WWYD - dogs near main road

FestiveFuzz

FestiveFuzz

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Due to the council being incredibly lax clearing trees after the October storms we've been limited to two decent hacking routes at the moment.

Today we went out with our usual hacking buddies. We ride this route most weekends and it's my favourite of the two anyway despite there being more roadwork. Anyway, the bridleway leads to a private farm road (we have permission to ride here) which then leads on to a winding main road which people tend to drive way too fast on.

Bordering both the roads is a house. They have several large dogs that like to jump and bark at the fence as we pass, usually this isn't an issue as it's on the private road side and aside from being a bit looky the horses tend to be fine. Today however the dogs came flying round to the front garden which runs alongside the main road and is on the start of a bend and began throwing themselves at the fencing and barking.

The horse ahead of us cantered sideways and H followed suit and started spinning on the wrong side of the road. I got things under control as quickly as possible and fortunately there were no cars about as I dread to think the outcome had someone come around the corner. I've since heard of three others this has happened to so it's only a matter of time before someone has a nasty accident there.

So is there anything we can do? We thought it might be worth putting a polite letter through their door asking if they could put a side gate in to stop the dogs having access to the part of the garden that runs along the main road but appreciate the dogs aren't necessarily doing anything wrong as they're on their land so it's a bit of a grey area.

Ultimately we just want to prevent there being a serious accident.
 
I don't think that you can do anything really. They have every right to let their dogs out on their own land. You'll just have to really get hold of your horses and be ready for them when you go past. The horses should get used to them. Try and go past on quiet times for a while (early Sunday morning etc) while they do?
 
Nothing you can do-IF it is going to cause an accident it is as much your responsibility to avoid the route as it is the dogs owners to fence their dog in - but I'm guessing neither will like their option!
 
The dogs are on their own land, your horse is on the public road. I rather think it is incumbent on you to ensure that your horse is under control, rather than the dog owner having to fence their animals into a limited part of their land! What would you do if there were other animals in filds at the side of the road that your horse objected to? Asl the alpacca farmer not to use the land at the side of the road? The world does not chang to accommodate horse riders, nor should we expect it to IMO
 
i thought this was going to be about welfare concerns about dogs being on a main road. Agree with the others, the problem isn’t theirs Im afraid and if your horses cant pass safely then don’t go that way.
 
I agree with others: the dogs are on private land, you are on a public road. It's your responsibility to make sure your horses behave safely on a public road, dogs or no dogs.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I suspected this would be the case (and definitely didn't expect the world to revolve around us!) but thought I'd ask just in case we are missing something. As mentioned the horses are absolutely fine (aside from the odd look) when the dogs are in sight but the edge of the garden that borders the main road sits above the road so it isn't easy for them to see the dogs until they're on top of us. We'll just stick with hacking along the route as a group and avoid using it alone methinks.
 
Yes, best to work round them :) I appreciate your concern: we used to have a collie along one hacking route, who used to stealth stalk us, then leap on top of a wall barking suddenly. Made me jump never mind my horse!
 
bumper said:
Yes, best to work round them :) I appreciate your concern: we used to have a collie along one hacking route, who used to stealth stalk us, then leap on top of a wall barking suddenly. Made me jump never mind my horse!
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God that does sound scary. We used to have a bridleway with a stallion one side and a cottage with a stalky collie on the other and to spice it up a little there was barbed wire along one side. That was always an interesting ride!
 
Ah, we got used to him in the end. Same as everything, if you do it with them often enough, it gets boring/safe :) One thing I did notice was that I was always tense, waiting for the collie move, which, in hindsight, didn't help. In the end I was so used to it happening that I didn't mind, and therefore my horse didn't either. I do believe it does go "down the rein".
 
But could always be worth doing a very polite PR chat, knock on the door post ride, to explain to owners the dilemma. They may well be friendly to keeping dogs inside if they know you're going past. Be charming! It's worth a try.
 
There's a route near us that has two Rottweilers that constantly throw themselves at the gates and bark aggressively at any riders who come past. The first time My daughter rode past them they went berserk and the horses were scared and daughter and the lady she was with we're having trouble getting past, the man who owned the house came out and when asked if he could just hold on to them for a second while they got past he said no there's nothing he can do now as they had lost it (his words). Anyway they got past in the end but he was watching and even seemed to enjoy what was happening, but it's his land so nothing that can be done, let's just hope they never manage to get out one day. Daughter no longer hacks that way just not worth the bother.
 
Nothing you can do, but the more you go by these dogs the more your horse will learn to ignore them. Take an extra hold on you reins, hold your stick on the side away from the dogs and ride on confidently. Even stop beside them and let them bark away if you can. The dogs might pack it in when they see you stop- its the movement of the horses and the fact they think they've scared you away excites them......
 
I know how you feel!
I used to ride past two VERY loud dogs. Thankfully it wasn't on a main road and thankfully Ned was ok. It was always my worry that they would jump the gate, but everyone assured me that wouldn't happen.
It did!
Again, thankfully Ned was ok and it seems they were all bark and no bite, as they did nothing more than mock charges about 6ft away! It was scary more for the dogs sake as it was on a road. A walker eventually came past and said they'd sort out the dogs and get them back in the gate.
 
They will get used to it. I used to hack past a house with a high hedge and a trampoline in the front garden. The first time two heads suddenly appeared the disappeared, then appeared then disappeared, my horse and I nearly turned ourselves inside out LOL. After a while, he didn't even cock an ear at them when we rode past.
 
I'd go and see them, and perhaps take a little Xmas present around. Could you offer to help with your horses to "horse proof" the dogs to make them better?
 
Whilst I agree it is not the dog owners problem, do you think they are aware of the issue?

I think it would be worth a knock on the door with a Christmas bottle and a polite chat explaining the problem approached correctly they may be willing to help make the situation a bit safer
 
What would I do? I'd train my horses not to react to dogs, that's what. All part of riding out and one of the things it is the rider's job to do. You can't expect the rest of the world to hold it's breath while you ride past.
 
I used to have this issue. I used to ride the bend on the wrong side, crossing before the house. That way the dogs were at enough of a distance for the horses to realise they couldn't get at them.
 
I have three houses I hack past that have barking dogs, two aren't too bad (one is on a very busy road and I always hold back until there is no traffic as he appears without warning, often the owner is there who calls him back) but the third is horrendous, two large and very aggressive dogs that throw themselves against their fence, to be honest they terrify me. Luckily they are on a very quiet and straight road so I go on the opposite side and hope they don't come over the fence. I've been hacking past them for a while now and they never seem any different, I thought they might get use to us passing but no luck so far.
 
Our most used hacking route goes past a builders yard guarded by two or three large and very unfriendly GSD they jump up on the bank and run along the boundary at horse eye hieght barking and snarling .
The horses ignore them if they look they get put into shoulder in until they are past.
You have to train horses to handle these things .
 
I agree with the others, it's up to us to make sure that our horses are well trained for situations like this. Dogs will nearly always defend their territory and bark at something like a horse going past, it is the horses that need to be non reactive.
 
twiggy2 said:
Whilst I agree it is not the dog owners problem, do you think they are aware of the issue?

I think it would be worth a knock on the door with a Christmas bottle and a polite chat explaining the problem approached correctly they may be willing to help make the situation a bit safer
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Sorry - it may be just me, but if someone turned up at my house and said to me "I have a problem hacking past your house because your dogs bark", I'm afraid my answer would be ".... And that is my problem because ...." I have said on here before that it is up to riders to ensure their horses cope with what ever is thrown at them when hacking.
 
I always ride along talking to the dogs before I get there so they are aware of my presence.They usually start the barking when they hear me so there are no surprises and as they get to know my voice they just mutter "Its that nutter with the mule" and slink back to their kennel LoL
 
Thanks again for all the suggestions. I think perhaps I wasn't clear in my OP that I was actually asking for suggestions on how to make the situation less dangerous. Yes one of those ideas was to speak with the dog owners but I'm also all ears for any suggestions on how to get our horses to find the situation less spook-inducing. I definitely don't expect everyone to work around my horse and as he's very green actually appreciate him encountering things out of the ordinary.

We hack this route regularly and don't intend to stop riding it just because of the dogs so hopefully our horses will get used to it after a while, but I was also worried about other riders as it does seem like an accident waiting to happen. I'm wondering if we could have a domed mirror put up so at least drivers coming around the bend can see what's on the other side.
 
I am more concerned by dogs that don't bark than ones that do. Barking is more likely to be excitement/stress than aggression, in my experience. Watch dogs bark to draw attention, whereas actual guard dogs will just do something about the intruder. And a genuinely aggressive dog would just attack, not bellow a warning first!

Mirror sounds like a good idea though. Maybe try speaking to the dogs before they can bark?
 
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