My husband is LOL...he thinks your pup is cute, but you have no clue what you've gotten into:). We really like heelers, they are good, loyal, friendly, and have loads of personality, they just don't mix well with horses, IMO. Reality, they were bred to be cattle dogs,not horse herders, but if horses is all they have to herd that's what they herd. But horses react different then cattle, and kick harder.
When we had the roping cows here, Josey, the one that got killed use to herd them poor things around all the time, and you could hear her getting kick, but it never did the damage the horses did.
Becky
ALL our horses are USED to having dogs chase them. The horses have never tried to hurt/kick/stomp those dogs.( however, there's Jake. He's CONVINCED his JOB is to KILL anything that looks like a coyote/dog/wolf. And he HAS done that to many pups)
I'm wondering if there's a way to have this heeler go out/track down/herd BACK 'loose horses'.(on 'command')
Does that make more sense?
Sally and our (late) blue heeler Sparky, never bothered with the horses, they would chase them up and down the fence line but were too intelligent to get in there with them, and when the horses are out, they both stay(ed) well away. All the horses are used to the dogs, cats and chickens being around them every day.
Sally loves the horse feed and will be with the chickens cleaning up the feed that is dropped!