i would never have a drag lead on a dog in the vicinity of horses, that has risks to both dog and horses more than just the dog taking off
a traffic lead might be helpful and fairly safe on a harness, would not use on a collar though for trip hazard
like said above, its a leap of faith but one that should be tempered by need and benefits to be off leash
My prior dog, I introduced to off leash on a horse farm with four board fencing. A good visual barrier but not a physical barrier. He took well to that and came when called even in the large pastures. However, he was never allowed to join us for a hack out on the trails because the risk was not worth the reward (he stayed in a cozy barn stall).
But I misjudged his reliability of staying within the visual boundaries of the board fence as being true come-when-called reliability. I let him off leash while hiking a winter evening in a very large urban park and he took off after a deer. I was lucky and he ended up finding his way to a police horse barn (probably from scent) and I got a call to pick him up safely the next day but it was a brutally cold night and powerfully scary to me to wait through.
a traffic lead might be helpful and fairly safe on a harness, would not use on a collar though for trip hazard
like said above, its a leap of faith but one that should be tempered by need and benefits to be off leash
My prior dog, I introduced to off leash on a horse farm with four board fencing. A good visual barrier but not a physical barrier. He took well to that and came when called even in the large pastures. However, he was never allowed to join us for a hack out on the trails because the risk was not worth the reward (he stayed in a cozy barn stall).
But I misjudged his reliability of staying within the visual boundaries of the board fence as being true come-when-called reliability. I let him off leash while hiking a winter evening in a very large urban park and he took off after a deer. I was lucky and he ended up finding his way to a police horse barn (probably from scent) and I got a call to pick him up safely the next day but it was a brutally cold night and powerfully scary to me to wait through.
