A pony was chased off Appley Beach and onto a main road after being rushed and attacked by a greyhound in Ryde yesterday morning (Saturday). Donna Skeldon from Ryde was riding 12-year-old Georgia along Appley Beach on Saturday morning when the dog – free of its lead – suddenly appeared from nowhere, rushing at the pony’s legs and attempting to bite her. Georgia, in a startled and distressed state, was jumping around and rearing, with Donna doing her best to keep control of her during the initial ordeal whilst she tried herself to shoo the dog away. Fearing she may get kicked when Georgia continued to rear up, Donna had to let go and Georgia bolted and – followed by the hound – the pair raced off up nearby Appley Lane. Fortunately at the top of the lane, Gerogia turned left onto Appley Road as she attempted to make her own way back to her stable in Nettlestone. Eventually, Donna and Georgia’s owner Louisa Mills found the pony in the Pondwell area. The dog was restrained by the owner near Appley Lane, but they quickly left the scene and didn’t make themselves known. The pair are hoping to reach out to the dog owner – if they can find them. Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary have confirmed that no injuries were reported during the incident. On the incident, Donna has said:
“It could’ve gone very badly worse, luckily Georgia knew her way back to the stable and we were able to find her quickly.”
Georgia’s owner Louise has said:
“Never underestimate a pony’s brain. “So grateful that Donna rides her enough & taught her the way back home.”
Both Donna and Louisa are appealing for anyone who was in the area at around 09:30 on Saturday to contact Police, quoting the reference number: INC-20240217-0604.
This is what really annoys me about this island at the moment.
The Dog is allowed to be on the beach. The Pony is allowed to be on the beach. I am sure the dog owners didn’t intentionally let the dog chase the pony. These things happen, it is a risk taking any animal or child to the beach.
No one was hurt. Nothing illegal happened, yet the police are involved (unlike of a vehicle was stolen when the only question is “was it insured for theft”)
The embarrassed dog owners don’t need a condescending chat with the Pony owners (as horsey people always do) telling them how dangerous it can be to spook a horse and why they should have the dog under control as they cannot control the Pony.
Let’s all accept it is an accident and move on.
The dog owner should have control of their dog when on the beach, obviously not trained to recall.
Bring back the old school days
DOG License
I have two Greyhounds and never ever would let them off their leads. You do not let greyhounds off for any reason, they run at speeds in excess of 45/50 mph, sone have a very high prey drive. I have had 5 over 20 years, the really are the best breed on the planet but you have to know your dog, they are all so different. Mine live horses, ponies, donkeys, cats other breeds, they never chase any of them but I have been bothered to make sure they are safe around other animals and are on lead all the time, zI take them to a secure field that we hire andbletbthem run off kead where I know it is 100% safe. They love the beach but are under control the whole time we are there. I grew up with horses,
And why is an easily spooked Pony allowed to be there in such a busy public place?
Horses seem capable of navigating packs of dogs and foxes when out hunting, so why wasn’t it trained accordingly.
This doesn’t need to be a victim and aggressor situation.
> And why is an easily spooked Pony allowed to be there in such a busy public place?
Horses seem capable of navigating packs of dogs and foxes when out hunting, so why wasn’t it trained accordingly.
I would dare to say that if a dog was biting at my human legs, I would spook equally easily, and I still would like to have permission to be out in public, pretty please.
I guess I’d be ‘easily spooked’ if I had a large dog attacking my legs. Any animal would
Tell that to the policeman riding in London who’s horse was attacked by an xl bully. Police horses don’t spook easily but the dog was biting the horse. Ignorance is bliss in your case.
Are you joking
Spooked pony on the beach
Dog should be on leash on beach
Accidents happen. Where you on the beach when this happened & do you know the dog isn’t trained? Please stick to facts that you actually know.
Yes I agree with your comments comen sense should apply here…
Dog owners should have their dogs on a lead in public places . End of
If they had seen the pony PUT THE BLOODY DOG ON A LEAD!!!! It’s not rocket science. I own 3 dogs but keep them on leads when near other dogs or people or wildlife. I hope a lesson has been learnt but I doubt it.
Well, it’s really not an ‘accident’.. the whole thing was avoidable had the dog been on a lead, the event would simply not have happened. Failing that perhaps either dogs OR horses are allowed on the beach but not BOTH at the same time.
Couldn’t disagree with you more – any dog should be fully under control at all times and the reason the police are involved is because HAVING A DOG OUT OF CONTROL IN A PUBLIC PLACE IS AN OFFENCE.
This is NOT an accident. Far from it.
Would you think it an “accident” if a loose dog bit your child or the horse trampled your elderly parent in its panic?
If a dog has no recall, it should not be off the lead. It could have killed or seriously injured another dog or small child with its aggressive behaviour. It could have caused serious or fatal injuries to the rider in this case. It’s not acceptable to allow a dog off the lead if there is no recall. Speaking from a dog and horse owner with children.
Law says you must have control of the dog in a public place at all times. Lead or recall, your choice, but you must have it.
Here there clearly was no control so yes, police is involved.
It was the dog who attacked a horse. Horses are prey animals and don’t go around attacking dogs that don’t pose a threat to them.
The dog was barking and biting at a horses legs. One good bite and horse would have been crippled forever.
And yes, horses work well with dogs during fox hunts… but those dogs don’t try to bite at them, ffs!
Greyhounds like to chase so if confronted by a horse moving would do so. The horse would hate to have the Greyhound snapping around it’s heels. Yes it would try to kick and the rider is likely unless very good to fall off. I own a Lurcher whis is crossed with a Greyhound, if I saw a horse, my Lurcher would immediately go on a lead. The horse is a different matter and when it happened to me I managed to stay in control, just! My horse felt with the dog by picking it up and shaking it. Point of view from both sides. One thing to be noted a loose horse on a road endangers not only it’s self but other road users. The Greyhound should have been on a lead, it was very lucky not to receive a nasty I jury from the horses hooves.l
The police are involved because the dog owner didn’t have the decency to make sure everything was ok and just walked away
Just so glad you are safe
Hopefully it hasn’t stressed the beautiful Georgia and she’s had lots of treats
And you too have had a large wine
I am sorry but why was the idiot riding a horse on the beach in the first place when there are dogs there?, I see it all the time horses riding at high speeds with zero consideration for dog owners.. I seen first hand a horse loose at Yaverland not long ago running at dogs and scared dog owners trying to protect there dogs. No word of apology from the person in charge of the horse. Horses don’t belong on beaches stick to fields and country lanes. And the bloody witch hunt on social media is disgusting and anyone sharing should be utterly ashamed
This wasn’t the fault of the horse or the rider. This was the fault of the dog owner. The dog owner should face charges for not having the dog under control and leaving the scene.
You haven’t got a clue
Donkies are an absolute menace on the road, more so than old farts or cyclists
How am I, riding a horse, a menace and what I can do so you have a better experience sharing the road with other users?
We have to cross from one country lane or forest to another. Roads have sliced up and divided the land to the point there’s just no way to avoid them often – but I guarantee you, no horse riders wants to be on the road because falling onto a concrete hurts, and we will take the very first entry to the public path of way through fields or forests we can.
Although sometimes it can be hard to even find the entry to the public path as this fresh article from today points out:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68278444
Another Islander with poor English spelling
|Very good fortune that the pony got home without another accident.
I hope the pony and it’s rider still have the confidence to run on the beach.
The Ryde beaches used to be a good location to see migrating shoreline birds such as Sanderlings and Ringed Plover but with the increase of free-running dogs they have been driven off. Some breeds of dogs are bred to chase anything that is running, a seagull, another dog, a pony and let’s hope it isn’t a small child next time.
Having a dog or any other animal is a responsibility, not a right to endanger other animals or people….
What I have seen done to ‘cure’ the dog, for the owner certainly will do nothing in all likelihood, is, should it happen again, then the rider to turn the horse toward the dog and chase it as far as it can until the dog is exhausted.
Not always able to I know, but they don’t like them apples.
Find the dog and shoot it.
Only then will the self entitled dog owners take heed, maybe.
That is a cruel and pathetic comment. I had a greyhound and he never had a mean bone in his body and would never attack even though he was treated badly by humans
Yet another dog not under control. When will these owners learn to keep these nuisance dogs on a lead
All I can say is thank goodness this wasn’t my horse – which I stable in Havenstreet!
To the person saying this was no big deal and neither party was at fault – I beg to differ! The dog was ATTACKING the horse – that speaks for itself.
The cause of the incident was the dog, not the horse. Intentional or not, if you can’t call a dog off an incident, keep it on a lead. A panicking horse could have been killed or caused others to be killed, so no it’s not a trivial event we should all just “move on from”. The dog could also have been killed if kicked by the horse. I am a dog owner as well as horse owner and we all have to take responsibility in preventing this sort of thing happening.
Liza, very well said.
Well said liza
The dog should be on a lead at all times in a public place
I can’t believe the greyhound’s owner had it off-leash! I mean, they should know that if it decides to take off, there’s no catching it! I’m amazed they were able to get it to come back to them, and hopefully they learned a greyhound lesson!
All dog owners should keep their dogs on the lead at all times.
This is all too often. If you cannot control and guarantee your dogs behavior in public then keep it on a leash.
Idiots make it bad for us responsible dog owners.
Hopefully the pony and rider are both recovering from this terrible ordeal.
Why was the dog off of its lead???
Hope you’re both ok? Hope the dog owner is found as dogs need to be kept on leads?
There’s certainly a lot of finger-pointing going on here. I saw this horse yesterday morning while taking our dog (on a lead!) towards Appley Park. The horse wasn’t hanging about! Came up Appley Lane and turned left into Appley Road. We had to move a bit sharpish towards the ditch to avoid it running into us.
Obviously, the owner of the horse will be blaming the owner of the dog; however, if we were hurt, I would only have the owner of the horse to blame!
It’s all a matter of perspective, I guess.
No, it isn’t?
If I were throwing rocks at cars causing drivers to drive unsafely, and they were to hit you… would you only blame them for losing control of the vehicle and not me for throwing the rocks?
Would that really be your perspective?
If I didn’t see you being so irresponsible, yes, I’m afraid, that would be my ONLY perspective!
So you’re talking only about your first gut reaction at the spur of the moment and not a fully informed choice about chain of causation. Got it.
Question is: what’s the point you’re trying to make? That without full information conclusions might be wrong?
The point I initially made was that there has been a lot of finger-pointing. Some blame the keepers of the horse; many blame the dog and/or its keeper. You’ve all made up your minds, yet not many know all the facts. The dog keeper will probably never be identified (especially after reading these comments), but, hypothetically, if he/she came forward and suggested another horse scared his/her dog into bolting, who do we blame then? I still don’t know all the facts. But, if the dog I was walking or I were hurt by a runaway horse yesterday, I would be going after the horse’s keeper. It would then be their responsibility to prove the blame should be directed elsewhere. In other words, it’s all a matter of perspective.
It was not the horse riders fault,if the uncontrolled dog hadn’t attacked the horse every thing would have been alright. So you should be pointing the finger at the dog owner who’s out of control dog was not on lead.
All dogs should be muzzled and on a short leash in any public place, and not one of these stupid 20ft plus leads which give the owner no control of their animal.
> The dog was restrained by the owner near Appley Lane, but they quickly left the scene and didn’t make themselves known.
Ah, yes, I admire the honour, civil bravery, high morals, good ethics, personal virtue and lawful character of that person who didn’t even stay to say they’re sorry or make sure everyone is OK after the incident caused by their law-breaking lack of control of a dog in a public space.
How lovely.
Very well said. A spineless, ignorant and entitled dog owner. One of many.
And yes, I’m a lifelong dog lover and owner but I would NEVER treat people or other animals like that.
I sat on a bench on the footpath near the beach at Appley a few years ago, and watched as unleashed dog after unleashed dog came rushing out of the woods, over the path, and on to the beach, with their owners ambling along without a care in the world. I’ve been got at by free running dogs, only leaping up and putting their paws on me, but I don’t like it. ‘Oh they don’t mean any harm.’ How do I know that? If they’re meant to be on a lead, get them on one.
Correct, before the owners can even see the beach. So they wouldn’t know if a horse was on there.
I would just like to clarify, that yes we were galloping across the beach. The tide was right out and we were at the shore line. There was NO people or dogs in our pathway. We had stopped at the time the dog attacked us
Sounds like this Pup was the goodest of good boys 🙂
If anyone does find the owner, can you let me know so I can arrange to take him some horse-flavour biscuit-treats?
What a fool you sound.
While this was an unfortunate incident and luckily no animals or people were injured, I wonder how many comments are more motivated by a hatred of dogs and owners than concern about the horse and rider.
There’s probably more dogs than humans on this Island so not sure what point you’re making.
Absolutely spot on. All the blame is being put on the owner of the dog, I agree it should of been on a lead if it has no recall but perhaps the dog was scared that an animal a lot bigger and more powerful was hurtling towards it and it reacted out of fear or protection. No blame at all is being put on the arrogant rider of the horse who should not be riding on a beach where people are walking dogs . I wonder what would have happened if the horse fatally kicked the dog? I will tell you all the idiots would say it’s the woman’s fault not the rider
Yep, Since it was the DOG that wasn’t under control rather than the HORSE, it’s rather a no brainier who the IDIOT here is.
Hi Paul,
If your horse is ATTACKED then it’s literally the recommendation to let your horse defend itself.
So yes, in that case if horse kicked the dog, it would be a fine measure of self-defence.
Just like as if you as a human were attacked by a dog, you can defend yourself to… you know… not die.
—
Or are you worried that horse would actively go after and attack a random dog?
I can guarantee you that a prey animal like a horse will not chase after dogs, and riders on the beach stay far away from dogs.
Horses are the most pointless things known to man, this day and age what really is the need for them? Other than eating and making glue! They should be banned from Rds and any where the public is, as for the people riding them, they’re all self righteous, stuck up prat’s who need to find them selfs a decent hobby that dosnt cost their husbands a fortune!
The dog could have been walking down that patch its entire life and have never come
Across a horse before! Maybe it saw this giant beast walking around and he wanted to protect himself and his owner… you cannot be upset with 2 animals acting like animals have for thousands of years, it sucks for
The horse yes of course poor thing but does humiliating the owner get us anywhere ?
You Tintin are rude and very ignorant, do not tar all horse owners with the same brush you clearly have issues, the incident which has occured is very unfortunate, yes the dog should have been under control and not allowed to do this and I am sure the rider did there upmost to control the horse, the beach is a shared area for everyone as is Hayling and the dog owner should have a least had the decency to own up to there mistake and come forward at least to apologise
Yearly average total cost of ownership of a car in UK is £3000.
That’s 100 horse riding lessons a year here on IOW. Perhaps 140 if you buy in bulk.
If UK had a better cycling infrastructure you could buy an old Dutch bike and then book 138 horse riding lessons today.
Hardly posh fortune if average Joe driver spends same amount on their car.
Just different folks like to spend money on different things. Some enjoy cars, some enjoy horses.
I take my large dog on sandown beach on leash at all times
50%percent of dog owners let there dogs of leash run all over beach pooing all over the place while there buzy canting (black country word for gossiping)
Turn a blind eye to the poo
Let their dogs go and growl bark nip dogs on leash
ALL DOGS SHOULD BE ON LEASH WHEN OUT IN PUBLIC
Because this is what happens
Imagine if it had been a child on that poor pony