Get control long before you are close
Horses hear and smell your dog before you see the horse, so control starts at the first clue: hoofbeats, voices calling ahead, fresh droppings on the trail, or your dog's ears locking onto something around a blind bend. Call him back at that moment, not when the horse rounds the corner, clip the lead on, and shorten it. On narrow trails, bridleways and shared farm tracks, assume a horse can appear at any gate or bend and keep a dog with an unreliable recall on lead for those whole stretches. Practise the trail recall at home and in quiet fields with high-value rewards, because a recall that only works in the garden will not survive the excitement of a half-ton animal moving past at close range.
Pass wide, visible and boring
When you meet a rider, make yourself easy for both the horse and the rider to read. Step well off the trail to the side where the horse can see you clearly, ideally the same side as the rider's voice, and avoid hiding silently in bushes where you will appear suddenly as the horse draws level. Speak calmly to the rider, which tells the horse a person is there, keep your dog beside or slightly behind you, and ask him for a sit or a steady stand with treats fed quietly at ground level. Never let him lunge, bark, circle behind the horse or snap at heels, and never walk him between a horse and a wall, fence or ditch. If the rider asks you to wait, move further back or take a side path, follow their lead, since they know whether their horse is young, nervous or unsettled that day.
Protect your dog from the kick zone and the chase
The gravest risk is not a bite or a bump; it is a kick from a frightened horse, which can seriously injure or kill a dog in one blow. Keep your dog out of the arc behind any horse at all times, including tied horses at trailheads, horse boxes in car parks and horses standing at gates, however calm they look. Teach a solid leave-it for droppings, hay and feed buckets so he does not push under a horse to scavenge. If your dog does break away and chase, do not scream or run after him in a way that drives the chase further. Call once, turn and move away at an angle if he responds to that game, alert the rider, and get help rather than putting yourself between an aroused dog and a panicking horse.
Plan for the bolt you hope never happens
Even a well-managed meeting can go wrong if a horse spooks sideways into your dog or a pheasant bursts out at the wrong second. Keep ID on his collar, check the lead clip and harness before trailheads, and note where you parked and which loop you walked so you can describe his likely direction accurately if he runs. Search gates, yards and the trail back to the car first, calling calmly, and warn other riders and walkers with his description. When the first sweep turns up nothing, turn to KinsLe: the Lost Pet Alert System sits inside his profile without charge, appears as a map listing, and enables whoever spots him along the lanes to contact you by direct message.