Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Sometimes I wonder why I read all these "what if" articles.  Last

night I got to use some of that info! 

The neighbor's 2 year old filly was bitten by a rattlesnake

yesterday, in her corral.  The neighbor was saddling another horse

when she heard a weird sound - it was the filly trying to breathe!

She was swollen from lips to eyes, including her tongue.  She called

her brother and sister in law, both vets, and they told her to ice the

wound (front of face a few inches above the nostrils) and since she

had a tube of banamine, give 3/4 of that. She wasn't sure if the filly

swallowed much of it  though.

She called us for ice, and we ran some over to her.  The horse would

stagger around, trying to breathe, then get quiet, then rear and

strike.  Not very safe for holding ice on her nose!  I got her to give

me some garden hose and vaseline and we took a couple 6-inch sections

and gently pushed it into her nostrils.  Because of the rearing and

striking, we put a rope around one front leg below the knee and held

onto the two ends with some tension.  She didn't rear so high

or strike to far that way.  Finally, with the hose in her nose, she

was able to breathe!  Occasionally, she'd shake her head or rear and

they would fall out, so we'd replace them.  Then we noticed she was

breathing ok without the tubes, so we quit bugging her with them.

We live about an hour away from town, so it took awhile for the vet to arrive.

When he did, he gave 3 shots - tetanus, steroid (for swelling) and some painkiller (I think banamine, but I'm not sure).

In a few minutes, she seemed a lot better.

The vet (he's also our friend and vet too) seemed to think the hoses were a

bad idea - yet every article and website I've seen says to do this.  Any ideas?

Would she have been ok without them?

The weather just got warm a week ago, so I'm guessing the venom is

pretty potent right now.

Rosalie

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Rosalie Marley

http://TigerHorseFarms.com

Ride the Tiger!