RE: Re: Castle Rock Ride/dogs

["Kathy Mayeda" <kathy_mayeda@atce.com>]

I ride in a suburban area with the majority of people not horse-wise.  And
they have pedigreed puppies that spend their lives in a backyard or in a
crate unless they are out on a Sunday romp in the park with their owners.
They are the ones who needs leash laws,too.  Most of the owners are cool and
have them on a leash.  But a lot of these dogs view horses as another big
dog and would lunge and invite my horse to play!  Or some would cower and
hide.  Either way, I enjoy letting my horse be their "first horse encounter"
and enjoy meeting people in such an idyllic background.

I just wish some of the mountain bikers in this park could be leashed!!!
Most of them are cool,  but there are a few that think nothing of coming up
behind a horse downhill at speed without warning!


-----Original Message-----
From:	SoulsSerenade@aol.com [mailto:SoulsSerenade@aol.com]
Sent:	Friday, May 26, 2000 11:21 AM
To:	karen@chaton.gardnerville.nv.us
Cc:	ridecamp@endurance.net
Subject:	RC:    Re: Castle Rock Ride/dogs

I ride a lot in the community forest by my house.  Everybody uses the trails
to ride their bikes, walk their dogs....whatever.  It's pretty common for us
to encounter a dog on the trail.  And usually, they are loose
because....c'mon...if you were a dog, what would be the fun of having to
hang out at your owner's heels the whole time?  If the dogs get too
friendly, and think they might want to sniff around at our horse's ankles,
we don't get too worried about it.  Hey, if the horse does decide to kick
out (which is pretty unlikely...they're used to dogs), the dog learns his
lesson.
If a dog comes charging down the trail towards us, yipping and howling, with
the thought in his head that he can fight my horse to the death, I just tell
my little mare to charge back.  As we trot towards the dog, his look of
aggression usually turns to "ohhhh my gawd.....I'd better get out a
heeeeeere"....
I don't have a dog (I know, I know...but my mom says the horse is enough) so
I obviously never take one with me riding.  Sometimes, when I ride at the
beach with my friend, he brings his big macho dog, Sparky.  When Mr. Sparky
sees another dog, they perform the ritual "sniff sniff here, sniff sniff
there" and then decide if they'll be friends or not.  If it looks like there
isn't going to be a friendship forming within the next few moments, my
friend does a little flying dismount off of his saddle and rounds up the
dog.  It usually works.  Most dogs are smart enough to know they aren't much
of a match for the big guy.
Renee


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