Barlow
Well-Known Member
I’d really appreciate some advice:
I am at livery and there are several yards in close proximity. The majority of hacking is over bridleways, forestry commission and moorland. We are well used to sharing the tracks, bridlepaths and routes with people, children, dogs etc and normally never feel under threat / bothered by other users of the land.
However, we do occasionally get bothered by two dogs that run loose at speed across the tracks, and we have also seen the same dogs in private gardens in full flight whilst chasing deer. The owner is never to be found. This has been going for a period of nine months or so and it can be terrifying to see a large dog galloping straight towards you at speed. Luckily I have a very level headed horse but he does find it unsettling especially when they burst out onto the tracks from nowhere.
On a hack this morning, I was out with another livery and the dogs came running down the track from behind us and overtook our horses from behind. The horses were upset but settled. We then saw the owner of the dogs getting out of their car where she had been sitting and opening the boot, into which both dogs promptly jumped. I rode up to her car and spoke to her through her window, she admitted that she always just lets her dogs out to exercise themselves and that “they are fine with horses”. I was pretty annoyed with her complete lack of ownership of the dogs, the fact that she lets her dogs take themselves for a run across land which is used by other members of the public whilst she waits for them in her car and I warned her that she was risking her dogs causing an accident with horses or young children (they are large dogs). She wound her window up and drove off. I didn’t get her reg number.
I then saw someone from another yard coming up the lane. I let her know that I had had words with the woman with the dogs, and she told me that last week she had been opening a gate from the road for their horse to go through, the dogs were flying down the track towards the gate and the road. The dogs went straight under the horse between its front and rear legs, luckily the rider managed to stay on but the horse was very upset.
So rightly or wrongly I have had words with the owner of the dogs, but I don’t think it will make much difference to her attitude or behaviour. I don’t know what else to do - it’s the only reasonable piece of hacking unless I do extensive roadwork, and I’m worried that sooner or later one of us riders will have a serious accident caused by dogs that are running loose across public land. Is this a matter for the police? Is it something I could talk to a dog warden about? I’d really appreciate some help about how I can encourage this individual to actually walk her dogs, or keep them under control. WWYD?
I am at livery and there are several yards in close proximity. The majority of hacking is over bridleways, forestry commission and moorland. We are well used to sharing the tracks, bridlepaths and routes with people, children, dogs etc and normally never feel under threat / bothered by other users of the land.
However, we do occasionally get bothered by two dogs that run loose at speed across the tracks, and we have also seen the same dogs in private gardens in full flight whilst chasing deer. The owner is never to be found. This has been going for a period of nine months or so and it can be terrifying to see a large dog galloping straight towards you at speed. Luckily I have a very level headed horse but he does find it unsettling especially when they burst out onto the tracks from nowhere.
On a hack this morning, I was out with another livery and the dogs came running down the track from behind us and overtook our horses from behind. The horses were upset but settled. We then saw the owner of the dogs getting out of their car where she had been sitting and opening the boot, into which both dogs promptly jumped. I rode up to her car and spoke to her through her window, she admitted that she always just lets her dogs out to exercise themselves and that “they are fine with horses”. I was pretty annoyed with her complete lack of ownership of the dogs, the fact that she lets her dogs take themselves for a run across land which is used by other members of the public whilst she waits for them in her car and I warned her that she was risking her dogs causing an accident with horses or young children (they are large dogs). She wound her window up and drove off. I didn’t get her reg number.
I then saw someone from another yard coming up the lane. I let her know that I had had words with the woman with the dogs, and she told me that last week she had been opening a gate from the road for their horse to go through, the dogs were flying down the track towards the gate and the road. The dogs went straight under the horse between its front and rear legs, luckily the rider managed to stay on but the horse was very upset.
So rightly or wrongly I have had words with the owner of the dogs, but I don’t think it will make much difference to her attitude or behaviour. I don’t know what else to do - it’s the only reasonable piece of hacking unless I do extensive roadwork, and I’m worried that sooner or later one of us riders will have a serious accident caused by dogs that are running loose across public land. Is this a matter for the police? Is it something I could talk to a dog warden about? I’d really appreciate some help about how I can encourage this individual to actually walk her dogs, or keep them under control. WWYD?
for you and the other users that having been told the dog owner now realises that her dogs are stupid and she finds somewhere else to let them have a good run.
