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Re: [RC] Dog attacks while riding - Truman PrevattSome years back I was riding the Hell Bitch around the neighborhood. At that time there weren't many houses and lots of land. A new house was going in and one of the dry way subcontractors working on the house had his pit bull dog with him. We came riding by and out of nowhere this pit bull comes charging at us. I spin the mare and faced off the dog. I had her go after him and he backs off. This had always worked before with dogs. I stop he comes forward. I chase him a while but every time I stop he starts to come back.His owner finally arrives and I tell him to grab his dog - he would not because he says "I'm afraid of horses." About that time the dog charged the mare and started to lunge toward her neck - thank goodness for tall horses (16-1) since all he could manage to get was between her legs. She spun and took off home - I'm on the ground. The dog took off after her. I took off after them. When the owner asked where I was going, I informed him "to get my shot gun and take care of the dog." When I get home the mare was running around a two acre paddock just fast enough to keep the dog chasing but not fast enough to get away. The dogs tongue was dragging the ground by then. I don't know if she were running him till he tired and then planned turn on him. I have heard of horses (and cows ) doing that. I went in grabbed my double barrel and called 911. By the time I got out the owner had arrived and seeing me with my shotgun he overcame his fear of horses and got his dog. The mare was bitten up between her front legs. I do know when she spun she landed a kick in the dogs face which probably explained most of the blood on his face. The Sheriff arrived in a few minutes and held the dog for animal control and the owner was issued a ticket. My vet called back and told me to keep hosing the area to keep it moist and I did. the vet showed up and sewed her up - 20 to 30 stitches if I remember. The owner was ordered to pay the all vet bills associated with the incident by animal control to get his dog back. The dog was put on a list of aggressive dogs and relesed back to his owner after a week by animal control. The owner was back out finishing his dry wall job about a little later and his dog broke loose from a chain and killed a small dog and the pit bull was put down by animal control. Dog confrontations can be dangerous - depending on the dog. Most of the time you can face down a dog with a horse, but it is not 100 percent. I alway take any dog confronting my horse very seriously - it may be a game to them but it is not to me. I will chase it yelling and might even throw a water bottle at it. I do not want another confrontation and I will take take a permeative approach and go after the dog chasing it away even before he shows any aggressive behavior to prevent one. If he shows no sign of backing off, I'll quickly (a human can deal with a dog much better on the ground than a horse's back) dismount and go after him - that usually does it. If your horse gets attack by a dog - my advice is to have no mercy either on the dog or owner. It really gets down to a people problem. Truman Diane Trefethen wrote:
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