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First Aid for Snake Bites in Horses

by Robert N. Oglesby DVM

Introduction

We received this request from a member: Dr O-
A friend I use the term loosly just came back from a pack trip with a horrible story... to make it short, one of his horses while up in a back country meadow was bit by a rattle snake in the rear lower leg. The leg swelled so baldly that the skin split from the heel up past the hock and then a large strip skin and meat fell off exposing the bone and tendons. My husband and I pack in the same area and just now realized that we would not know what to do. Obviously keeping the horse quiet, but no matter how you cut it you've got a very long trek to get to a vet, sometimes several days... What, if anything could have helped mitigate the damaged caused by the swelling? What would be an apprpriate first aid response to this?
Thanks -Emily
PS - The horse is still alive, although his owner and I have a serious diffrence of opinion when it comes to medical care levels... I am trying to get him to let me tend to the horse while he recovers... but thats another post.

This article consists of the reply to Emily's question.

~Word Count: 977 words (The average magazine page contains about 600 words);
~Last Updated: September 08, 2009;

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