My dog bit my horse.

I do take my dogs to the horses with me, but I’m on my own. The horses are indifferent to the dogs. Aled is comfortable around them, but we always have his ball (which is all he lives for), and whilst I’m poo picking, I am constantly playing with him. If one of the horses walks towards him, not to him, but in his general direction, his herding instinct seems to kick in, but I tell him “out”, and he will go.

Luna has come to the horses since she was puppy. First time off lead, she jumped up the fence (electric) for a closer look. I honestly believe she thinks a horse zapped her, and she now won’t go near them. She is happy in the field as long as I am between them and her, but if one so much as looks in her direction, she either goes and jumps back in the car, or goes into one of the other paddocks they’re not in.

Even though they all seem to get along ok, I am always always on top of watching what is going on. It possibly helps the horses are out all the time, so there’s never a chance of gate crowding to come in, and when I am haying as well, hay is put out before the dogs get out of the car.
 
I don't know if it will help you but I don't like leaving my GSD pup shut in whilst I work on the yard (at my home) so I put him on a waist lead (simply a rope tied to a belt) and he comes around with me. He learns to keep at heel and I can muck out, sweep, fill buckets etc and he gets some attention and stimulation. He cannot actually get to a horse (not that he would he is terrified of them) but when he is older maybe we will start to lead the quiet ones with him still attached to me. At no time can the dog go more that 3 feet away from you and, if you really had to, you could very quickly chastise him for bad behaviour eg snapping at horses. Mine likes it and it is better than just being shut up on his own.
 
TheresaW said:
Luna has come to the horses since she was puppy. First time off lead, she jumped up the fence (electric) for a closer look. I honestly believe she thinks a horse zapped her, and she now won’t go near them. She is happy in the field as long as I am between them and her, but if one so much as looks in her direction, she either goes and jumps back in the car, or goes into one of the other paddocks they’re not in.
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That sounds like exactly what she's done. She's made a link - she looked at/paid attention to the horses and received an immediate negative experience. Just hows how strong the first link a dog makes, can be.
 
Is this a dog you have had from a pup or a new dog?
If you can't even manage a bit of walking from home or readjusting your lifestyle until you get her trained better then you should seek to rehome her for her sake and your horses.
Much of this behaviour could be worked with, trained around but you are not going to be able to let her have free rein around the horses or any other lifestock until it is sorted.
I would recommend getting a good behaviourist out who can work with you.
 
To TW: It wouldn't bother me, to be honest, probably a blessing in disguise!
My dad told my old bitch off very strongly when she jumped up on him as a pup (he's OCD lol) he didnt hit her, just roared at her/chased her. To the day she died at 14 she would slink off to her kennel when she saw him, despite many years of him trying to make friends and she was quite a bold/confident/bombproof type from herding lines.
Again it just shows you the lasting effect of early negative experiences. For good or ill.
 
I have a collie who is always expected to integrate with everyday life.

I work on the basis that dog is in stable while horses are out, horses are in stable while dog is out. Dog is always on lead at the yard, unless they are in or if he'a asked to run alongside when we hack, which I would not do off private land.

He also gets walked every morning (currently at 4.45!) and again in the evening, in addition to going to the horses.

I do find that working on commands in a controlled space increases the abilty to focus on them in a busier environment. We do lots of work at home. Hand signals have been brilliant for us- I don't need to use my voice around livestock which keeps the whole situation a bit calmer. He will focus to a clap and lie down if I raise my arm.
 
I have a terrier with a strong chase instinct - it took a lot of hard work and keeping him on a lead around the yard when he was a puppy (he was scared of the horses at first and would growl at them). He got used to them and was fine on the yard, avoided them respectfully and kept out of the way. Turning out however was another matter - for a long time I made him stay on the yard when turning out because he got too excited if the horses belted off up the field and would chase. As he got older and chilled out, I relaxed this rule and he was 99% of the time well behaved and stayed out of the field - but on one occasion, he came into the field when I was about to loose three ponies, one of whom had got a right attitude on him that morning. I sent my dog out of the field and loosed the ponies - only for him to come straight back into the field, around behind me where I couldn't see him! The mardy pony backed up to him and kicked him, he went flying and ran off yelping - pony was unshod thankfully, and he wasn't injured badly - but he will not go anywhere near a field if there are horses in it now. So a valuable lesson, but one that could have ended so badly. I was in bits, until I had checked him over and found no injuries.
I think he thought I did it to him at first, because I had shouted at him angrily to get out of the field just before it happened! He wouldn't come near me for a few minutes and had his tail down. I would never have forgiven myself if he'd been seriously injured or worse.

I guess what I'm saying is, it takes a split second for something like that to happen, even with a dog you think you can trust; so with one known for chasing/biting I'd definitely be putting it on a longline/chain and doing some intensive training, perhaps never letting it off around horses again depending on trainability.

I don't think you mentioned how old this dog is and what breed?
 
PP in an article I have shared here a couple times, the author reminds us that dogs get corrected by nature/the environment they are in, all the time - a horse or a cow kick, a cat scratch, a porcupine or hedgehog quill up the nose, another dog biting them - so we shouldn't avoid giving corrections in a safer/more controlled way. Better than a fatal kick to the head.
 
Oh yeah, totally agree CC - that's the best way for them to learn. It's just the knowledge that if the pony had been a big horse, or been shod, or caught him in the head, it could have ended very differently. As it happens, it's solved the issue of him approaching horses in the field and has given him a whole new respect for them. I just thank my lucky stars that this was the outcome.
 
I have 2 dogs and a toddler who come to the yard with me and all 3 have to be kept separate from the horses! But luckily due to lay out it is simple to shut dogs in areas when horses are moving. They are never in the horses field. There is an empty one next to them. I walk from the horses so they always come with me. So some exercise it running around he hay barn but some is walks.

Collie quickly learnt to follow behind horses and it wary of them. New lab tends to walk in front and doesn’t care about the horses!

With dogs that are a liability I was keep them tethered or shut in stable personally. Except for when supervised fully.
 
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