Dogs chasing my horse when I'm riding

New people moved into a rural house down the road. They had two Border Collies that to start would bark at the gate then they took to jumping the gate and going for the horses.
I warned the owner of the dangers both of the dogs getting hurt by the horses kicking or by getting hot by a car or of them causing a nasty accident.
They did nothing.
My horses are all dog proof and do not take any notice of them but a lot of people ride along that road and not all react the same way.
I rode out on a good hunter, the owner was outside of the gate doing some weeding, the dogs jumped the gate and attacked and she did and said nothing. I used my hunting whip on both dogs, getting them both a couple of times and a third time as they jumped the gate back into the garden.
Not a word was said by the woman. She was shocked by her expression but within a couple of days the dogs were fenced off in the back garden!

I walk a lot of dogs at one time. They are all off leads, they will not chase horses, cattle or sheep. They will come back to heel when called so are under control. It takes training to get this - unfortunately not all dogs are trained.
 
Many years ago when I was younger I once made the terrible mistake of letting my beloved Collie x Alsatian (Lottie) come with me to get the horses in. 4/5 geldings surrounded her and starting striking out, so cue 13 year old me to start bashing horses with my leadrope to get to my dog and then picking her up and jogging with her all the way up the field whilst batting the frisky horses away.
Certainly not a thing to be repeated!

As for letting dogs off leads, I must admit that Lottie is rarely on a lead unless we are near roads (like I said she is my beloved dog and I would never want to risk anything happening to her!) however she always walks to heel and will never leave my side without being instructed. In our 8 years together she has never once acted unpredictable, however even so I never let her run free where horses are concerned because I don't personally feel that it is safe.
On the other hand my young rescue Collie, Desmond, has terrible recall as he was a stray in Manchester city. He wouldn't run away, however he does do a rather large orbit around me and doesn't always come to call first time so the only time that he gets to run free from the lead is when we are in wide open spaces away from narrow paths, horses, roads and the like. That way I can see everything that is around us and there is minimal risk of any surprise dangers springing up out of nowhere!
 
I was riding on a road past a farm when two dogs ran out of the farm yard and started attacking my horse bringing her down on the road. I got the dogs away from my horse by hitting them with my schooling whip and kicking them. My horse required veterinary attention but what annoyed me more than anything else was that the local horse riders had had problems with these dogs but had never done anything about it.

I reported the incident to both the local dog warden and the police and they both visited the farmer concerned and warned him if there was another incident then they would take action against him.

If a dog attacks once it will attack again and the next time it could be far more serious so please treat all dog attacks seriously.
 
PeterNatt said:
I was riding on a road past a farm when two dogs ran out of the farm yard and started attacking my horse bringing her down on the road. I got the dogs away from my horse by hitting them with my schooling whip and kicking them. My horse required veterinary attention but what annoyed me more than anything else was that the local horse riders had had problems with these dogs but had never done anything about it.

I reported the incident to both the local dog warden and the police and they both visited the farmer concerned and warned him if there was another incident then they would take action against him.

If a dog attacks once it will attack again and the next time it could be far more serious so please treat all dog attacks seriously.
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That is horrendous. There's a dog which sits in its gateway near where I work, and I've seen it run and and chase a jogger, snarling and barking. the owner might not even know it does this. :eek:

One poster here mentioned taking your dog(s) along while on a hack. Presumably people only do this if they're lucky enough to be able to hack completely off-road? Round here there are no hacks which don't include some road riding and surely no-one would take there dog loose on the road?
 
cinnamontoast said:
Except for the stallion turnout, I have never seen single horse turnout on the yards I know. Even if I took the dogs in with just mine, he'd still go for them. He's a very jealous creature. I'm not allowed to talk to other horses on the yard either!
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My horses are at home with me so I can turn them out as I wish
 
I'm lucky enough to have a cross country on site at my yard which we can take the dogs on (if there's not someone out jumping) so hack out regularly with the dogs loose and they run around and have fun. My horse is fine with them running around her although we don't canter as it's too much temptation to chase but even though she's used to this and the dogs in general she would still spazz out at a dog going for her.
I walk with my dogs loose, even on the few bridle paths there are around me but they have decent recalls and I know they aren't going to chase any horse we meet and I can recall or drop my collie as she runs off towards sheep so can do the same with horses! One of the first things she was taught.
 
I am a dog lover and owner but I will not tolerate a dog chasing horses, it is gainst the law, animals get hurt and riders can be killed.

Take a schooling whip when you know you re likely to encounter the dog it's long enough to reach the dog with a good wallop, do turn your horse towards the dog. I had a pony when I was young if you tickled her behind the saddle she would kick so those dogs that we got chased by everyday soon learned a lesson when pony started going on the ride.

My mom was badly injured being thrown from her horse by feral dogs.
 
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