Least favourite things people say

Jessey

Well-Known Member
Dec 20, 2004
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Suffolk, UK
One of my pet peeves happened today, dog owner walks along the single track road and made no effort to shorten his dogs lead, I stopped with Jess as far over as I could get her and as he goes by with the dog probably 18" from Jess' legs says "don't worry my dog is fine with horses", he scuttled off quickly when I replied "my horse isn't good with dogs though". It's not Jess' fault, she's been attacked multiple times, so she sometimes goes on the offensive before they get a chance but people never think about that possibility.
 
One of my pet peeves happened today, dog owner walks along the single track road and made no effort to shorten his dogs lead, I stopped with Jess as far over as I could get her and as he goes by with the dog probably 18" from Jess' legs says "don't worry my dog is fine with horses", he scuttled off quickly when I replied "my horse isn't good with dogs though". It's not Jess' fault, she's been attacked multiple times, so she sometimes goes on the offensive before they get a chance but people never think about that possibility.
I get that completely! Mine is when the owner says " he's never done that before" while prising their dogs teeth off my horses leg. Most dog owners round here are really good though. My bug too, is when they're trying to be good, bless them for that, but grabbing the dog and hunkering down behind a bush. Scariest thing either of mine have EVER seen lol.
 
I walk my dog every day and she always goes on the lead when I see a horse coming on the bridleway - I also put her in the down position . She is perfectly used to horses having been brought up with Scully.

What REALLY peeves me are the owners of small dogs (usually Jack Russels) who let them run loose, bark and snap at my dog (on her lead) and then say " oh, he/she doesn't like german shepherds"

Scully is really tolerant of dogs - she was brought up with 3 of them - once a small dog broke into her field and was running around snapping at her legs, she couldn't care less. The owner on the other side of the hedge was screaming "Come here, Poppy" repeatedly - I told her it was OK - Scully would kick Poppy over the hedge when she had run out of patience!

Nobody seems to respect the keep dogs under control in public parks and nobody seems to enforce it and as for clearing up dog poo - great but the park is now littered with little black plastic bags full of poo - some people even hang the bags in the hedges!
 
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I had one the other day. Said oh I didn't see the horses when we got near her. No well if you got off the bloody phone you would have. We'd ridden 200 metres up a track and she didn't see to 14+hh horses heading towards her. No respect of the countryside.
She then had the audacity to tell another dog owner to control there dog when he was by sending his dog off to chase a ball he threw in the opposite direction to the horses. Whilst hers were still running round the horses legs. I said nothing apart from thank you as I rode past.
 
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They leave poo bags hanging on gate handles round here. I think it's a walker trying to make a statement for you to take them home.
 
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Mine is folk walking right through middle of fields of sheep or crops (usually silage) and not appreciating farmers hard work.
I get that we have right to roam in Scotland but that’s not striding right through the middle of any field you feel like, with dogs free roaming shitting everywhere.


The dog thing, I always tell folk that my horse is ok if their dog is ok when I see them, but I then also thank them for restraining. I also routinely get in off the track out of the way and let them pass, rather than them getting out of my way.
I did have two dogs aggressively appear during a hack early one morning during the hot summer. Flipo stood like a gem while these two sheepdogs went mental at him. He owner was no where to be seen for at least a minute and then couldn’t apologise enough. I was polite but firm. I said I appreciate it’s early, but please be aware of how close you are to a livery yard. She was incredibly impressed with my well behaved horse. Just glad the dogs didn’t bite, flipo would have flattened them!
 
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I should add I see tons of dog walkers and 99.9% are brilliant, @Huggy the ones who hide in bushes I normally thank and try to nicely explain if they could talk or stay visible it helps :)
 
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I met 2 great Dane's out on Brodie recently. I wear hi viz so owner clocked me alot sooner than they would of otherwise. One went straight on the lead but the other saw Brodie and started running towards us. I'd already stopped as Brodie can occasionally be a little tense around dogs and these ones were massive. Luckily the dog stopped quite short of us and then the owner managed to catch him. It was a bit scary and they did come out with the line of don't worry he would of been fine he just wants to play. But I was grateful they made the effort to put them on the leads.
 
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I should add I see tons of dog walkers and 99.9% are brilliant, @Huggy the ones who hide in bushes I normally thank and try to nicely explain if they could talk or stay visible it helps :)
We used to get a lot of army manoeuvres in the forest. One day my friend and I were riding in one of the inclosures, and became aware at the same time our horses did, that there were camouflaged bodies in the undergrowth. Dead stop, with lots of huffing and puffing(horses, not us). My friend called out "Could you stand up and just speak to the horses please, so they know what you are?" There followed an 'I Spartacus' moment. One by one 10-20 soldiers stood up saying "Hello horses" or a variation of that - we thanked them with great dignity, and smothered the giggles til we were out of earshot.
 
I met 2 great Dane's out on Brodie recently. I wear hi viz so owner clocked me alot sooner than they would of otherwise. One went straight on the lead but the other saw Brodie and started running towards us. I'd already stopped as Brodie can occasionally be a little tense around dogs and these ones were massive. Luckily the dog stopped quite short of us and then the owner managed to catch him. It was a bit scary and they did come out with the line of don't worry he would of been fine he just wants to play. But I was grateful they made the effort to put them on the leads.
It was a friendly playful dog that most recently set Jess back, a lovely friendly lab who bounded over and jumped up, paws on Jess shoulder to say hello to me, poor Jess just about had heart failure, she wasn't to know he was being friendly.

I had a Mexican stand off with a chihuahua puppy this summer, it was almost comical.
 
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My other least favourite thing people say is nothing, when the burgers sneak up behind you or pop out from in the trees without saying a peep o_O
 
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Nothing to do with the thread, but just wanted to mention that where I walk the dog I occasionally meet a guy walking 5 Jack Russells, a Bernese Mountain Dog, 2 pygmy goats and a miniature horse, none on the lead apart from the horse. The first time his Jack Russells all came charging towards us yapping and snarling he shouted out 'Don't worry, they're ok', so I thought fair enough, you're obviously not bothered whether my dog is ok and let my dog off the lead (not out of spite I hasten to add, but because I didn't want my dog to get defensive). I was a bit worried what my dog would be like with the goats but the guy assured me that the goats could look after themselves, and anyway all he did was sniff them and decide they weren't interesting. He completely blanked the horse. (My dog is roughly the same size as the horse as it happens). Actually the guy is really nice, very Irish and very laid back. I honestly think he'd say it was ok if my dog ate his goats!
 
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Oh and then there's the ninja bikes that come up behind you on forest tracks.:eek:
 
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