A Relaxing Ride Gone Bad

To the Editor:

I am so angry right now I am beside myself. This morning I set out on my horse for a nice relaxing ride in the state forest. About a mile in I encountered a loose pit bull and its owner. The owner yelled to me, “He’s never seen a horse before” to which I responded, “Great.”

Well, you can guess what happened next. The dog grabbed my horse by the tail, she spun and bucked, throwing me off and she took off with the dog chasing her. Luckily, the young man caught his dog, some passerby caught my horse and both my horse and I seem to be okay so far.

There is a leash law in this town; please keep your dog on a leash. I have three dogs that I walk on a leash, I have been attacked by a loose pit bull while walking. I was with Cindy Miller (Cindy used to be the president of the Newtown Bridle Lands Association) ten years ago in the same forest when her horse was attacked by a loose pit bull mix in almost the same spot! Newtown used to be a horse friendly town but between the maniacs on the road and the loose dogs on the trails I don’t know if I want to own a horse in this town or even live here anymore for that matter.

Jill Stilson

15 Underhill Road, Sandy Hook                                      July 29, 2012