While it’s fun covering all of the equine action during a big competition like The Fork, sometimes the most interesting stories happen back in the barns.

We took a stroll through stabling and found a few top riders who shared stories of their best friends of the canine persuasion.

Tamra Smith’s French Bulldog, Pig, loves to come to horse shows. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Tamra Smith and Pig

Tamra Smith’s 1½ -year-old French Bulldog was originally named Nelly. “She snorts pretty much all the time,” said Smith. “We just started calling her Pig and it stuck.”

Pig has been coming to horse shows since Smith got her as a 6-week-old puppy and has proved to be the perfect competition companion. “She doesn’t need a leash because she stays like five feet from me all the time. She’s super relaxed; she doesn’t get anxiety or bark,” said Smith, Temecula, Calif. “She’s attached to me so if I’m riding and she’s in the golf cart, she makes these gremlin sounds, which is actually really cute.”

Though Pig likes watching the competition from the safety of the golf cart, she’s cautious around the horses. “All of mine try to nuzzle her and she kind of looks at them,” said Smith. “She’s not afraid of them; she’s just smart about them, probably because she’s been around them since she was a baby.”

Pig hasn’t lived up to the stereotype that Frenchies are high-maintenance and loves to be in the barn as long as she doesn’t overheat with her short snout. “She’s pretty perfect!” smiled Smith.

Liz Halliday-Sharp’s Arnold came all the way from England with her and is loving the Florida weather. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Liz Halliday-Sharp and Arnold

Liz Halliday-Sharp made sure to pack Arnold with her when she decided to base herself in Ocala, Fla., for the spring season, leaving behind her yard in England to prepare for the Rolex Kentucky CCI****.

Halliday-Sharp’s husband, Al, named their Jack Russell/Miniature Poodle cross Arnie, or Arnold, after Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“He was born two days before one of my owners had her first baby, so it was not ideal,” explained Halliday-Sharp. “He was literally like a sausage with legs when he was a puppy. He was just this huge, super chunk. My owner just brought him to the yard every day like, ‘You know you want him!’”

Halliday-Sharp couldn’t say no and has had Arnie ever since. Now 2½, Arnie has had his share of ups, downs and adventures. Last year, he had one of his front legs completely rebuilt.

“If you look at him when he stands, one leg is really wonky. He grew that way as a puppy; his whole foot was turned around backwards. So he was getting really, really lame,” said Halliday-Sharp. “They literally went in and broke it and had it rebuilt.”

Even after his surgery, Arnie was prone to bouts of lameness, especially after a long walk around one of Halliday-Sharp’s cross-country courses. One of her sponsors supplied her horses with magnetic therapy bands and made a special collar for Arnie. With his new collar, he’s rediscovered his affinity for course walks. He also loves to play fetch and takes advantage of all the strangers at horse shows who’ll throw a stick for him.

“He’s just the coolest dog ever; he’s really smart and very well-behaved, He just does what he’s told,” said Halliday-Sharp, who takes Arnie to events over England, Ireland and the U.S. “You’d think I trained him well but he just kind of gets it; he’s always been very, very smart. He seems to understand English, which is super weird.”

In fact, Arnie knows the word “ready?” best and usually starts barking in anticipation.

Ryan Wood got Snoopy in a package deal with a horse he bought. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Ryan Wood and Snoopy

Ryan Wood acquired his Irish Jack Russell in a package deal with a horse he purchased from Ireland. “They threw a pup in for every horse we bought, so we actually brought over the whole litter and kept her,” he explained.

He decided to call the puppy Snoopy after the Charlie Brown and the Peanuts characters. “I just thought it was a great name, and my business is Woodstock [Eventing] so it sort of goes with the theme,” he said. Snoopy has been his sidekick ever since, whether he’s walking cross-country or attending a press conference.

Snoopy, now 3 years old, has a repertoire of tricks that range from rolling over to playing dead. Though she might miss her best friend Shuffle, a Jack Russell that she plays with at the equine vet clinic near where Wood is based in Aiken, S.C., during the winter months, he says that she’s the perfect horse show dog: “She’s easy to travel with, hangs out at the barn, and loves the course walk.”

Doug Payne’s mutt, Bacon, loves being the center of attention at horse shows. Photo by Anne Hoover.

Doug Payne and Bacon

When Doug Payne walked down the aisle of the ominously named Eleventh Hour Rescue in Rockaway, N.J., all of the dogs were barking except for one: a fluffy mutt from Georgia who was sitting quietly and wagging his tail. Payne had to have him.

Five years later, Bacon rules the roost at Payne’s Bridle Creek Farm base in Aiken, S.C. Bacon, who they estimate is about seven years old, is the farm’s resident vacuum. That’s not how he got his name, though.

“He was named Chester and I had a horse named Chester at the time so I couldn’t do that,” said Payne. “When he’s really excited, he basically reminds me of the Beggin’ Strips dog – he gets all excited – so somebody said ‘Bacon’ and it stuck.”

Bacon enjoys visiting local eventers Ryan Wood and Kevin Keane at their nearby farms when Payne bases in Aiken. “Usually he makes the rounds, checks it all out, and then goes and visits Kevin because Kevin leaves scraps out from the night before,” said Payne. “Kevin says it’s first come, first serve for all the neighborhood dogs, and Bacon’s generally first on that list.”

When Bacon makes his way back to Payne’s farm, he settles into his favorite chair outside the ring to supervise the day’s rides. He also occasionally pitches in with chores by leading horses and always makes sure to be first on the scene when one misbehaves.

He also loves going for rides on the four-wheeler, where he prefers to sit in the front. Payne says it’s funny to watch when the vehicle gets up to about 30 miles per hour and Bacon’s ears stand up.

“He certainly wants to be where the action is all the time,” said Payne. “I think it’s so important to have dogs around. You have a bad day, they’re always there, you know what I mean?”

This season, Payne’s groom, Michelle, lovingly banned him from horse shows because of his penchant for getting in the middle of things, so he’s ruling the roost at home this weekend.

Lynn Symansky’s Ike was a former police dog. Photo by Jasmine Wallace.

Lynn Symansky wanted a dog that was protective but not aggressive to keep her company during the long hours at the barn. Enter Ike, a German Shepherd that Symansky acquired from a police officer couple that trained Schuntzhund dogs.

“He got his Level 1, which is like the equivalent of going beginner novice or novice level, and then he just didn’t want to go up the levels any more; he was a big wimp,” said Symansky. “He’s a great dog for a girl to have around the barn because we have odd hours sometimes and you’re there late at night. He barks a lot; that’s kind of what he’s trained to do, but he’d never harm a fly. So he’s perfect because he looks a bit ferocious but he’s actually such a teddy bear.”

Though it took him some time to get used to living in the house and being around new people, Ike loves to go to events with Symansky. When he’s not curled comfortably up in his crate at the stalls, he loves walking the cross-country.

“He goes on course walks; he’s infamous for not being able to get out of the water jump,” said Symansky. “He travels everywhere with me.”

Ike still has some hang-ups from his days as a potential police dog. He barks at garage doors because the kennel he lived in had one, and he associates the sound of lunge whips with the whips used to excite – but never hit – the Schuntzhund dogs during their training.

“Life is a job to him and I’m kind of his job because that’s how they’re trained,” said Symansky. “When we wake up, he’s with me and goes to the barn. He follows me out on every single horse; he doesn’t hang out in the barn with all the other dogs and run off. He’s always watching me and when I finally finish a ride and just drop the reins, he comes running into the ring because he knows it’s the end of the ride.”