My son's horse Pinon is on my shit list today. While she's as gentle and as solid a horse as I've seen, great with kids, she can't stand the tenacious heeler pups. In that regard, she is all mare, testy and irritable. For weeks now, she's been pinning her ears, shaking her head, giving them the curt flick of a single nostril in their direction. And those guileless pups don't have a clue.

I've spent a lot of time teaching them that they can't chase the horses. That the horses are mine. Not theirs. And they are not to chase, bark at or in any way taunt my horses. And they've been doing great. I think they have exemplary behavior around the horses. But that's no guarantee.

Poor Red Dawg was simply trotting behind Pinon yesterday when whack. That right hind hoof shot out with deadly lightning precision and got that poor pup right in the head. She flew through the air, landed in a soft heap of paws and fur and puppy fat, woofing piteously in pain and shock. I rushed across the pasture at the little heeler, expecting her to be dead when I fell to my knees to help her. But as I tried to carry her back up to the house, the Red Dawg wriggled out of my arms and trotted up herself. Now she did sleep quite a while yesterday in the house on her cushy bed in the living room. And she looks a little beat up. Just a little like Rocky Balboa after a prize fight.

As far as I can tell, she's OK. I hate it when this happens. But I haven't lost a dog to a horse kick. Yet. Horses and dogs can be a wonderful, and a sometimes trying, combination. Then add the kids who love the dogs into the mix.

Aargh. I need an aspirin.