Dogs on the trail?

Originally written by Lynn0202 on 2006-02-28 2:55 PM

Classy - I agree with you. The people I ride with train their horses to ride. Our horses are prepared beforehand and, although you can't prepare for everything, if something goes wrong, you suck it up and ride it out. These ideas about people being liable - I can't stand people who are sue happy. Mind your business and know that $hit happens. At a trail ride couple years ago, a group of us were gathered on horseback talking, preparing for the ride ahead. Out of apparently nowhere and without warning, the an unfamiliar horse next to mine wheeled and kicked mine and me. Hurt like hell but what do you do? Sue? No, ride it out and doctor it up later. Riding horses comes with obvious liability. Anyone knowingly sharing the trail with even one other person accepts that something that person does could turn bad for them. Even riding alone has its dangers. Maybe I'm one of the fortunate ones. I've never had what I'd call an unusually bad experience with dogs. I've seen plenty of spills and accidents resulting in hospital stays and multiple surgeries but those were all lack of training related or freak accidents. Medic - If you don't want to ride with dogs, great. If I don't, wonderful. If JD does, super. You imply it's selfish to bring your dogs and endanger others and that everyone should be respectful and make life easier for those who don't want them around. Like people who are riding untrained horses racing down the trails don't endanger those in their path (I suppose in order to control these folks, we need to make speed limits for horses now too). I suppose there's no other side of that coin. I suppose it's not selfish to want everything done your way because it makes life easier for you, and I should respect what you want and you can brush off what others may want. Hell, let me do everything everybody else wants me to do so I can make sure not to piss anyone off or cause the slightest inconvenience to those who can afford good lawyers. Just because something is law, doesn't mean that its necessarily right. According to SC law, men can beat their wives on the courthouse steps on Sunday. Also, as far as apples and oranges go, a horse who is unconditioned will most likely react very similarily to dogs as to any wildlife that surprises it. They may spook at the unseen and just about anything they think is gonna get them. Who are you to say that a scary hiker is any different than a running dog? If the horse doesn't know what it is and is of the spooky sort, they'll jump at any given thing. That's why you have to prepare them. As I said in a earlier post on this thread, we can't expect everybody to look out for us. We should take responsibility for ourselves. Final words - If you want to do it your way, buy the land and do it. If you want to use public or someone else's private land, I reckon we gotta play by the rules. Of course, this is just my most humble opinion. Renee

Okay, so what about the dogs loose on public trails that require dogs to be on leash? What about the dogs someone else has along, that attack your dog or horse? You can't tell me you and your horse have trained to 'suck-it up" and "ride it out" if something like that, or many other situations occured. You can't train to "expect" everything because "everything" is an unkown. My horse will walk across a tarp, carry it on his back, take me up the steepest mountain of bare rock with no trail, break a trail through brush and trees, but can't be expected to stand his ground if a bunch of dogs get in a loud snarling fight and are rolling his way... nobody, horses included, wants to get mixed up in that. My ride included a treacherous trail that the dogs ran by me again and again on, and nearly knocked my horse's feet out from under him trying to avoid stepping on them... I was very worried for me and my horse... sueing never occured to me at that point. Living did. Kind of hard to sue somebody from the bottom of the cliff in the river, 100 feet below... have you ever seen anyone fall 100 feet? But hey, I sucked it up and rode on, but eventually it came to an abrupt halt, when one of their dogs stopped dead, right in front of me when we were scrambling up a hilly, rocky trail. I was last in line and my horse was anxious to catch up. He was leaping up some step like rock ledges, and that flippin' dog stopped (she was tired) and my horse ran right over her. God what a terrible noise that was. My girlfriend's husband was really angry at me and was yelling and stuff, but it was unavoidable. You can't prepare for that; you can't train your horse to stop in mid-air while leaping up a challenging hill, to avoid some stupid dog... yes, he's green, but some accidents are just unnavoidable. And I was "minding my business" trying to enjoy a ride I had traveled a long way for and I was ready to ride, but they threw in the towel to care for the dog, who, ended up with no injuries! It seems my horse managed to step everywhere but on her. Amazing display of agility I think ! I do believe that if the public lands you ride on require a dog to be on leash, you should have your dog on leash. If there's no leash law in that area, make the choice to ride there or go somewhere else. If there's a leash law - that is exactly what you should expect to encounter... a dog on a leash. *