Dogs and Horses?

[emmaln]

Hi there,

I was wondering if anyone knew of any good books or papers i could read regarding the way dogs and horses see each other?

I have a Rhodesian Ridgeback 8 month old pup and two horses. Toffs the 18 yr old ex racer is lovely with her and tuli (the dog) seems to respect her, the other day i was poo picking and tuli was eating poo in the field (yuck, dirty dog!) i asked her to leave and she didn't first time so i asked with my stern voice at which point Toffs put her ears back at tuli and sent her away??? Tuli did as she was told by toffs and that was that! It was like Toffs just saw her as another member of the herd??

Tegan on the other hand my youngster i have to be very careful with her and tuli as, tuli play bows at her and Tegan almost does the same!??! However they will groom each other, Tegan grooms Tuli who lifts her back legs up so that she can reach her tummy.

Just wondered if Tuli could read the hierarchy of the herd, probably a stupid question???

I have a very strange brood!

Also in all about dogs!

 

[Firehorse]

dogs live by similar rules as horses, in that they all have a place in their pack/herd. i was interested in watching the dogs/horses when i joined my yard. to start with the boss horses would chase my dog away, but after a while they accepted him. he now dashes about when i'm poo picking and they dont bat an eyelid. altho if there is a horsey scuffle going on, my dog wants to join in. i call him away in case he gets hurt as he does get under their feet. they wouldnt hurt him on purpose. i think they have a healthy respect of each other and know their places with each other.

its the same with people as well. when we were new to the yard, my youngest son was walking over to the donkey in the field, and the boss mare came rushing over and knocked my son over and almost kicked him. fair enough, this filly shouldnt have behaved like that, but she was just dominating my son as she would another horse. in her eyes, my son was trying to herd the donkey and she wasnt having any of that. we all learnt a lesson that day and luckily no one was injured. but now the herd know us, they leave us all alone to do whatever we need to do in the field.

 

[emmaln]

Agree with all that, was just interested in the specific relationship between the two and whether the behaviourhal signs can be read? I see what you are saying that horses treat us the same and intelligent horsemanship studies equine behaviour so that we can use that to our advantage and think like our horse but obviously dogs can't read books or study animals in the same way we can? Or can they?

Yes i do think too much, sorry can't help it it's just sooooo fascinating!

 

[emmaln]

I also posted this on all about dogs and someone got worried that i was putting my dog in danger so just to clarify in case anyone else got worried!

Tuli is not allowed in the field when Tegan is out all interaction between the two happens with a fence in between!

Tuli has been coming to the yard every day since the day we got her and has very strict boundaries where the horses are concerned!

I let her in the field with Toffs but only when there are two of us and only now that i know she is listening i have also taught her to sit wait on her spot outside the field and if i can forsee a problem i simply use the command OUT and she returns to her spot! I have owned Toffs for five and a half years and have seen her with numerous dogs of all different characters and she is not bothered by them in the slightest! I am a very very careful owner and would never put my animals at risk deliberately!