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SandersonStable1
Posted : 9/27/2011 7:17:55 PM
[blockquote] [blockquote] I actually wrote this last Thur. 9/22/11. I am a new member and am posting just in hopes we can save a mule or horse from certain death - IF your circumstances are the same as ours. Be safe. Connie
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Our mule would have been 'lost' from a Copperhead snake bite but for .......
We had a terrifying trail ride today @ our local Natchez Trace State Forest Park. The Park is located just 1/2 way between Memphis and Nashville, TN on I-40. The Park is 48,000 acres & home to some of the most scenic trails we've ever ridden, anywhere. However, one of our most favored trails today proved near deadly to one of our mules.
Our little black molly mule, Mud Slide Sally, was bitten by a Copperhead snake...!!!!!! We are grateful she is alive tonight.
It happened this way:
We were entering a creek crossing - one we had ridden countless times before and had never been in sight of a snake.
I was riding the lead and Billy was behind. I had already dropped down into the creek when I heard a 'disturbance' from 'up above me'. Sally had 'jumped-up' with her front feet, then she stomped and I caught a glimpse of a snake flying through the air by means of her left back foot! Yes, she'd stomped it and kicked it through the air! But at that very moment, we weren't sure she'd actually been bitten but unfortunately, she had been bitten. Sally and Billy came on down into the creek & Sally pawed the water but she generally does that to 'clear' the water before she drinks, so that wasn't a clear indication she'd been bitten either.
About 10 minutes later, after we'd walked on down the trail just a little bit, Billy made the decision to go ahead and inject her with Banamine, just in case she HAD been bitten and just to be extra safe for her well being.
He was now out of the saddle and starting to give her the 1st of two shots of 10 cc EACH of Banamine. (One shot in the vein and the 2nd was to be in the muscle -- Achieving a one-two punch of immediate help for her and then the muscle injection as a delayed help to her)... But as he was in the middle of that first I.V. shot - she began to totter and flounder, then staggered and fell out from under his needle.
I was beside myself - saying my 'pleading-prayers' as fast as I could - as she struggled, unsuccessfully, to stand. Her breathing was very labored and she was now down in the middle of the trail!!!. We were 2 hrs. out in the deep woods & away from the truck, on single-file trails with no truck or trailer-worthy access to where we were riding.
If Billy had not had the 'never-to-be-without' Banamine packed in his horn bag, we'd have lost her right then and there, as she was in a state of acute reaction to that snake bite and the venom had taken hold in less than 10 minutes after the bite.
He reloaded the syringe (as it dislodged during her fall) and as most of the time happens, her veins began doing a great job of 'dodging' the injection. He had quite a time giving her the rest of the 10cc of Banamine I.V. (in her vein). But he was finally successful and then injected the other 10cc of Banamine in the muscle. Thankfully, she has never minded shots.
After what seemed to be an eternity, she began to 'come around' and her eyes began to better focus, her breathing became SOMEWHAT less labored but yet we let her take more time to make, what we prayed would be, some kind of recovery. When he finally asked her to get up, she did struggle, but made it to her unsteady feet.
Rommie and I walked on in front a little bit, then stopped and waited as he lead her for about 30 minutes on toward the truck, that was now a mere 1 and 1/2 hrs. away, by normal trail riding.
We then decided I should try to ride back to the truck as fast as I could while he continued to lead her out of the woods. Since neither of the 2 mules have been asked to ride independently of another mule or horse, I was concerned that Rommie wouldn't want to leave but I was more concerned that Sally would fret, stress more and go down again. However, by the Grace given us, neither Rommie nor Sally resisted our plan. Well, Billy did say that about 30 minutes after I'd left, Sally was feeling enough better to worry where Rommie & I had gone and increased her pace a little.. ALL A WONDERFUL SIGN.
I got back to the truck, loaded Rommie and pulled to somewhere close to where he was to be waiting. It took me an estimated hour to reach our truck.
Three hours after the snake bite Sally was home, in front of a fan and being injected with 20 cc of Dexamethasone (Dex, as it is commonly called) to reduce the swelling and her leg, from the knee down, had swelled considerably.
After we watched her graze in the yard for 3 more hours and with no hesitation about eating grass nor the grain we treated her to - we have the beginning of a feeling that we have gotten 'past this one'..
My relating this story is to say how important it is to pack Banamine AT ALL TIMES and to KNOW HOW TO USE IT. Our little Sally would not be alive had Billy not known how and what to do in this emergency. I am fully convinced that prayer, Billy and Banamine saved her life today on the trail.
Also and important to be noted, the amounts of meds. used on Sally was for HER weight -- everyone should consult, study or inquire from someone they trust to give them the correct amounts for the weight of your mule or horse. This is Billy's formula for our 900 pound mule. [/blockquote] We have always carried Banamine with us when riding, in case of colic, as it helps prevent them from going into shock but today, for Sally AND for us, Banamine was a life-saver in this situation too.
[/blockquote] BOTTOM LINE: Pack Banamine, know how to use it and save your mule or horse in this kind of emergency - we have been blessed today.
Connie and Billy Sanderson
[email=SandersonStable1@gmail.com]SandersonStable1@gmail.com[/email]
Cedar Grove, TN
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