Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

I've read posts before about what to do about dogs but I think this one is a bit different so am curious as to the advice we'll get.  Thanks in advance!

We ride along a couple country roads with established 'country' subdivisions.  Lots of things for the horses to get used to from fake deer, nativity scenes, etc.  We often ride from the private road we live on...go along a short stretch of back road that cars go on fairly fast (we trot this section) to go to a dead end street that we often ride along and then back again.  In going along this short stretch of busy back road there is one house with a nice white picket fence and 2 very aggressive yappy little dogs...one is a cocker spaniel and don't know about the other...but the owners in that house tell the dogs to "sic" us when they know we're coming and then laugh at us when we have trouble with the horses.  Today they were busy chatting with friends in their driveway as we rode out but when we came back by, which they know we must, they were ready.  The dogs do not come out into the road but are at their fence doing their worse.  

We generally ride with a dog and of course she went over to them and we were able to control the horses fairly decently considering the ruckus.  Then my friend called our dog off and she came running up which caused my horse to bolt because he thought the bad dogs had gotten loose.  Fortunately I was able to bring him up fairly quickly and he remained calm enough.  

I fear this is a very dangerous situation and don't know what to do about it.  My friend doesn't think talking to them will do any good as they find it "sport" to frighten the horses.  There are other routes we could ride but not as nice of a ride overall.

Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas to help these people understand the dangers they're putting others in...or what we can do about it in general (if anything)?  Of course we hope the horses will eventually get over it and realize there's nothing to worry about.  I still have another horse who is greener and I'm quite concerned with how she'll handle the situation...she's afraid of deer as it is and any ideas there would be helpful too.

Thanks,
Val