horses and dogs - a query.

Emilieu

Emilieu

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Funny thing happened last night. My yo's german shepard was chained up on the yard and barking loudly at the horses. When deano first saw it he jumped but then walked closer and closer, putting his nose down. I rushed over (thinking to protect him if I'm honest) but as I arrived he was lifting a front leg in a strike motion. I chased him away so I don't know what would have happened next... do you think he would have hurt the dog? He didnt look angry at all, ears were pricked and interested. The same dog once escaped and ran at us as we returned from a hack and deano's reaction was similar then but at the time I was too busy being pleased that he hadn't ran away to think about it. Anyone seen anything like this before? Would my lovely gentle boy really squash a dog? :o
 
My old GSD used to herd the horses if you didn't watch him, my OH had them out with the horses and apparently jake was herding them quite a bit, anyway after a while my old mare who was placid as anything had enough of the dog, and struck out like this, unfortunately what she thought was the GSD coming past her was actually my lurched who was suit mooching about and bless him he got struck on the head.

If this dog was acting as though it wanted to get at the horse, I.e barking at them etc entirely possible the horse was going to defend itself, especially in the instance of the dog running at you after a hack.
 
That poor lovely lurcher has been through the wars over the years, he's the toughest dog in the world, he's literally been ripped apart by other dogs, and just takes it, then gt struck on the head by this mare, and just shook his head and off he went lol!!

No sense no feeling lol!
 
One of our ponies has been known to charge dogs, both mine and other peoples who stray into his field....he literally scared the crap out of one of my dogs on one memorable occasion.....So yes it is possible your boy would have stomped the yo's dog. Was your horse loose on the yard the dog was tied up on?
 
My gelding once picked up a border collie by its scruff cos it kept jumping up at his stable door! Luckily the dogs owner wasn't upset and dog was ok!
 
Yes spiritedly he was :o it is a paddock we often let them wander round, the dog was round the corner so I didnt realise. Won't do that again! although he is great friends with the wee sheepdog that is owned by one of the other liveries, the sheepdog quite often runs lose on the yard and deans has never shown anything but friendly intentions toward him.
 
I have watched a pony (a colt I once had) lift a front leg and bop a dog on the nose. Luckily he was 10hh and unshod so the dog was unhurt. The dogs would run around the field playing with him though (I think as they weren't a dissimilar size they thought it a good idea) so I think it was play / curiosity more than aggression. After all, had he wanted to hurt the dog he would have turned and kicked it properly.
 
I couldn't ever try hunting... My mare likes to try and stamp on dogs that try to go near her. Shes a heavyweight so the damage she could cause is unthinkable.
I have no idea why the dislike to dogs, I like to the its due to a bad experience when she was younger but I actually think she's just being a cow!
 
I would say that yes he was about to stamp on the dog (obviously this is without being there ;)). Lucky you were there.
 
My horse will allow my chihuahua to sleep on his hoof (if he is tied up in the sun Taz will literally prop his bottom on his front hoof and doze off) he will also snuggle him and allow him to lick his nose!
However y/o's rottweiler, he hates her!! He will snap at her, strike out front and back end and will charge her in the field....

She 30x my chi's size so I think he just sees her as a threat....
He is good with hounds out hunting, but knows its not allowed to kick them!
 
Tessy did this to our GSP the other day in her heavily pregnant state and the stupid dog kept running round her face bouncing we shouted at her to pack it in but she knws best :rolleyes:. So Tess lifted her front leg and striked out as her with her eas flat back, Holly managed to miss the swipe but it could have been serious ... she is very careful round Tess now so it works out ok :)
 
What a shame she didn't startle Tessy into labour ;)
This is the same big softy who used to have a cat that slept in his bed beside him and who shared his breakfast with a robin two weeks ago. Just would never have expected him to hurt anything!
 
He'll probably be fine with other dogs. They're not stupid. They can take dogs on a dog-to-dog basis.

I used to keep my horse on a yard where they had two or three GSDs that lived in a kennel. Every time you went from the stables to the outdoor arena or vice versa, you had to walk past the kennel and these dogs would jump against the bars of their kennel and bark their heads off at you. Every. single. time. For the record, when the YOs turned them loose for a run around, they'd ignore the horses, but when kenneled, they definitely didn't. My horse never reacted to this in an obviously upset way, nothing more than a swish of the tail here or a twitch of an ear there. One day, the dogs were let loose while the horses were still turned out, as it was light late and a nice evening. One of the GSDs ran into my horse's field. It didn't pay any attention to the horse, but as far as the horse was concerned, it was time for payback. She charged the dog, head snaking, teeth bared. The dog had to leg it and luckily got to the fence before she got to it.

She's never been in any trouble with dogs who don't hassle her, but I think she must have been planning the demise of the barky GSD for months. I always say that her attitude with dogs is that she won't start the fight, but she'll certainly try to finish it.
 
my horse has kicked a dog before when it came at her aggressively. Luckily the dog was not hurt but i fell off in the process as it resulted in bolting after, talk about a hit and run!
 
I used to care for a stallion that could never be trusted around dogs. We would attack them, no questions asked wether they were threatening or not. He seriously injured a jack Russell belonging to the brother of the YO, very lucky the dog was not killed. The stallion stomped on him with a front foot. He was generally a very gentle and well mannered horse, but seriously would not tolerate dogs.

Sounds like your horse had more interest than aggression though OP, from the sounds of his body language!
 
Second Orls, I think your boy wanted to play or find out what the dog was on about. My mare tolerates dogs, but if they come barking at her hocks or knees, she arches her neck, ears pinned, start to get agitated and finally kicks out if dog insists.
 
I was walking with friends in the New Forest one boxing day. A young family clearly had a puppy for xmas. A pony marched up to the dog (who was a Daschund I think) and reared up, landing smack on its back.

It was probably the most unpleasant thing I have every witnessed. Family clearly non horsey but tbh I never saw it coming either. Don't know what happened to the dog - dead on arrival to vets I would imagine. Urrrgh.

Also my chestnut horse (years ago) when in a livery yard at Cookham, Bucks killed a dog who was being walked accross a footpath in the field. I wasn't there but assume the dog was chasing him and got kicked in the head. My current dog got in with my youngsters also and started chasing (I got him free to a good home on gumtree and hadn't done the socialising at this point). He got kicked and rolled and was lucky to get away with it.

I'm uber careful now. They are 'wolves' to horses. Interestingly though my 2 broodies and foals who were brought up with said gumtree dog are absolutely fine with him to the point of letting him share bowls in the field. This only happens by mistake obviously but does show that early socialisation can be effective.
 
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