By ANNE BESTON
Michelle Alexander had just dismounted from her horse on Muriwai Beach when the dog seemed to come out of nowhere.
It went straight for Woody, leaping at his throat and neck.
Bleeding and terrified, the horse tried to fight the dog off, lashing out with its front legs.
"He was fighting for his life," says Ms Alexander.
She had never seen a dog attack that way before and she thinks it was either a pit-bull or a bull terrier.
"Fortunately, the dog didn't get its jaws locked on but once it tasted blood, that was it - it became frantic."
Ms Alexander, a 33-year-old accountant who lives at Whenuapai and has been riding for six years, tried to hold Woody and kick the dog away.
One of the things that saved the horse from serious injury was that the dog could not get enough traction in the soft sand.
Although it seemed to take forever, the dog's owner finally arrived and seemed as horrified as Ms Alexander at its aggression.
Ms Alexander said she probably would not go to Muriwai again.
"It's one of the few places you can get on to the beach with a horse but it's put me off."
She got Woody checked by veterinarian Phil Robinson, who told her the horse should make a full recovery from Sunday's attack.
But Mr Robinson said it was not the first time a horse had been attacked at Muriwai by "one of those sorts of dogs."
Rodney District Council dog ranger Olive Driscoll said dogs were not a particular problem this year but there would always be owners who could not control their animals.
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