Cairnstorm Irish Wolfhounds Website

Riding With Wolfhounds

My hounds have always joined me coming to the farmyard stables belonging to my friend, Lisa, where my horse, George, lives. From around 6 months old they mooch about the yard with the farm dogs while we tack up, muck out or have a post ride cuppa in the tack room. Before setting off on a ride they would always be shut up in a stable until our return.

Until the autumn of 2006. Gloria was 12 months old & Kat was just coming back into work after having a litter which raised the topic of increasing their exersize in conversation with Lisa out riding. That was when she suggested we take them out riding with us. I laughed. Having Wolfhounds running loose on a green lane or bridleway when on foot with leads ready just incase was one thing, but having them running loose while on horseback was something else entirely. Lisa however was determined we should try so in the end I agreed.

We started with Kat, who as alpha bitch would be the natural leader, because we knew that luckily her belly ruled her head. Several ways to gain her attention were tried & I settled on an old sports whistle as the best. It didn’t take her too long to work out that responding to the whistle meant getting a treat. I lost count of how many times I rode up & down the farm lane with Kat trotting along at George’s hock, the whistle on a chain around my neck & every time Kat’s attention wandered to Lisa’s sheep in the field that ran along the side of the lane I blew the whistle & she immediately turned, coming back to me for the treat.

Once we were as certain of her as we could be we ventured out onto the lanes and no one was more surprised than me that it was so successful.

This meant it was time to add Gloria to the mix. She was more complicated to train because although she followed Kat’s lead & came back with her at the blow of the whistle she had an issue with nipping at the horse’s hock as you first moved away. Obviously this had to be corrected & we experimented with lots of different ideas. The breakthrough came though when Lisa got out her hunting crop. As I moved away on George & Gloria went forward to nip Lisa cracked the whip at the side of her. We only had to do it once, whether it was the loud noise or the sudden draught of air I don’t know, but it was enough to teach Gloria that it was not a good idea to run & nip at a horse again.

So now we had 2 Wolfhounds out riding with us while the puppies, Eddie & MayMay, stayed back at the yard. Once they were older it was time to add them to the pack too. They were so easy to add because they naturally followed Kat & it wasn’t long before we felt confident enough to take all 4 out with us regularly doing around 8 miles or free running exersize.

I close by saying that this article is not meant as a ‘How To’ guide nor to encourage anyone else to have a go (Don’t Try This At Home – as they say on TV). It was just a perfect storm, the right pack at the right time with the right training – I’m not sure I’d ever be able to do it again myself!