Police are looking for the owner of a dog who attacked a horse Monday evening, knocking his rider to the ground. Lynn Blatta and her 25-year-old thoroughbred Winnie were on a dike behind the Maple Ridge Equi-Sports Centre when a brown bull mastiff swam across the North Alouette and cornered them around 7 p.m. The dog began barking and jumped up to bite Winnie several times, leaving two puncture wounds on one side of his rump and two 20-centimetre-long tooth or claw marks down his hock. At 16.2 hands high, Winnie is a tall horse. “That dog meant business. He meant to take him down,” said Blatta. She was thrown off Winnie as he darted off the dike, down 136th Avenue with the dog in pursuit. He was finally caught by a man at a four-way stop on 136th Ave., at 224th Street. “I figured I’d never see my horse alive again as he was absolutely terrified, being chased into traffic,” said Blatta. She was picked up by a woman who was driving past in a van, while several people call 911 to report a bleeding, saddled horse without a rider. A man left with the dog before police arrived. This isn’t the first time Blatta has encountered dogs off-leash on a clearly-marked trail with ample signage telling owners their dogs must be restrained. “Last week while riding on the dikes, my horse was chased on 16 separate occasions by loose dogs whose owners stood by and yelled helplessly as their dogs spooked and terrorized my horse,” she said. She’d like the owner of the dog who attacked Winnie to come forward. “You are a threat to society,” she said, adding she’d also like to show him her vet bills. Winnie, a horse she bought for a dollar to save him from being put down, is her best friend. She sees him twice a day. He was enjoy his retirement after racing for six years at Hastings Park.  “He’s had a rough life and I’m now trying to show him the good life. He deserves so much better than this,” said Blatta. • Anyone with any information on the dog or its owner is asked to call RCMP at 604-463-6251.

Maple Ridge News