What You Don't Want To Step On.

What You Don't Want To Step On

The other night almost at sunset, I fed by paint horse Shiloh. Since there was still light left in the day, I decided to let myself out the side gate to his playpen and walk down the little driveway toward the round pen.

Now—common sense tells you that around the barn and horses and living out in the middle of nowhere, you should be wearing appropriate shoes on your feet.

Do as I say—not as I do.

I have a nasty habit of wearing leather flip-flops from the time I get up in the morning until I tuck my feet into the bed at night (yes, I take them off when I shower). As I opened the side gate, I looked very carefully in the grass growing along the fence line for anything that might bite my toes. Not seeing any creatures, I stepped over the grass and onto the driveway, securing the gate behind me. That's when I heard the ominous rattle. I froze and only moved my eyes to look around. On the other side of the little driveway, under a sage bush was an 80-foot long green Mojave rattlesnake, coiled up and shaking his tail at me!

This is not the Green Mojave that I almost stepped on. I pilfered this photo from a website about snakes. Heck...when they're coiled up and shaking their tail at you, they ALL look the same!

I blinked and looked again. Okay—30 feet long. I can handle 30 feet. I took a big step toward the house and looked again. He was still shaking his tail, but had shrunk to about 10 feet.

Green Mojaves are the worst of the rattlesnakes. A diamond back will rattle and run away. A green Mojave will rattle and come after you. They are VERY aggressive and their toxins are about 10 times stronger than a diamond back. If a horse is bitten by a diamond back, he will swell up and be sick. If a horse is bitten by a green Mojave, it's usually "Goodbye Ol' Paint". For humans where we live, it's a medi-vac helicopter flight up to Tucson and a very painful and long recovery.

I backed away a little more in the direction of the house. He was still coiled, but holding his position. As I beat a hasty retreat for the house, I tried to holler for Rick, but all that would come out was a squeaky, high pitched "IIIICCKK..." that only the neighbor's dogs could hear.

By the time I got to the house, I could almost form a full sentence. "BIG, green, shotgun, Mojave...." Fortunately, Rick has become quite adept at translating my babble, grabbed the shotgun and did the bugger in. It was a nice snake...a beautiful shade of green and actually only about 3 1/2 feet long.

We don't like to kill things, because everything serves their purpose. They just don't need to serve their purpose so close to the barn and house! If it had been a diamond back, we would have tried to catch it and turned it loose on the back part of the property. But a green Mojave...fair game and no mercy!

Have I learned my lesson about proper foot attire? If I say "Yes" would you believe me?

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