[ponygirl]

re: copperheads don't go down easy... tell me about it! I was once bringing my 3-year-old mare in from the field to put her in her stall. Just as I reached for the latch on her stall door, she bolted backwards, almost pulling my arm out of the socket. "Well what the heck is wrong with you???!" I admonished her. She refused to step forward and started blowing snorts. When I turned back to the stall to see what had spooked her, I realized there was a baby copperhead snake draped across the latch. It totally blended in with the color of the weathered wood. I think I whacked it 60 times with a shovel before it finally died.

My sweet pony saved me! She got extra apple slices that night. But I wish someone could explain how she, who had been born on our farm and as far as I knew had never even seen a snake, knew that it was such bad news?

[nanetteclaret]

They have a sixth sense. Our sweet cocker spaniel Mollie (who has since crossed the Rainbow Bridge) barked ONLY at copperheads. After we moved from our ranch back into town, she would alert us to their presence in the shrubs. We knew that if she was barking, it meant copperheads!

[Bob Ireland]

***I wish someone could explain how she, who had been born on our farm and as far as I knew had never even seen a snake, knew that it was such bad news***

Is there a TV on near her stall? Has she seen all the copperheads in D.C.?

[little jeremiah]

But I wish someone could explain how she, who had been born on our farm and as far as I knew had never even seen a snake, knew that it was such bad news?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Born with instinct. One of my cats leaped straight up at the sight of a coiled rope on the ground before she ever saw a snake.

[peteypupperdoo]

I wonder if copperheads have an odor and your sweet pony sensed that smell was wrong?