Chasing Dogs

We have some wild dogs out at the horse barn. They've been around for a while but the numbers are dwindling a bit lately, thank goodness. For a while, around the time the economy took the big downfall, we were being over run with wild dogs. So bad they were coming out of the woods and up to barn. I'm pretty sure they were chasing Target around his pasture. He suddenly became VERY aggressive toward poor innocent River and that's just not going to be allowed.
With the wild dogs have come some pretty adventurous trail rides. The first few went something like this:
Target, River, and I are calmly walking along the trail enjoying a relaxing and peaceful trail ride when out of no where a dog barks. With this sudden surprise Target leaps straight up on his hind legs doing an abrupt 180 degree turn to high tail it back to the barn. I'm holding down the reins, keeping my rear in the saddle, and trying to keep him from high tailing it back to the barn while thanking God for giving me balance and Larry and Suzanne for teaching me to use said balance to remain on the horse that is freaking out. All while River takes off running after the dogs. Eventually I get Target facing back in the direction we were originally going and immediately clipping along at a machine gun trot trying to catch up. Not so comfortable for me. With time we come up on River heading back to us looking all proud of himself for chasing off the dogs. I'm just glad he didn't get mauled.
The next few rides went like this:
Again all three of us are walking along calmly enjoying a relaxing and peaceful trail ride when WE surprise the wild dogs! Thankfully since Target saw them he immediately takes off after River to chase them. I admit that I don't necessarily mind that fact that Target wants to chase the wild dogs. I would like them to continue to think that River has some mega big back-up dog friend that is a 16 hand, hard footed, stubborn horse that's really scary and I want the wild dogs to be scared of Target so they leave him alone. It also keeps the wild dogs staying far on the other side of the property from the barn and from trying to eat River since he either thinks they want to be his friend or he really just likes to hunt them down and chase them back to their hiding holes, never mind the fact there are 5-6 of them and 1 of him!
Then there was today:
A quiet sunny trail ride that I was really enjoying since everyone was so calm until I heard the dog barking in the distance. Thankfully so did everyone else which instantly meant it was hunting time for River. He did a good job too. Not less than a few seconds passed and he had flushed the wild dogs from the trees and the chase was on. Target didn't jump, spook, or hardly lift his ears up! I tried to kick him into a trot to get going after River and the poor old guy didn't hardly want to move. I finally got him going only to be completely left in the dust trying to catch River. We never caught River. River came back to us again looking so proud of himself. Target acted like he could care less and wasn't worried about the dogs the rest of the time we were out. He went right back to his snail pace and we had a great time. River, on the other hand, kept looking for the dogs in full on hunting mode. He seems to forget that he's a big weeny when we're out at the barn!
Gotta love my fur babies!