Yes. What an incredible animal to just… take that. Amazing, and sad. What a nice horse.
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It’s like the horse just could not believe something was TRYING to hurt it.
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She passed away at age 15, but yes, she was a small dog. What completely floored me was that the owners of the attacking dogs–especially one guy–was a complete and total shit to me, saying it was my fault for not picking the dog up, and he couldn’t help that his dogs didn’t understand she wasn’t a rabbit.
It was like, because my dog was small and not a big-ass scary looking dog, she was “less of a dog” and didn’t count.
She was a real fighter and pulled through it all. Seeing her nearly ripped in half was one of the most traumatizing things that ever happened to me, and the guy just didn’t care.
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This is awful. I don’t think there is a good way to handle that kind of situation. The horse is definitely a saint.
I’ve been attacking while walking my rescue dog (aka probably mostly pit bull of some type) by a group of Irish setters and labradors. There were 5 of them, off leash in an area where that’s illegal, and they came at us all at once, growling and snarling. The women were useless getting them to recall. They also stood back like they were afraid to intervene. My dog was attached to me with a hands free running belt. He couldn’t get away. Had they started physically attacking, I would have been caught up in it too. I had to swing my large, heavy metal water bottle at them and get aggressive in my mannerisms before the owners finally got them under control. It was absolutely terrifying for us. I get so nervous any time we are running and see dogs now. I did report them to the park authorities on my way out.
I personally hate off leash dogs. I think there are very few situations where it’s okay. Most people don’t have the control they think they do.
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I can’t believe how . . . docile that horse was. Nor can I believe how the rider just sat thru the whole episode.
I’m protective towards my Equine friends. I would have immediately kicked off the stirrups and managed some sort of dismount. Then I would have waded in with the full intent of killing that dog. My everyday-carry folding knife opens easily with one hand, and I keep it very sharp. Sure, I might/probably would have been bitten, but Dog would have been history. Owner would have had cause to worry, too :-P.
As far as the horse; that part I do not understand. I’m totally sure George would have stomped that dog into the dirt in short order. Had he been the other horse, I would have had a hard time preventing him from joining in the fray; probably it would have been more of a “Get him George. Stomp his A**!” anyway.
My XL Thoroughbred horse Oily (RIP, now) would have run away, taking me with him, and he was fast-fast just running for fun. I can’t imagine that stumpy Pitty even coming close to keeping up. My new horse Rosy appears to be the spin_and_kick mentality based on his reactions when surprised by a loud-mouth on the other side of a fence. I feel that he would probably fight if attacked.
That police horse appeared to be annoyed by the dog biting at him, but that’s about it. I don’t know what sort of training they get, but that strikes me as unusual. The whole scene strikes me as unusual; WTF?
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I didn’t watch it, I can’t watch. Just chock this up on the list of reasons why I hate most humans and would love to be a hermit. People who cause animals to suffer by ignorance or any other means are at the top of my list of scum.
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Mounted police horses are picked because of their temperament.
Something that makes this horse a wonderful critter in a crowd of crazy people and able to deal with the weird things a police horse might encounter in its daily work, also made him very passive in this situation.
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I really can’t fault the officer or the horse. UK police horses are incredibly well-selected (there are many videos of them literally jumping fire in formation) not to act up in the most difficult of situations. Perhaps the officer was following protocol. Perhaps he was afraid of getting mauled by the dog, which I don’t blame him for. Perhaps he couldn’t figure out how to safely dismount. Perhaps he didn’t have training to deal with an attacking dog, just attacking humans.
The blame is squarely on the dog’s owner who let an aggressive dog with no recall attack a mounted officer.
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The owner is a complete asshat–read his comments about how it’s the horses’ fault, and that his dog attacked because it felt threatened.
And the neighbors’ comments about the dog, as well.
The dog needs to be euthanized and the owner barred from owning more dogs.
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One reason I no longer have dogs is because of other dog owners. I cannot believe how many people keep and defend their aggressive dogs- and when these dogs attack the owners tend to get away with a slap on the wrist even when they knew the dogs were dangerous.
I had my dogs attacked so many times by off leash dogs- I loved to hike with them and almost every time an off leash dog would attack them. And the owner would say they dont usually do that. the owners never have control over the dog. Even in my own neighborhood twice I had neighbor dogs run out and attack mine. My husband was bitten while out for a walk and the dog was on a leash! The owner let it run up and bite my husband.
I love dogs, hate their owners. And if you have an aggressive dog it should not go out in public or be off leash ever.
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If you have a dog that is not under control, even the not aggressive dog, it should not go out into public off a leash.
I get so tired of people who let their dogs crowd other dogs while proclaiming that it is ok because their dog is friendly. Um. It is not OK, you are stressing that other dog. Get control of your dog.
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Well, and now you have total ass hats like “The Dog Daddy” who claim to be able to rehabilitate these extremely aggressive/reactive dogs in an hour or two.
The moron floods and exhausts the dog, muzzled and nearly being choked out, and claims they’re fixed. 100% guarantee the dog is 1) back to the same crap with the owner and 2) the same aggressive dog the next day after a night’s rest.
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I finally got the nerve to watch the video. There is absolutely no question in my mind the dog was trying to kill the horse. The dog didn’t appear to be fazed by any of that poor horse’s defensive moves. Euthanize that dog NOW and charge the jerk that owns it w everything possible. I wish he could get the death penalty, too, actually.
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Same with horses - yes, it’s “the rider’s fault” but some horses are out of my skillset. Some horses are so complicated that only the pros have the skillset to handle them. It being “my fault” does not make a problem any less dangerous or less likely to happen, if I don’t have the skills to resolve it or manage it.
And some horses are irrevocably mentally broken, and should be destroyed.
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Enjoy the absolute stupidity held within:
And a good example of what this idiot is capable of:
And, at least some people are calling it like they see it:
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What I found so scary about the video was how effective a single dog was on pulling a big horse down. The horse’s passivity, whether due to training or temperament, makes it even worse. I’ve been complacent, for years I had a horse that was a confirmed dog killer so I didn’t worry too much. But now I have two that are very, very dog friendly. They would probably take a lot of bites before deciding to defend themselves. And the third is small and elderly.
Had that been two large dogs or three, they might well have pulled the horse down…
The owner of the dog is a piece of work. It is interesting, or scary, to note that this is a ‘pandemic pup’ based on the timing.
Still, I’ll keep in mind: keep the horse’s nose up out of danger, get out of there however one can, if on foot, most effective things seem to be a heavy tool, the wheelbarrow method, jacket, choking the dog if possible. I’m driven to think about this because we have an influx of people who love to use our dirt road next to our fields to walk their dogs, most are on leashes, but not all. And I hate to say it, the unleashed ones are either small or bully types. I’m not worried about the small ones. All of the herding/retriever types are leashed so far. Go figure. Dog proof fencing for the horses shed/run in area is definitely something I need.
I don’t think I would dismount though, that seems like it would be the wrong thing to do?
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If your horse is super passive, you are unable to run, and no one will help you - I don’t see what other option you have other than to be the combatant yourself.
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Agree the dog needs to get put down, but from what I’m reading, offleash dogs are allowed and he can’t possibly be charged or fined unless they can prove he knew the dog was aggressive before setting it loose to wreak havoc.
If I caught a dog doing that, I’d do everything in my power to kill it with my bare hands. Choke it out? No, strangle it to death.
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His neighbors are quoted as having had problems with him previously.
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I didn’t read all the articles, I thought it was down in the commenting section based on what posters said.
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