Pitbulls Attack Horserider, One Dog Shot and Killed

A 24-year-old man shot and killed one of two pit bulls attacking a woman and her horse along a trail in San Dimas Saturday morning, a sheriff's lieutenant said.

Authorities were notified of the attack in the area of Foothill Boulevard and Walnut Avenue at 8:58 a.m., said Lt. David Vega of the sheriff's San Dimas station.

"They knocked her off the horse and took the horse down,'' Vega said.

"One of them latched onto the horse's upper leg and locked on. She (the rider)
suffered a few scrapes."

Vega said the man, from San Dimas, fired some shots from the .22-caliber rifle into the pit bull, breaking the dog's lock on the horse's leg and killing it.

The extent of the horses' injuries were not immediately known. Animal control workers arrived and took the other dog into custody.

The dogs may have come from a local residence or pit bull rescue, the sheriff's lieutenant said.

The shotgun-wielding man was not cited or arrested for the shooting.