Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

I live in Colorado near the base of Pike Forest.  We have a boat load of rattlesnakes out here.  Last weekend a group of us went out for a ride along the road as the fields are still buried under snow.     At one point my horse saw a stick jutting out of a snowbank.  Thinking I was being funny, I said,"Oh Marmalade, watch out for the snake!"  She jumped a foot straight up into the air.  Poor baby girl!

 

dp                                                                            

 

-------------- Original message --------------
From: "Barbara McCrary" <bigcreekranch@xxxxxxxxxxxx>

Many years ago, four of us rode at a trot right over the top of a rattlesnake.  He was coiling and uncoiling trying to figure out what to do and finally decided just to leave ASAP.  More recently, I rode past another rattler who was buzzing loudly on the trail.  I said, "Whoaaaaa" in surprise to my husband who was right behind me, and I stopped my horse just to discover where this snake was in relation to me.  I finally saw him slithering across the trail into the brush and then we went on.  My horse could not have cared less.  I was the one who was startled (though not scared.)

 

Barbara

----- Original Message -----

From: Dawn Carrie

To: Chrystal Woodhouse

Cc: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2007 9:41 AM

Subject: Re: [RC] [RC] Snakes / Virginia???

Hi Chrystal,

I don't think you'll have to worry about seeing many snakes on trail.  I live in East Texas, and we have TONS of snakes here.  I love snakes, and am usually watching for them, hoping to see a neat one, and I almost never see one.  :(  I think I saw two in all of the miles I rode last year, and one of those was a small Texas rat snake laying off in the grass and hard to see.  As far as horses' reactions to them, don't believe all the movies you see where horses see a snake and rear in panic.  Our horses have zero reaction to them.  The other snake I saw on trail was a copperhead that my husband rode right over without seeing, and his horse never even saw it.  I swerved around it, and my horse didn't react at all.  A couple of years ago, an Eastern Coachwhip (a very fast black snake) shot across the trail right in front of my horse, and my horse just glanced down and kept on going.  It was just the movement that caught his e ye, not the fact that it was a snake. 

 

Everyone has their phobia...mine is spiders.  Uggh!

 

Dawn in East Texas (who loves snakes, but will freak out at contacting a spider web)