New dog coming soon, socialising with horses?

Beth&Cleo

Beth&Cleo

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Hello everyone,
we are going to see a 3yr old neutered JRT tomorrow as a potential new doggy (I hope it works out seems we went a bit spending mad this afternoon :o )
What would be the best way to introduce him to horses as he has never met them before?
Both my horses are used to dogs running around them, barking, jumping at them ( Cleo once lived with an excitable puppy lol ) So they should be all right with them.
Thanks,
Beth

(the idea of me getting a new dog was to have a companion to go to the yard with, Chance, my current dog, is fine with horses but doesn't like small children so I can't leave him at the yard alone whilst I'm riding etc as there are lots of children running about )
 
I'm interested in this, too, as the puppies had hysterics at a horse in the woods last week, despite having met Beau :rolleyes:. I freeschooled Beau with the puppies on the lead and they seemed better but I'd love to be able to have them come across and catch in with me etc without fear of them having their heads kicked in!
 
Could you not arrange a hack where someone walks the dog on a lead and someone rides a calm quiet horse? That way the dog's aware of the horse but not 'presented' with it -ie. Shown horse in stable/field etc.
It means you have control over both animals (so no hooning horses to excite/scare dog!). I'd have thought that if you walk around for long enough ignoring one another and they'll soon get used to each other! It means you can use the distraction/focus training without worrying what the horse is doing.

I'm very lucky in that Otto has complete and utter respect for horses without being terrified, he is very aware that horses have sharp bitty teeth and heavy feet, but that if he sticks close to me they won't bother him. In actual fact it's been a godsend for his training, as staying close is his biggest downfall, so we do lots of training in the horses field! :D
 
Thankyou that's great info :D

I think I might just get my mum to hold him on his lead and stand where she usually does in the arena whilst I'm riding as hacking isn't really an option at the moment.
 
In that case I would get her to walk around with him, if he does get excited standing still will only make him worse! Keep him moving, try to keep him interested in whoever's holding him and keep the horse in walk until you're positive there's no issue.
 
kirstyhen said:
In that case I would get her to walk around with him, if he does get excited standing still will only make him worse! Keep him moving, try to keep him interested in whoever's holding him and keep the horse in walk until you're positive there's no issue.
Click to expand...

Really echo this as standing still as I used to do and waiting for a rider to go past made the pups hysterical, as did getting out of the way of joggers-screaming heeby jeebies! However, walking straight past, they looked but were on a mission to get walking with me.

Beth, me and you can keep each other updated on this (in French, naturally!)
 
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