06/02/2026
Not the sort of post I’d ever want to write… 😵💫
We had a collision with a pack of overly friendly, poorly trained/handled dogs at the entrance to Pines beach yesterday afternoon.
Whisker and Legacy, both very newly under saddle, ventured out with myself and Legacy’s owner. The idea was to ride through the forest from Woodend down to Pines, then back home up the beach - something I’ve done many times before with not a single bad experience. This is a 2-ish hour ride total when ridden at walk, nearly bang on 11km from start to finish and is a really great way to clock some hacking miles on these greenies.
As we came down over the sand dune to the beach I spotted a family parked up just around the corner of the dune, almost completely out of sight. They had three or four large white dogs (samoyeds I think?) playing loose around them, so I called out “horses approaching, please call your dogs!” to give the owners enough time to get them in hand and out of harms way.
Unfortunately, these dogs took this as a sign to come bounding up to us from 40-odd meters away and showed zero response to their owners’ attempts to call them back (too little too late). In a split second, both horses went reeling backwards; I watched as Fiona began to slide off Legacy, and then found myself being launched into a ditch on the other side of the dune as Whisker made a frantic leap to get away from the dogs at our feet.
Fiona and I were luckily unhurt from our falls, but we now had two horses running loose away from the scene with a daunting 5km between us and home. The dogs were still swarming around the two of us at this point, completely oblivious to their shouting owners and my attempts to shoo them off.
Legacy ended up taking himself deep into the scrub behind the beach, and it took both Fiona and I carefully navigating hidden barbed wire fences and old fallen trees to find him and lead him back out. The poor boy was very shaken and had landed himself a nice long puncture wound beneath the skin on his belly.
Whisker meanwhile had carried on down the trails at full speed. While Fiona slowly and gently led Leggy back towards home, I ran ahead in the hopes that I’d find Whisker parked up along the trails waiting for us to catch up.
Nearly 3km later, I’d managed to follow the right set of footprints to where Whisker was waiting down a small side trail off the beaten track - he’d stood on his reins and halted himself (the benefit of installing a strong “halt” button!). He was puffing, sweating and exhausted but otherwise unhurt apart from a couple of very minor grazes on his hind legs. We waited for Fiona and Leggy to catch up before walking home the rest of the way together.
I am so beyond thankful that none of us were seriously injured. This could have gone a whole lot worse in any number of ways… Fiona could have been hurt from her fall, Whisker could have landed on top of me when we went careening into the ditch, Legacy could have ended up with much more than his skin punctured, we could have lost Whisker in the forest… and what if the dogs had been trampled or kicked by the fleeing horses?
I know I’m preaching to the choir here but please - for the love of all things good and for the sake of everybody’s safety - PLEASE keep your dogs under close control when in public spaces. I don’t believe this family knew that they were sitting next to a horse trail, but they would surely have known that horses frequent the beach. If you aren’t sure what sort of reaction your dog might have to horses (or cars, or people), then err on the side of caution and keep them on a leash. People, horses and dogs have lost their lives in similar accidents.
Let’s keep our beautiful shared spaces safe and enjoyable for all.
