Sunday, our little foal was mauled by two pit bulls

[qtrrae]

Poor little fellow - what an awful thing to go through - Moonshadow is definitely "Lucky"

Thanks for sharing the videos, it looks painful when the vet is working on him but he handled it well.

I enjoyed the video of him feeling better and being with his pasture buddies.

It looks like he is quite a little mischief - I also watched the video of him escaping - looks like he has that fence figured out.

Thank goodness everything has turned out okay for your precious little man! He is a handsome guy!

 

[Carolyn R]

I hope your little guy makes a full recovery. What a horrible ordeal to deal with.

Sorry, but I am with some of the others, while pits may be loyal advicaries, many other traits have been bred into them. You can't undo years and years of genetic fine tuning. For this reason I feel they are unpredictable in enviroments shared with other animals (or young children).

Even some good owners suffer the consequences of this genetic fine tuning.

 

[Joanne]

In California the owners would be responsible for twice the amount of the horse if they killed it, and twice the veterinary bills if they caused injuries. Any thing else associated with the incident can be added as well; burial fees etc.

Here the owners would have been cited and had to appear in court for restitution.

I would check with your animal control or sheriff for what is the law in your area. This was all documented. The vet fees should be reimbursed by the owners of the dogs automatically. You should not hav eto contact these people yourself. this should all be done by law enforcement officers. It is really better that way.

This all could have been avoided if they had kept their dogs on their own property. Your horse was a fish in a barrel as he could not escape.

Humans could also have been injured in an attempt to grab the dogs in their feeding frenzy. This is THE most dangerous situation to try and get a dog. And a horriffic one for you and your family.

It is sad when our peaceable kingdoms are affected by others.

My heart goes out to you and your family. It is hard to get that kind of scene out of your mind.

 

[Reble]

So glad to hear he is fine, when I seen the name moonshadow, I thought of a horse a sold, but

they had him resold and I do not know where he went. This is not my Moonshadow...

Yes, he was Lucky

 

[Thinking small]

how truly frightening! I am glad you horse will be okay! Like others have said in this thread, all dog breeds are capable, i am not anti pit-bull their are plenty of other very popular breeds that can be just as dangerous given the right circumstances.

Again though i am relived your foal will survive, i cannot imagine how horrible this experience has been.

 

[triplethorsefarm]

I am so sorry your poor baby had to go through that!

A friend of mine lost one of her foals last summer to a pack of coyotes,

I am so glad your little guy is going to make it.

I'm praying for a quick and easy recovery for him.

 

[TyeeRanch]

I am very sorry to hear about your little guy but SO happy that he is on the mend. What a tough little dude to come through what he has been through. Please continue to post his progress!

As far as the dogs, I am glad that they were taken from the owners. I have shown and had Pit Bulls for over ten years. I agree that just like any breed, there are bad ones and there are good ones. Being around so many of them, I do believe that they are NOT a dog for any average dog owner. They are a prey driven animal and in my experience, a bored Pit Bull is a bad Pit Bull. These dogs need a job to do. If they do not have a job, many times they create one. That could be destroying the owners lawn furniture or much, much worse. On the other end of the spectrum, I have been around some very, very good ones as well. Banning an entire breed is not the answer, but the backyard breeders and people want a Pit Bull "because they are cool" are the problem. The responsible Pit Bull owners (which are hard to find) are the ones that really understand this breed. The rest should not own one. Period.

 

[shadowpaints]

so very sorry to hear anout your little guy! im glad he will recover fully! how very tramatic!!

as for the dogs, im glad that they were taken and hopefully put down. Pits can be amazing dogs. but any breed can attack! we had a neighbors gladiator great dane attack and kill 3 goats and injure one. we have had blue heelers and labs chase our minis till i shot the dogs.... there was a yellow lab that i shot for killing a goat of mine... we dont own any pits, but one neighbor has 3 purbred pits that are incredibly sweet, they come over all the time when their owner is over here and they have never shown any aggression to the many animals we have! but, im a firm believer that any dog can attack and kill... i guess pits just are mentioned more often.... my dads German shephard attacked and killed several sheep.. you never would have thought he would do it!!

again im soo sorry this happened to you! i hope you and your boy the best. and keep us updated! he is a beautiful guy!

 

[mizbeth]

I'm glad your little fella is doing better..............

I have observed pure bred dogs attacking cattle/horses so it is just not the "mixed breed mutts" as mentioned earlier.

We had two gorgeous Great Danes running our horses. I have seen Labs, Sheppards (including cow dogs), and some mixed breed dogs chasing them. Not wild dogs either - someones pets. Tony can tell you some horrific stories regarding dogs and his horses. He has lost several to attacks by dogs.

Good luck to you........when you get your bill you can run it over to her.

Beth

 

[vickie gee]

My heart goes out to you. I am glad your little one is making a recovery but it is upsetting that other pet owners do not contain what is theirs to their own property. Proper fencing on their part should have been a priority before ever purchasing their dogs. We own anatolian shepherds which are not shepherds at all but are actually a breed of livestock guardian dog. Plainly put they are Turkish mastiffs. We sleep soundly at night knowing they are protecting our livestock as well as us. Nobody is going to try to steal our horses or goats or invade our home due to our large LOUD agressive dogs. On the other hand we do not worry about our dogs leaving our property because prior to getting the dogs we paid for a professional fence builder to put up a five foot high fence around our place. We no longer worry about coyotes and foxes cutting through the pasture since they cannot get over, under, or through the fence and would not anyway on account of the dogs. I watched your videos and saw that other homes are close in proximity to yours. For that reason I would not recommend livestock guardian dogs because they alert/bark at anything and everything and would end up being a nuisance to your neighbors. Again, I am so sorry that your little one went through this terrible ordeal.

Perhaps some electric fencing in addition to what you have might give you some peace of mind that it would be more difficult for a dog to come onto your horse property.

 

[minie812]

Sadly it's not the breed but sometimes the owners. I have a neighbor that becuase we all live out in the country he feels his dogs can run loose. He has already had one little dog die in a trap on another farmers property and one killed by coyotes and he goes and brings in more and just turns them loose. The were in our pasture yesterday and one is as big as my yearlings....sooooo, I called and warned him if they are on my property again chasing my minis I will shoot them...His response"Do what ya gotta do" What an idiot!

 

[ohmt]

SO glad your baby is ok!! What a fighter!

I am SO with Carolyn on the dog issue...they are a breed that was made for fighting and there's a lot of years of genetic fine tuning to make them fighters. I'll never forget when I was little, my best friend had a pit bull named Sammy. She was incredibly sweet-bought by the family as a puppy and raised by them. I grew up in that house and know it was a very loving environment. I would lay on the floor and use Sammy as a pillow for my daily nap and she would nap with me

One day, my best friend was sitting with her on the couch when Sammy attacked her. She had to get 167 stitches in her face, 90 between her chest and right arm. I will never forget that day, and I will never trust a pitbull. I know there are families that have them and they are good dogs for them-but I would recommend to anyone that they should never be allowed around children. You need to be 100% aware of them at all times

Keep us updated on the little guy!

 

[SaddleTrail]

What a terrifying incident! Your little one is indeed very Lucky!

My son and his wife moved in with me 2 months ago and the first thing they did was get a pit bull puppy. The puppy is so sweet and they are teaching it manners etc.

The puppy has tried twice now to get my pygmy goat. She has bloodied him. Now, I dont know if the bites were meant to hurt or just in playing. Puppy teeth are needle sharp

and can do damage. The bites just broke the skin so I am not to worried. Goat is fine and he is in his pen.

Its all how you teach a dog in manners etc in the growing years. I am sure the puppy was just playing but we have also taken temptation out of her way.

 

[garyo]

Unfortunately we had a similar experinec but it was our own dogs. One day we went to work early as usual. We had a newly acquired mare in a quarantine paddock with mini round pen panels. Our one dog had done damage to my husband's corvette earlier in the week in the garage so he was in a wire kennal on the back porch. About an hour after I arrived at work my husband got a call from our next door neighbor. Our own dogs were attacking the mare in the pen. They couldn't get through the closely spaced bars of the mini round pen panels so the three of them were bouncing her from side to side biting her. She had a brand new heavy polar fleece turn out blanket on which was shredded on the leg areas when I arrived home. I work 2 miles from home and have a secretary who drives like Mario ANdretti so we were home within minutes of the call. She required over twenty stitches across her face running from one eye to the other. Luckily neither eye was actually damaged. You could look down inside the skin on her nose to her muzzle. She had deep puncture marks on the inside of both back legs. Our vet came immediately and stiched up her face. You cannot tell she was ever injured there now, he did a fabulous job. We had to insert our finger into the puncture wounds with a silver? medicine for several weeks. They were so deep my finger went entirely into the puncture wounds. That day we put down our pure bred wiemereiner female and her grown puppy (rescues) and our elderly lab (who needed to be put down to severe hip degeneration). They had all played in the yard with the minis, rolled in the grass next to where they were grazing and had us drive carts by them. I was devastated. I felt like I had let down my newly purchased mare by failing to adequately protect her and I felt horrible about killing my dogs. The vet cried as he euthanized them but agreed that once they attack they will do it again.

I am so sorry about your little guy. The good news is that our mare has healed beautifully and has no fear of our little dogs. I know your love for him will help him to do the same.

Ruth

 

[hunterridgefarm]

so very sorry to hear anout your little guy! im glad he will recover fully! how very tramatic!!
as for the dogs, im glad that they were taken and hopefully put down. Pits can be amazing dogs. but any breed can attack! we had a neighbors gladiator great dane attack and kill 3 goats and injure one. we have had blue heelers and labs chase our minis till i shot the dogs.... there was a yellow lab that i shot for killing a goat of mine... we dont own any pits, but one neighbor has 3 purbred pits that are incredibly sweet, they come over all the time when their owner is over here and they have never shown any aggression to the many animals we have! but, im a firm believer that any dog can attack and kill... i guess pits just are mentioned more often.... my dads German shephard attacked and killed several sheep.. you never would have thought he would do it!!

again im soo sorry this happened to you! i hope you and your boy the best. and keep us updated! he is a beautiful guy!

Why would you kill a Blue Heeler. do You understand they are a herding dog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! did YOu raise them from Pups?

i have a well trained female that will not herd. she has to be told to do her job. it all comes in training i would of never shot one

all i am saying is you can work with them if you did not who is to blame

 

[Brandi*]

That little boy is so lucky! My friends miniature mules got attacked by two dogs in the middle of the night. One died shortly after arriving to the vet and the other barely made it. It was horrible to see what was left of the one who didn't make it in the pasture

My friend had to run out with a shovel and start beating the dogs off of them.

Anyways, I'm very thankful to see your little guy doing so well after what could have been a devastating event.

 

[LAZY J MINIS]

I'M SO GLAD YOUR LITTLE GUY IS GOING TO MAKE IT. ABOUT 4 YRS. AGO MY HORSE WAS ATTACKED BY 2 PITS AND THE OWNER TRIED TO HIDE THE FACT. GIVING THE DOGS A BATH BEFORE ANIMAL CONTROL ARRIVED. NEIGHBOR TURNED HIM IN, SAYING THE DOGS CAME HOME ALL BLOODIED. MY HORSE HAD TO BE PUT DOWN NO REPAIRING HIS INJURIES. FINAL OUTCOME: DOGS DESTROYED, OWNER IN PRISON.

 

[Seashells]

Oh my goodness, thank you everyone for your supportive comments. I'm amazed at the stories shared.

Thank you again to EVERYONE for your caring words of support! So many caring people here!

 

[~Amanda~]

Poor Moonshadow!

I'm so glad to hear he's recovering well and it's a horrible thing that he was attacked.

 

[cowboygirl45]

Ever so sorry your baby went through this.May he continue to recover from his ordeal. He is a lucky boy!

As for the breed I have known several very kind & sweet pits including therapy oners so I believe in punishing the deed and not the breed.

MUCH agreed! Punish the DEED not the BREED! My dad owns a pit, who is the biggest lover I've ever come across!!! She gets along great with the horses, cats, even the baby calves on the ranch are never bothered by her. The only thing she ever did was tried to get a chicken at my grandpas house, but after being punished, she hasn't looked at one cross eyed since!

I sure hope your little one recovers well with no long term effects. Sometimes something like that will cause them anxiety, so I hope you're able to get him over that!!!

TAKE CARE and good luck!