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Anyone who allows poisonous snakes in or near their barn will get what they deserve.[/QUOTE]
Deserve??? Odd phrasing. But to be correct, copperheads are venomous. Things like toads are poisonous (harmful if ingested).
There is no way of knowing if the ID was correct without a good photo. But the vast majority of “copperhead” ID’s I’ve been given were either juvenile rat snakes or hognose snakes (despite the insistence of the claimants expertise). Heck, some lady screamed “PUT DOWN THE WATER MOCCASIN!!!” at me when I picked up and moved a…ringneck snake off of a hiking trail in state park in TN. There is not much that looks LESS like a cottonmouth than a shiny black snake with a bright yellow band on its neck… 
Generally, copperheads are shy snakes & will move off quickly if they have the option. However, they may not be warm, they may be shedding, they may be just as surprised as you are.
Adults very often dry bite when they do strike, or even headbutt with a closed mouth, like a hognose (who does a very convincing & hilarious, if you know your snake id’s, cobra impression) as venom is energetically very expensive to produce. A fellow stream biologist was recently bitten twice in the calf by one he simply didn’t see stepping over a log, both were dry bites fortunately, it was a large adult (the young ones are less savvy & tend to venom dump when they bite, so I give them a MUCH wider berth), he just some minor swelling from the punctures.
A horse, if bitten & given prompt, appropriate veterinary care, will have some impressive swelling, but usually experience a full recovery. Deaths are usually a result of bites on the muzzle and resulting swelling closing the horse’s airway if not attended.
Copperheads are one of my favourite snakes, both for their sheer beauty & their life history. But that doesn’t mean I don’t treat them with respect & assure my own safety. I am always careful to look where I put my hands or feet (or head, at work), have a binder in the work truck of the hospital locations in every county in NC (we don’t always have cell service in the field), and keep short pieces of hose on hand in the rare event a horse gets a nose bite to protect their airway.
I certainly don’t expect anyone to hug every snake they see, you don’t even have to like them. Heck, there are a lot of people I don’t like (and dangerous ones too), but I’ve yet to get permission to whack them in the head with a shovel, sigh. But understand ecology – killing one just opens up a niche for another to move in & there is really no need for wildlife wars; on the scale of risks, copperheads rank pretty low on the “ways for horses to kill themselves” list. Heck, sticks, fenceposts, and their own bodies are more dangerous…
-Biologist who owns particularly suicidal horse: “watch me cut my eye on a blade of grass!” facepalm
