05/27/2026
🐴 Trail Tip with Luke Brown - Be careful of dogs charging the fence. 🐶⚠️
Today, the horse in training I was riding named Chili had an unpleasant surprise when a dog charged the fence as we rode by. Chili spooked into the street, but fortunately he did not slip on the asphalt and there were no cars coming by. 😳
Let’s discuss what I did to stay more safe in this situation.
I prepared Chili with lots of desensitizing and sensitizing exercises in the arena before taking him out on the suburban trail.
Knowing there could be a dog run up to the fence, I rode around the mailbox instead of going between the mailbox and the fence. If I had ridden between, he likely would have spooked sideways into the mailbox, which may have ended with a secondary overreaction to hitting the mailbox as well as damaging the mailbox.
When Chili spooked onto the asphalt, I did not try to pull on the reins to stop him. He stopped himself and fortunately did not slide and fall. If I had pulled hard on the reins, I might have created a harder stop, leading to a slip and fall on the asphalt.
When you encounter a dog on the trail behind a fence, move your horse’s feet left and right and continue to approach the dog and walk along the fence until your horse feels relaxed to the barking dog, understanding it won’t hurt him. 🐕🐎
I apply the same principles of helping my horse relax to dogs on the trail as any other object my horse is nervous about.
Remember. Be an active leader and help your horse overcome his fear of dogs. While you can’t help the sudden attacking dog behind a fence, the more you help your horse relax to the dog after the sudden appearance, the less he’s going to overreact when future dogs do the same thing.
COMMENT below if you’ve had a bad/scary/dangerous experience riding your horse when a dog rushed towards you from behind the fence. Who has the craziest experience with dogs while trail riding? 👇
I’ve got a good one, but will save it for another day. I want to read your experiences!
