Dog’s brutal attack on pony after mile chase
AN ANIMAL lover has been left ‘traumatised’ after a savage dog attack on her pony.
Helen Dearnley had been riding Lulu on a bridleway in the Oakwell Hall Country Park, Birstall, when an American bulldog took a keen interest.
Helen, 53, from Gomersal, said that she and Lulu had just been for a gentle walk up towards the main house and it was when they were heading home that their nightmare started.
She said: “I was nearing the exit and I could hear there were people in the car park, someone was calling his dog and I could hear him calling ‘Otis,’ but I couldn’t see his dog for the wall.
“He [the dog] then trotted over quite normally, quite inquisitively and then he was just going up and down her legs and under her belly, showing too much interest.”
Helen, who works with dogs for a living as a boarder and walker, said the bulldog did not have a collar or a lead on.
She said: “I jumped off because I thought ‘he’s going to have a go’ and I couldn’t separate them, then the horse has just reacted like a flight animal would and gone ‘get me out of here’ – I couldn’t hold on to her.
“She just went, she’s gone through the car park and the dog chased after her from there.
“In Oakwell Hall, there’s an old house and a cafe area and there were loads of people around and she’s gone up the footway area, up to the bridleway with the dog in pursuit.”
Helen said that she then saw Lulu ‘flying down’ an embankment of steps towards a stream, before ‘flat out galloping’ past people and into an open field near the bridleway.
Helen’s friend Adele Clough, 47, witnessed the dog’s attack.
She said: “I’d met my sister for a walk and we’d entered Oakwell Hall from the Dewsbury Road end. I came in there and I’d literally only gone about 100 yards and the horse came around the corner on the bridleway at full gallop.
“I got my sister to get my dog out of the way and I stood in the pathway of the horse and was waving my arms to get her to stop – thankfully she did stop and I grabbed her reins, then I realised that it was a dog after her.”
Adele said that the dog then attacked the pony, jumping up and biting her back end and sides, as well as grabbing at her face and neck.
Lulu ran across the busy Dewsbury Road and then headed up a side road, Moor Lane, heading in the direction of home.
Motorists then attempted to cut the dog off with their cars giving the pony a chance to get away.
Helen, who eventually caught up with Lulu, said: “She was absolutely done in, she was covered in sweat and she’s been stressed over night, just whinnying and she’s really unsettled.”
Anyone with information about the attack can contact West Yorkshire Police, quoting reference 13220024662.