Dog attacks group of children out riding, badly injures one pony

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DuckToller

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My teenage daughter and her friends went out for a hack in Mardley Heath, Welwyn, this afternoon. A group of men were out walking various dogs in front of them on the bridlepath just as they were coming up the the road. The girls slowed down so they wouldn't catch the dogs up but two rottweilers saw the ponies and started towards them. The man grabbed them but a staffy type dog was not being held and it ran at them. It attacked one pony, bit the child on the foot, and the pony was so terrified it reared up and the child fell off. The pony then bolted for home and the dog followed for almost a mile.

My daughter trotted after the loose pony, but then came across the same dog in the road, because it hadn't been able to keep up with the pony (thank goodness), so the bloody thing then turned on her pony. It was biting her beloved cob, so she got off and started hitting it with her whip, because she didn't know what else to do. Then the cob took off with the dog in tow.

A neighbour was driving by and saw what was happening, so he drove between the dog and the horse and my daughter (who does the pony club tet so is quite fit) then caught up. The cob meanwhile lashed out with his back legs and caught the dog twice, but it still wouldn't give up. He then caught it with his front hoof and we think the dog was knocked out cold, but the owner turned up in a white van, shoved it in the back and drove off. One of the men did ask the girls if they were all right, but then he drove off too. None of them got a number plate, although they got a good description.

The first pony is badly injured, has had 17 staples in his fetlock, this is a huge wound that the vet is very worried about, and he also has a puncture wound down to the bone in his hind leg. The cob has a puncture would to his hind leg which is less severe, but still could be nasty.

And it started off such a lovely sunny afternoon...
 
Have you reported it to the police? Even without a registration number they can investigate and once the complaint is on file they may be able to cross reference it. I very much doubt that this will be the first or last time that these dogs have done something like this.
 
I hope you report it. I hope they catch them and hope the dogs are put down and the owners charged.

poor, poor dogs It's not their fault their owners are irresponsible morons
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That's awful.

You must complain to all the reledogs it is vant authorities.

Councils rarely get complaints from riders about dogs iit is usually the other way round. It is about time they realised what a problem dogs are to riders.

Hope everything turns out OK.
 
Def report it to the police, esp as the dog may now target horses having tasted blood (sorry gory I know). Also the vans route may be via roads with CCTV so the police might be able to track them down that way.

I have a large dog and a small one but would never take them both out both off leads together near us as one isnt so great with horses and you really need to be able to control your dog.

2 rotties and a Staff may be a known combination.
 
Oh my god ...... how are the girls though they must be so upset? They will need so much support for what has happened, which I am sure you and the other girl's family with do? They sound like they were so grown up and responsible through the whole saga, I am astounded that something so horrid could occur to innocent young girls
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As well as reporting it to the Police and the Council Dog Warden please report it to the BHS as well as they are trying to collect data on dog attacks on horses.

It sounds really nasty, so sorry for everyone.
 
God how frightening..I often come across dogs wandering about on dartmoor loose then their owner trailing along a couple of minutes later shouting for it, thats long enough for it to attack us. Once a dog was loose(no collar or anything) and followed me down the road with my horse trying to get it away from her legs...all it takes is a car to come along and it could be a disaster. God help anyone whos dog attacked my mare
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How brave of the girl to get off and hit the dog. Hope everybody and ponies recover well
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This is a horriffic incident, which could have ended much more badly and I am glad that the girls aren't physically hurt. It astounds me the number of loose dogs around. Twice on hacks along one route I have ended up with dogs "joining" me, and having to explain to understandably annoyed walkers that the dogs are not mine and are not officially with me. It is understandable that dogs may excape from their own yards etc some times, but to be so bad at recall when with the owner is dreadful.
 
Report to police and the BHS

Don't let them get away with it!

Even if it means going to the local press/radio stations
 
Thanks for all your thoughts. Girls very shaken, the one whose pony was most injured was sobbing when she got back, the dog had jumped up so high it was nearly in her lap at one point. She has all dog slober down her legs so not exaggerating.

Have rung police (several times) and so did someone else who saw ponies galloping loose down the road, but they are busy at the moment. Don't think the man with the rottweillers owned the staffy, he was just part of a group. Just don't understand why they would want to walk a group of large dogs together in a very public, very busy local woods on a sunny afternoon when the woods is full of families, kids on bikes, kids on ponies etc.
 
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I do hope the ponies get better.
Report to local newspapers with the story, perhaps it might make the owners brain tick a bit faster and more carefully.

Hugs to the girls x
 
What a dreadful situation, definately report it as others have said, my pony booted a whippet last thursday which just wouldn't leave us alone, I tried to canter off but it just chased us, it got it's cumuppnace though and ran off with a yelp, I asked the owner if it was okay and she said yes and serves it right, thing is you dont really want either animal injured, at the end of the day it's the dog owners fault.
 
Omg that is aweful, what b@stards! (excuse my french). Report it to the police. Someone may have complained before and got a Reg. number, and if not, its still on their files incase someone else gets mauled by that dog! Ring vets in the area, that dog might be going to the vets if they were knocked out cold! Do not let those .. PEOPLE.. get away with it.. its just disgusting.. I'm sure all your daughter and her friends wanted was a hack, well done to your daughter for having the guts to smack it one!
 
Really difficult to work out how many men, my daughter thought they were maybe out rabbiting (with rottweilers?!?!), there were perhaps 3 or 4, but they might not have been altogether, maybe just a coincidence so many men with dogs. Its a very busy little woods close to houses so every man and his dog (pardon pun) come out on a sunny day.

Definitely the man with rotts and the man with staffy were together as one was calling to the other to get his dog, but when the first child fell off and the pony took off, the dog was quickly out of earshot anyway. Think they had driven to the car park so maybe not that local.

Very worried about our little New Forest pony, he is so stressy anyway, not a great patient, although just been to check them all and he is eating. Cob never did like dogs, just hope he doesn't go for ours now...
 
Yeah I suppose by the time he realised what the dog was doing it had already ran off. What a terrible thing to happen, at least pony is eating and lets hope it hasnt made them frightened of dogs now
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Wish everyone involved a speedy recovery
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And yes, will report to local paper, maybe H&H, all four kids good riders and in pony club, very sensible and capable riders, all ponies roadworthy etc. Plenty of local kids go galloping about in the woods half out of control, but mine were in slow walk at the time, couldn't ask for more polite kids.

Poor little NF pony spends his whole life expecting monsters, now he knows they exist. Funny how the dog went for the most nervous pony, apparently kids reckon two bigger ponies both got a couple of good kicks in, at one point the staffy got a kick and went up in the air and hit a parked car, but still came back at the cob.
 
There seems to be more and more reports of dangerous dogs these days. I'm sure it's not the dogs fault, but the fault of the brainless twerps who think owning a vicious, untrained dog makes them hard.

I personally can't stand dogs, mainly because I've seen incidents that have really scared me. It's about time something was done about it all and I guess the more people who shout and make a fuss when these incidents occur the better.

I hope all concerned in this horrific incident make full and quick recoveries.
 
What a horrific thing to happen. Getting the paper to report it might well bring these rats out of hiding. Someone locally will know who they are, and may well find their concience leads them to dropping a name into the police.
 
Sounds awful - lucky though that the dog did not turn on the girl who tried to protect her cob... That these people did not even bother checking whether the kids were ok says it all really.
 
My daughter and her pony was submitted to a dog attack not so long ago infact there were two dogs one came in front snarling and growling and one came behind my daughter and pony, luckily daughters pony sorted out dog behind by giving a good kick and luckily man grabbed other dog, but the unbelievable thing is the dog owner thinks hes done nothing wrong, we are in the middle of the new forest and the amount of dogs who are left off the leads is crazy, half of them have never seen a horse, the poor forest ponies must get chased all the time. Hope your ponies make a good recovery and now lasting damage.
 
God that sounds awful, really scary. Get in touch with Peter Natt (he's on here) as he is involved with the BHS in Herts and may be able to offer advice.

You are not far from me, we have probably competed tet against you!
 
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