RE: Re: new dogs to endurance/trail

["Maryanne Stroud Gabbani" <maryanne@ratbusters.net>]

Please also consider what you will be able to do if something happens to your dog and you are on your horse. Can you get off and help without losing both? There are stable dogs with my horses and I much prefer to ride without them. I have wayyyyy too many dogs and would never dream of riding with them. Running into wild dog packs may not be a problem where you are, but it is here and the farm dogs are violently territorial. My horses aren't even slightly afraid of dogs and will even protect "their" stable dogs but it really is a hassle and who can protect them from a 1/2 ton truck if they aren't watching? It does make a difference where you ride, but my vote is to enjoy my dogs and horses separately. I will let them play around the paddocks and they get along fine with the horses....but even then it depends on the dogs.  The Dalmation is very calm around the horses, mine and my friends', but the Great Dane is kind of big and dumb and slow, so I worry a bit. The Rat Terriers are fearless and the horses ignore them even under foot. But a friend of mine has a Rott that is convinced he has to "herd" a horse being longed....worst problem is that he's kind of arthritic and it's tough on him.

 

Maryanne Stroud Gabbani
Cairo, Egypt
maryanne@ratbusters.net 
www.ratbusters.net