly not least, I am so happy neither of you were bit - or is it bitten - either way contact with venom was avoided, so thankfully you have great story to tell without a vet or hospital bill


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## cbar (Nov 27, 2015)

Thankfully snakes are not a problem here, and the only snakes I have ever seen were little garter snakes when i was riding my bike in the city. I know there are regions South of here that have rattlesnakes....but i think I would seriously soil my pants if I saw one on a trail. 

Not having been exposed to them, I don't know what i would do. I think I would much rather run into a black bear on the trail than a poisonous snake. For some reason the movie "True Grit" always comes to mind and scares the poo out of me. 

Glad your horse was so level headed - and I think I would be picking a different rail for a while. Yikes!


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

@Light - You did good.

I have friends who laughing point out when you hear that buzz there is no following the advice that "you stay calm and slowly back away."


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## Light (Mar 4, 2012)

Definitely not taking that trail. Yeah, I am real pleased with this little guy! He’s really gone from a spoiled bullying soft herdbound jerk into a super solid citizen in a very short time.

We road around a wild turkey mom and 9 chicks, a coyote, noisy children, did some arena and obstacle bridge near a weed wackier, and finished our ride on a loose rein walking down the road next to his two filly friends galloping and whinnying along side him. 

Super horse! I am having my Veterinarian out this week to give him a general exam, and a lameness exam. He isn’t lame but I want to make sure all is okay before I start increasing his work and doing harder trails. 

I should probably get some snake phobia counseling.😹😸


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## Kaifyre (Jun 16, 2016)

Generally, rattlesnakes don't pose a threat to horses even if bitten. A rattlesnake's venom is not enough to seriously injure a horse unless the horse puts his head down to investigate and is bitten on the nose, which can cause the horse's nasal passages to swell and stop the horse from breathing (there's a reason why, in Nevada, I always rode with a short length of garden hose in my saddlebags - stuff that up their nostril after they've been bitten and they won't suffocate before the swelling dies down). If the horse is bitten on the leg or fetlock, damage is minimal and, while the horse should still be walked back to the barn immediately for wound care, it's unlikely to result in anything worse than a few puncture marks and localized swelling. Always clean out the puncture wounds, of course - snakes can harbor in their mouths a number of unpleasant bacteria that can cause complications if left alone. 

The big takeaway, though, is that it's unlikely that a horse will be bitten, period. A rattlesnake has a limited supply of venom, and is intelligent enough to realize that a horse is several orders of magnitude larger than the snake itself - therefore, not a food source, and not something the snake can easily fight off. Snakes in general are sensitive to vibrations and a horse is such a massive animal that the snake will feel the horse coming a long way off. 9 times out of 10 the snake will be gone long before you get there. If it isn't, if it is perhaps still sluggish from the morning chill or digesting its last meal or even beginning to shed, it will freeze and curl up into a defensive posture in the hopes that it can camouflage well enough to be missed, and perhaps give warning via the tail rattle if the horse continues to get closer. In fact, when faced with such a large threat, the snake will most likely give a "dry bite" - bite without injecting any venom, as again it knows that it can't kill you. Friend of mine in Nevada is a snake wrangler and goes around removing rattlers from people's yards and stuff. He's been bitten 8 times in 20 years - and 6 of those were dry bites. 

So, I'd say, continue on as usual. It's unnerving to hear the tail rattle, particularly so close, but keep walking and you'll soon leave the snake behind. Rattlers are generally mild-mannered snakes and not inclined to mess with large predators like people, or horses either, and would much rather flee than fight - particularly when the odds are high that the snake will be seriously injured or killed in such an encounter. Keep your horse's head up, keep walking, and everything will be fine. They're everywhere out here in Montana during the summers, and were everywhere in Nevada as well. If I quit riding on a trail because I heard a 'buzzworm', there soon wouldn't have been any trails left to ride! We soon learned that the best policy was just to leave them be, and keep moving on. One other factor to consider - their tail rattle produces a curious effect in cover like tall grass, and the sound is deceptively loud - so you may think you're right on top of the thing, when actually he's 8 feet from the trail under that rock over there. : )

-- Kai


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## gunslinger (Sep 17, 2011)

We rode up on this big rattler two weekends ago in the Gee Creek Wilderness.


He was a big as my forearm.


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