Dogs and wild ponies!

I was wondering if anyone had ever had problems with their dogs and wild ponies!
I was out with my lurcher Jenny, my collie Bessie and my lab collie x Otis. I was walking with my friend Jackie and we were minding our own business when 3 young and wild ponies started to attack us. They were going for Otis and Bessie...Jenny was on an extending lead so I yanked her in as fast as I could and she cowered between Jackie and me. Otis was fast and wiley enough to get away from them but Bessie, who's nearly blind and deaf panicked and the 3 of them ganged up on her and circled her and reared up trying to trample her and kick her to death. At that point I screamed at them to get away and Bess managed to escape. I then dragged her out of the way whilst Jackie tried to shoo them off. Poor Bess was terrified and so were we!!
The scary thing was that they tried to head us off on the path! We weren't anywhere near them beforehand and they didn't have foals to protect.
When I got hold of all the dogs they followed us with nostrils flaring! At this point I was hyperventilating!! I'm scared of horses anyway.
Finally we got to a gate which was tied open and managed to close it. Even then they tried to come after us but we legged it off down the hill!!
Very scary stuff!
Does anyone have any tips on what to do if it happens again? There aer wild ponies everywhere here and I walk the dogs through them all the time and it's never happened before.

We don't have that sort of thing here, so I really don't know what to suggest. Poor you though! I can't believe ponies would do that, unless they've been attacked by dogs before and that's perhaps how it started.

I hope you have all recovered, and the dogs haven't suffered any ill effects from this incident.

*hugs*

Oh my god. That must have been so scary! I've never had a problem with them, they tend to keep well away from me!

I know this may put the cat amongst the pigeons but !!
Should you be walking with dogs off-lead around wild ponies ?

Here there are council signs forbidding you walking dogs off-lead around the common because of this problem.
Just shoo them away, making yourself BIG !! arms up in the air, that should do it, its natural for them to attack the wolf !!

Hope your all ok ?

You can't blame the ponies though. Horses would be natural prey to wolves in the wild, being herbivores, and it is therefore entirely natural for the ponies to be scared of your dogs. They are, in their eyes, seeing off a predator.

NEVER run away if attacked by horses, they can run far faster than you can, and can turn and manoeuvre far more nimbly than you can. If they really are attacking your dogs and not just "playing", then you should release your dogs ... you cannot be expected to just accept your dogs or yourselves being trampled or kicked, and in these circumstances you should let the dogs go ... they have a far better chance of escaping unharmed. A herd of wild ponies or horses are more than capable of killing a dog. If they are just mucking about, then walk calmly and quietly to safety and ignore them ... only if necessary should you react, much the best thing is to ignore them.

It could be the ponies were bullying you for titbits, having been fed by ignorant tourists who know no better.

Easier said than done!! I'm actually scared of horses and unfortunately my reactions were just how I felt at the time. We didn't actually run when they were attacking. We ran after we closed the gate on them. They weren't even in sight and they came running over a hill from behind to attack us. We were miles away from them. The dogs they attacked were free. They didn't attack Jenny who I had hold of. We did try to ignore them but they kept coming at us.

Also, the 2 I had off the lead are never more than a few feet in front of me and have very good recall. They're used to ponies and sheep and aren't at all interested in them.
They regularly walk in areas like this and are extremely well behaved. In 10 years of walking among them I have never had this happen. It seems they had a particular grudge against bess my collie. I was thinking that maybe they've had an incident with the farmer's sheepdogs and that's why they took exception to her more than the others.
I don't at all blame the ponies. I just don't like them and they scared the c**p out of us.

No helpful advice I'm afraid, just sympathy! I'm also scared of horses and ponies so I feel your pain! Where was this? (so I know never to walk there! )

It was in North Wales in a place called Aber falls!!! Not sure I'll be going there again either!!!