Oh dear god. I can handle a snake, in fact I like them but a spider, especially something called a baboon spider oh HELL NO!!!
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@chestnutmarebeware, it’s amazing that we made it to adulthood when I think of the spectacularly and unintentionally dangerous stuff we did every day. …
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Are venomous snakes a constant concern for those who have spotted them in or near the barn? Do you have snakebite kits in your stables, or do you bring them on trail rides? Do your local vets talk about horses they’ve treated for bites?
It’s not fear that they’ll bite me, so much. It’s the way they scoot and how they always surprise me.
“Indy, why does the floor … move?”
I don’t mind snakes but my mini does. I was driving him one afternoon and we were having a pleasant trot when all of a sudden his inner open jumper unleashed and he jumped over something on the ground. It was a huge effort and a sight to behold I was later told. Once I got myself together I circled back to see what instigated the hullabaloo and I found a snake curled up sunbathing in the grass.
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Hiking in Redwoods National Forest, heard the rattle, saw nothing at first:
Here is the same picture, blown up for a closeup:
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Oh my god! What a cool job!! Where can I sign up? Seriously. 
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I hate snakes. All snakes. Every snake.
That said, I have gotten to the point where, on my morning walks, if I see a snake in the road, I will gently encourage it to get out of the road with a stick. Unless it’s huge. Or a copperhead. Those can be run over. We have plenty of other snakes to get rid of pests - the copperheads don’t need to be here.
This is about as much snake as I can handle.
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Northern brown snake?
Well, darn, that rather cute… like the kitten of snakes 
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Baby bull snake, I think. They’re common here.
I have a hilarious (now, but at the time NOT) snake story. I want to preface this by saying I’m not afraid of snakes. I’ll jump when I see one, but I don’t get the deep-gut fear feeling.
I was boarding at a barn with big garage style doors on the indoor that we would open during the warm months. They weren’t allowed to stay open, so the first rider in the ring would open them and the last rider would close. They opened with a chain, and would roll up and onto a track that was a 90 degree angle from the wall. I hope you can picture this, pretty typical garage door set up that you would see in a house.
Horses were used to doors going up and down. You could open and close the doors with the horse’s rein looped through the elbow. To close them, you would slowly let the door come down my gently letting the chain run through your hand so the door doesn’t come flying down.
So, here I am… door slowly coming down after my ride, I’m the only one in the ring. Horse in one hand, chain in the other. I had a clump of what I thought was footing hit me. Not super unsurprising, probably was stuck in the track. Hit me with some force though - must have been a big clump of dirt!
Look down… and I see the snake slithering away. He hit me on the shoulder (thankfully didn’t land in my hoodie!!) on his way down. Well, I yelped and froze. The other riders in the barn hear me and come rushing out. They see chain in one hand, horse in the other and assume I’m tangled up in the chain. Nope! Just in sheer shock as to what happened. We assume that he had crawled up the track while the doors were open, or perhaps was stuck to the door somehow.
It wasn’t a very big snake, and we don’t have dangerous snakes where we live but honest to god I NEVER touched those doors again.
#No
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I have a pet python. She guards our security system hard drive. Her name is Smaug, she’s about 5’ long and she’s a pretty cool customer. You’ve reminded me, I need to defrost a rat for her.
She bit me on the eyebrow once.
My best snake story is the time I was riding on my (now old) mare on a trail, looking at a kookaburra and not paying attention. My mare balked a bit, and I touched her with my spurs - tap. Gentle. C’mon.
Suddenly the kookaburra was A LOT closer to my face - literally, that was the first thing I thought. Then I was tumbling off over the mare’s tail, and face-first into the carpet python that was curled up on the trail. The mare had jumped clean over it. I… did not.
The python - I swear - put its face under its tail as if to say “OH PLEASE GOD NO!”. I did some please-god-nos of my own and rolled to the side. I landed on my shoulder, not on the snake. The mare was standing, looking at me. “I told you so!”
The kookaburra, honest to god, was laughing. I think the snake was absolutely counting its lucky stars and went and bought a lotto ticket. I rode home with blood pissing out of my elbow and one of the best stories ever. My mare hates snakes, and it wasn’t the first time she attempted to get me out of a pickle.
My second snake story involving this mare was around the same time. I was free agisting at a mate’s place, and in payment I used to feed out the hay in the mornings for the two horses in the paddock, mine and hers. Her horse liked to stand on the pedestrian gate, so we’d bolted a thick sheet of black conveyer belt to it, like roundyard rubber. You could see either side of the fence (wire), but not through the gate. I was pushing a wheelbarrow with a 25kg haybale in it. The gate opened inward. I got to the gate, and without looking, unlatched it and went to push my barrow straight through.
My mare was on the other side, and she was stamping and snorting like a beast. I paused, then left the barrow to open the gate and see what was up her butt. I’ve opened the gate, and an eastern brown was curled up on the other side. In the only 4’ blind spot. Had I pushed the gate open with the barrow and walked through - blind - I’d have run over it and most likely been bitten.
Eastern browns are #2 most venomous snake in the world, IIRC, and we grow them to a large size. This one was super defensive as I found out when we removed it. I ended up chased up a fence post.
I love this mare.
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I think I’ve shared this story before – I was riding my first horse out on the side of the road, in the bar ditch, when he stopped and did a little rear (unlike him). He refused to go on - quite unusual, as he always had his motor running - and did a couple more pops up and down, while I scolded him.
Finally, I looked down, to discover that he had been killing a snake. I apologized to my horse, he forgave me, and we went on down the side of the road. Learned to never argue, as he was always right.
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Hashtag: NO!
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I used to take the Intermediate riders at Holiday Camp. I had Monday and Tuesday off and when I took them out on Wednesday and said are you ready to gallop?, I had panic on my hands, they had never done it before.
I patiently went through how to ride in 2 point and we would just canter to start with. First hill fine and they galloped and no problem.
2nd Hill and I looked down as Tristan’s hooves went over a coiled and sleeping snake. I turned around to yell STOP SNAKE and the wind whipped my words away. Tristan is quite fast and there was a gap to the next horse. I turned around and kept going as there was nothing I could do.
The poor snake was trampled by Tristan and now more horses coming. He struck at Big Ben’s stirrup and flung himself off the track.
This excited the kids who were excitedly holding their hands at how long the snake was. They went from being scared at the word gallop to now galloping without reins. The horses went out of line and were now racing each other.
I was yelling for them to grab their reins and pull back. Tristan was their brakes and now being side by side that would not work and they were fast approaching and then would be heading downhill.
They did pick up their reins and stop. They were excited about that snake for hours.
I wouldn’t recommend that inexperienced people try to take on a 16 ft reticulated python, but fortunately for all involved (including the snake!) the temps were cold enough that the snake was sluggish. Happy ending for a once-stolen snake!
I am a bit snake phobic, and I feel justified after my experience about 4 years ago.
I was visiting one of my best friends’ ranch in the Mojave Desert for the first time, and was being given a tour. The plan was for me to do a video of the property for her and her partner, who had begun renting it out for photo and video shoots. We were heading back to the house so I could set up some equipment to get some shots before sundown when her two pitbulls started getting agitated near a bush. Before any of us could do anything, one of them was bitten in the face by a Mojave green.
Cue a mad dash to get the two dogs into the car and rush to the nearest veterinarian that was open on the weekend at that hour, half an hour away. Of course, it was poppy season and the tourists and their cars were creating a logjam on the roads. (Side note: most in sandals and flip flops in the desert/poppy fields taking pics for Instagram - which made me cringe, considering!)
Friend was driving like a madwoman, partner was cradling dog with a head the size of a basketball and labored breathing in the trunk, and we were all crying as I frantically called every vet in town until I found one open that had antivenin.
Terrifying.
Dog survived after 3 days in the ICU.
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