Advice for a horse rider please.....if a dog is out of control?

[jules9203]

A couple of days ago I was out hacking with a friend and we came across a large dog that was very reactive to the horses. They were approx 150yards away and on a lead. The owner was really struggling to control the. We kept walking away from them. We then heard a scream, looked round to find the dog running towards us. Luckily he was on an extendable lead and the owner just managed to stay on her feet and stop him. My question is.....if the dog had got loose what would be the best reaction from us? Do we stand still or run? This dog would have looked very aggressive and tbh I was quite shaken afterwards when I thought about it. Posting this in Tackroom too.

 

[Jenko109]

I think the first thing to try would be standing your ground. Riding defensively towards the dog may also help.

The truth is it depends on what the dogs intent is and the capability of the horse I am riding.

Most dogs will just be barky but not actually have intent to harm. In which case if you can stand still and wait for the owner to get some control then that would be best.

If the dog is attacking you though. If I was on the right horse and in the right place, I would be hitting a gallop and not stopping. If not able to do that, then you are really at the mercy of the owner regaining control. I would not want to get off the horse personally.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I've really shouted at a few dogs that have ran up to us and they have backed off apart from one which was a doberman that was jumping up snapping at my horses face, she wasn't having any of it and spun round to kick it she also struck out with her front legs at it, luckily it did run off owner no where to be seen.

I always ride out with a long whip and I would use it if I had to.

 

[Barton Bounty]

I also would take a whip long or short, after the video I saw of a policeman and policehorse the other day and the dog was attacking the horse , I will always take one now.

 

[CorvusCorax]

I've ridden at dogs before with a whip, making 'oi, geddawayouttathat' type noises. Nothing high pitched or prey-like movements.
I probably wouldn't have been so brave if I wasn't accompanying kids

 

[Surbie]

I've been through something similar. The dog was off-lead and came hurtling out of the bushes, snapping at my horse's legs. I couldn't hit it with my whip without hitting my horse - he was spinning and then took off. It chased and kept up for about a third of a mile, trying to latch onto my horse's legs. Thankfully we had the space and the dog gave up before we hit the roads, but I don't think I could have done anything else. My horse won't face down a dog in full attack mode.

The rider I was with had nasty injuries, including 3 broken ribs iirc, from being swept off her bolting horse by a tree branch, had to be stretchered away and hasn't hacked out again to my knowledge. Both our horses were caught at the motorway bridge by some amazing dog walkers. By a small miracle neither were injured.

No one could identify the dog walker or the dog.

eta: I've shouted at and stood for dogs that are a bit noisy, but this was something else.

 

[Spanny]

I've ridden toward loose dogs before. The owners were totally out of sight, there were three dogs off lead on a bridleway and coming at myself (on a very sharp and not at all dog proof 5 year old ex-racer) and my friend (on an older but still spicy mare who was not up to any fast work). I knew that if the horses started to run away from the dogs it would spiral fast. My friend was already struggling with the older mare so it was up to me and the ex-racer. I managed to coax him into trotting and then just about cantering toward the dogs as they ran toward us, and I yelled at them to F-off. As we got closer the dogs decided that 16hh of TB coming at them perhaps wasn't so fun, so they turned and started running away. Ex-racer was much happier cantering after them then! It took about 3 goes of this but the dogs eventually gave up. I did finally spot the owners in the distance, doing absolutely nothing...

I tried chasing the dogs based on a post that I had read on the forum years and years ago. I have zero memory of who it was who shared their original story but it probably saved two riders and two horses from injury that day. So, in case that poster is still here, thank you!

 

[Landcruiser]

I have also been through similar, except it was two loose Great Danes charging towards off lead with the owner a hundred metres away running after them in panic. Thankfully my horse trusted me enough to stand still (turned towards them) and even more thankfully they stopped and just barked at us until the owner caught up. If we'd have run, they would have chased, and I would have had a panic stricken horse possibly going into a full bolt - ie, carnage. It's almost always better to stand your ground with loose dogs I think. The only exception for me would be on very open ground and no owner in sight, and predatory rather than badly behaved dogs - but trying to outrun a dog is always going to be a huge risk.

 

[maisie06]

Years ago I was riding a very dog proof cob on the beach when 2 collies came racing up behind us, owners did nothing, no recall nothing just ignored the fact the dogs were tring to round up the horse, the collies wern't agressive they were just doing the collie swapping sides and following thing so I broke into a trot, then a steady canter, both horse and collies seemed to be enjoying themselves, owners started trying to call the dogs, dogs more interested in our new game, so I cantered about 2 miles along the beach to where I knew was a fenced boat pound and left the dogs in there!! This was before faceache etc so I have no idea how long it took them to find the dogs as I went the longer way home!!!

 

[Wishfilly]

Fortunately I've never had to deal with this personally, but I've had friends be chased by dogs- in one case her horse was bitten on the hock by a dog, which is obviously an expensive vet bill. I do agree trying to outrun dogs is probably a terrible idea- standing your ground/chasing them and not being prey like is probably good. I'd also defend my horse with a whip if it came to it. I wouldn't want mine to run- he's always been a bit scared of dogs but has improved a lot, but equally I don't know if he'd be up to chasing an aggressive dog, and I don't *think* he'd kick out at one either.

I think it very much depends on the dog, and what they're trying to do as well?

 

[AmyMay]

It’s only happened to me once, many years ago. A little Yorkshire Terrier ran under my horses legs. Didn’t end well sadly

 

[Wishfilly]

Yeah- in many situations the real risk is to the dog. Years ago, I knew a collie who was unfortunately killed by one kick from a horse.

 

[Nasicus]

I've ridden at dogs before with a whip, making 'oi, geddawayouttathat' type noises. Nothing high pitched or prey-like movements.
I probably wouldn't have been so brave if I wasn't accompanying kids

Woman after my own heart, I ride at them bellowing in my dulcet devonshire tones to 'GET OUT OF IT' and 'YOU BLOODY DARE'

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

I was out riding and we were attacked by a dog totally out of control. Owner had no recall.

The dog went under my horse's feet. Because she's such a sweetie (the cats rub up against her at home) she didn't kick out. It then went up under her teats and started biting at her. We were in a wooded/thicket area, so couldn't gallop away. When the dog went under my pony's tummy she reared up - vertically - and at this time I came off (couldn't help it). Then the dog chased my poor little scared pony and she ran off.

I figured she'd have the sense to run homewards (we were about a mile from home), which is what she in fact did. We were less than a mile from a major trunk road when this happened. The road home is along a country road used as a bus route. I followed where I thought she'd gone, and our lovely village postie then saw me in a dishevelled state racing down the road, and said "your pony's down the road, someone's caught her". Thankfully they had. Sweet little girly let total strangers catch her in Flight mode and she was just standing there with them. I've never been more thankful for her pony common-sense and homing ability.

Put something on local social media about a "dog attack" and surprisingly the owner came on! Plus her partner. They said they were "business people" and "objected" to the term "attack". See, my pony was "spooked" by the dog, that was their version, and ran off. Oh yep sure ...........

Anyway, the dog warden never got back to me, but the local Police PCSO did. It transpired that this particular dog had also gone into a garden at someone's house and behaved aggressively to the kids. For my incident, the owner was given a Control Order under the Dangerous Dogs Act.

It has taken us a while to get our confidence back; this happened in August. Now if I see a loose dog I yell at them to get it back. Yet you still get people who will allow their dogs to run wild! Only recently a friend and I were out on the local open ground and within the space of an hour, we had had to ride our horses aggressively at TWO different dogs! Owners just stood by and were like duh my dog is approaching a horse's back legs. However when we turned into "attack" mode they got their dogs back PDQ. Reckon it sharpened their minds thinking of the vets bill they might incur.

Apparently the best thing to do is STAND still if a dog is in attack mode and you are on a horse. If there's nothing moving, you don't aggravate the "chase" canine mentality, or so I've heard. But easier said than done. Our experience is that "attack" mode is the best thing to get the owners to get their damned dogs back!

After our incident, I came straight home and bought a hat-cam. Nope it won't stop anything happening in future, but at least I will have the evidence to back it up. Got a Techalogic DC1 which gives both forward and rear footage. Have already submitted a fair amount of incidents (traffic) to the police.

 

[Surbie]

I was out riding and we were attacked by a dog totally out of control. Owner had no recall.

The dog went under my horse's feet. Because she's such a sweetie (the cats rub up against her at home) she didn't kick out. It then went up under her teats and started biting at her. We were in a wooded/thicket area, so couldn't gallop away. When the dog went under my pony's tummy she reared up - vertically - and at this time I came off (couldn't help it). Then the dog chased my poor little scared pony and she ran off.

I figured she'd have the sense to run homewards (we were about a mile from home), which is what she in fact did. We were less than a mile from a major trunk road when this happened. The road home is along a country road used as a bus route. I followed where I thought she'd gone, and our lovely village postie then saw me in a dishevelled state racing down the road, and said "your pony's down the road, someone's caught her". Thankfully they had. Sweet little girly let total strangers catch her in Flight mode and she was just standing there with them. I've never been more thankful for her pony common-sense and homing ability.

Put something on local social media about a "dog attack" and surprisingly the owner came on! Plus her partner. They said they were "business people" and "objected" to the term "attack". See, my pony was "spooked" by the dog, that was their version, and ran off. Oh yep sure ...........

Anyway, the dog warden never got back to me, but the local Police PCSO did. It transpired that this particular dog had also gone into a garden at someone's house and behaved aggressively to the kids. For my incident, the owner was given a Control Order under the Dangerous Dogs Act.

It has taken us a while to get our confidence back; this happened in August. Now if I see a loose dog I yell at them to get it back. Yet you still get people who will allow their dogs to run wild! Only recently a friend and I were out on the local open ground and within the space of an hour, we had had to ride our horses aggressively at TWO different dogs! Owners just stood by and were like duh my dog is approaching a horse's back legs. However when we turned into "attack" mode they got their dogs back PDQ. Reckon it sharpened their minds thinking of the vets bill they might incur.

Apparently the best thing to do is STAND still if a dog is in attack mode and you are on a horse. If there's nothing moving, you don't aggravate the "chase" canine mentality, or so I've heard. But easier said than done. Our experience is that "attack" mode is the best thing to get the owners to get their damned dogs back!

After our incident, I came straight home and bought a hat-cam. Nope it won't stop anything happening in future, but at least I will have the evidence to back it up. Got a Techalogic DC1 which gives both forward and rear footage. Have already submitted a fair amount of incidents (traffic) to the police.

I had to hack home after the incident, with someone on the other rider's pony (YO came out, was amazing). We were about 3 miles from home. We saw several dogs on the way, loose and on the lead. My horse didn't bat an eyelid at them but I was honestly terrified. It took a while to get my confidence back and for it to sink in that this really wasn't normal.

 

[jules9203]

Thank you everyone, I will stand and be brave!!! . I've coped with excitable or yappy dogs before but I really felt that this dog was going to attack us if it could. It would have done some harm if it did. I have a hat cam which I will now use every time I hack.