We have a good number of events here in Area IX that do not allow dogs, period, not even in your truck or trailer. I think dogs and horses go hand in hand, but if people like EDH continue to break the rules and put everyone at risk, then perhaps the best solution is to ban them from competitions altogether.
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People who do not think the leash rules apply to them also do not think the rules about no dogs applies to them.
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Well, I know of at least one event where you will be asked to leave the property if you have a dog with you.
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That is my dream, no dogs at any horse show and none at my barn! Never happen, but I can hope.
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What a sad miserable world you live in. I’m sorry for you.
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That’s rather harsh. I love dogs, own two, and while I enjoy the ones that frequent my barn, I’m not a fan of the random ones that show up with visitors and I really don’t enjoy dogs at shows (including my own!).
Im not sure it’s my dream, but I really wouldn’t miss them if they weren’t around for shows, etc.
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:lol::lol::lol: What a zany post. I love dogs! I’m a volunteer at the local rescue and I foster dogs when needed. But I detest the people that being their dogs to events (horse or otherwise) and let them run unsupervised. Because just like kids, dogs will be dogs and they get into mischief when allowed to wander.
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And the unruly owners - that let them off leash, so the dogs can harrass the general public, poop wherever (and not be picked up because the owner didn’t see it), get into your food, etc.
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Well, say that when you’re riding your 3 y/o and the neighbor’s lab erupts from under the fence, bolts underneath the horse, spooks the 3 y/o, causes you to lawndart and 3 y/o tries to jump the fence in a panic and gouges itself, severs its hind leg down to the bone and after extensive stay at Rood & Riddle with the best of the best, isn’t even servicably sound.
Happened to a friend of mine… that was a 20k yearling…
You can imagine how she hated dogs after that.
How about the time I was jump judging a combination at a pretty well known event and a dog just showed up right before my fences, just as a competitor was approaching… I radio’d that there was a loose dog and a competitor was about to approach the fence, didn’t know what to do but was going to hold the rider unless told otherwise – rider was down to the wire and horse/rider didn’t even see the dog yet, last second I get verbal conformation for “ok to hold”, I tried to flag her down, she was already zoned into her fence – horse jumped the first fence and just about 180 degreed because all of the sudden the dog was there, threw the rider clear off and now instead of radioing about a loose dog I’m radioing about needing a EMT at fence 15 and that there is a loose horse galloping towards the parking lot. You can imagine I felt terrible, but how do you think the rider felt?
How about our very own COTHer, @yellowbritches who had a dog at a fence cause her and her horse to sustain a rotational fall?
Dogs just don’t belong near horses in a show or competitive environment.
I 100% agree with Gestalt. Until you’ve managed or owned a barn, you won’t get it… but once you do, you start to see those dogs as liabilities and dangers to you, your livelihood, your clients, your horses…
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By my back of the envelope calculations*, somewhere around 85% of dogs at shows/events are under control and well-behaved. The rest are a disaster waiting to happen. The problem is that when things go wrong, they go very wrong, very fast as the posts above illustrate.
I was at an event once where a dog on a retractable leash ran out on the galloping lane and the leash wound around the oncoming horse’s legs. The result was a fractured leg.
Much as I love my dogs, I’d be behind “no dogs”.
- Suitable for publication only in the Journal of Irreproducible Results.
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Can we also ban leashes longer than 6 feet? Having been taken out by a flexi leash more than once, and almost having had my horse taken out by one, I think they are a hazard.
Always fun to have a dog piss on your hay.
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Oh yeah, and your cooler. :disgust:
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And during colder weather, any coats you may have tossed on top of your hay, or right outside your stall. Instant pee magnet, and one of your gloves has just run away.
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I’m sure we all think that rules need to be enforced equally. Enforcing the dog rule in Area V would include the trainer who does bring as many as 40 entries to recognized events, along with multiple unleashed dogs. That’s not EDH. Lots of people let their dog off the leash during course walks. The difference is that the dogs are not causing complaints by interfering with other people and other dogs. That interference is what brings the complaints, not the dogs themselves.
But aren’t the allegations of things that have happened at EDH’s home barn far more concerning than the dogs at horse trials? I mean I agree that the dogs are the easiest thing to action, and I’d support that, but does that make things better for the horses at home?
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I love love love dogs! I adopt older dogs to give them a chance to have a great life. I have never, nor would I ever consider bringing my dog to an event, no matter how well behaved it is. For the vast majority, there is no REAL reason to bring a dog to an event other than you want to. Given the stories in this thread, it is possible (if it has not already happened) that an incident will happen with a dog and a competitor that would end up with the death of the competitor. This is the ‘What’s the worst thing that could happen?’ question answered. So, I would fully support banning dogs at all recognized events, except of course Service Dogs. Horse sports are dangerous enough. When we have the ability to totally remove a potential source of danger, we should do it.
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I think that many bring their dogs because they don’t have anyone to take care of them while they’re at the show and paying a dog sitter is an expense they’re not willing to make.
If they do ban all but service dogs, how long before every trainer’s dog is suddenly sporting a cape and harness, masquerading as a “service” dog.
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Exactly, and the point of this thread. EDH sounds like a horrible carbon-based life form (not going to call her a human being) who I would never allow near any animal of mine.
I’m always a little skeptical of threads like this at first, but so many people have come forward with their own accounts of how things are done in EDH world.
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Yes and no. Al Capone was taken down by income tax evasion. If this is the start of the public consequences for EDH, I’m all for it. I’m also all for banning dogs from competitions, leashed or unleashed. Don’t get me wrong–I have the world’s best, most wonderfully behaved dog and I love taking her many places that I go, but I also suffered a horrific injury at a jumper show that got way too close to my left arm winding up in a trash bucket in the OR–5 surgeries, 1 more to go, over 2 years non-weight-bearing, and thousands of dollars spent–thanks to loose dogs charging my horse. Stuff happens and I get it. But as a spectator, jump judge, and jumper ring judge, my faith in the average competitor or spectator to pay enough attention to their animal so that it doesn’t cause a problem for anyone else, yeah, that’s pretty much nonexistent.
Does it help the horses at home? Well, maybe indirectly. If she can’t show, then she will lose some of her client base. If she loses them, then her string will get smaller. She’ll lose working students. Eventually, her business will fail. Sometimes you have to look at the long game. Is it the fun way? No. But I’ll take what progess I can get.
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Side note… since there’s an active Hurricane headed to Texas and Dallas seems to be roughly in the storm path… do we think that there any horses out in those flood fields???
E
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I was wondering about that.
