Other untoward things can happen. I just came home after a rather shaking
experience while driving my long distance mare on trails where dogs that are
"under control" are allowed.
Riders, who WERE friends of mine, had a group of dogs, including one -- a
large and elderly Golden -- that looked right at us (horse, carriage, my
husband, myself an an accompanying outrider) and walked right in front of my
carriage wheel!!!! We shouted, but the dog ignored us!!! The wheel ran
right over the dog!!! YUK!!!
The dog yelped and limped a few strides, and its owner said that he was
O.K., but that the dog IS COMPLETELY DEAF!!! and that she was TRYING to get
it into her truck before she, the other riders, and the remainder of the
dogs (half a dozen or so) resumed their trail ride.
This dog most emphatically was not under control!!!
I think the only thing that saved it from serious injury is the way weight
is distributed by my rather large carriage wheel!
The same thing could have happened with a horse's hoof! Granted, the dog
shouldn't have been where it was, but NO ONE likes injuring an animal (at
least I don't)!!