Bringing a new youngster home!

Brownmare

Brownmare

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Any tips?

I will be bringing my new yearling home this week and it will be his first time on a trailer (apart from walking through one with no partitions). I was planning on taking my older gelding along to keep him company, is there anything else I can do? Is an instant calmer a good idea?
Also, it will be his first time leaving the yard he was born on which I am aware will be traumatic for him. I would normally quarantine a new horse but I don't think this is appropriate in this case. What else can I do to help him settle in?
 
With my filly, she was travelled on her own with the partition taken out of the trailer with a straw bed put down. She travelled fine. She was put out with an old ex-broodmare and settled fine. At a later stage she was carefully introduced to other (calm, youngstock safe) horses.

The gelding was an older yearling and was big enough to travel with the partition in. He was turned out with the old ex-broodie on arrival, and settled well. Once again he was later introduced to the rest of the herd carefully and it was in fact the filly mentioned above who was the bossiest with him. They soon got on well though.

That's what worked with my two anyway. Both Arabs coming away from their breeders for the first time. No calmers, just careful planning, sensible handling and a lovely, sweet tempered mare ready to 'nanny' them.
 
I moved my yearling last year, he had never travelled before but had learnt to tie up nicely, but had never left his field buddies on the stud etc. I was having a melt down deciding stressing what to do!

We gave him a very small dose of domosedan to knock the edge off him but not enough to sedate if that makes sense - to be fair I'm sure most had worn off by the time he was loaded. Had a professional transporter pick him up in a 3.5 tonne which was nice & light with a low ramp & a stallion partition. He loaded, tied up, stood & travelled quietly, then was lovely & calm the other end too - transporter watched him on the camera all the way & said he didn't move! It was only a 20 minute journey but the first ones are so important & as I already have a sticky loader I wanted this to be a positive experience for him. Plus! It took the pressure off me having a professional there & the fact I didn't have to tow. Was worth the extra cost!
 
Brownmare said:
Really? That isnt something I had considered. I should add he is actually rising 2 but a late foal and he ties up nicely in a stable.
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So as all horses have the 1st Jasnuary as their birthday he is 2!! I would do exactly what you were planning, take your gelding (assuming he is quiet, travels well and will not be able to bully the youngster) then tie the 2 year old up as normal. If you think he is likely to panic you could give him a bit of sedative but he should be fine next to an adult horse. I do not think you should put a 2 year old loose in a trailer. I have done that with foals but no older. Safe journey.
 
sport horse said:
So as all horses have the 1st Jasnuary as their birthday he is 2!! I would do exactly what you were planning, take your gelding (assuming he is quiet, travels well and will not be able to bully the youngster) then tie the 2 year old up as normal. If you think he is likely to panic you could give him a bit of sedative but he should be fine next to an adult horse. I do not think you should put a 2 year old loose in a trailer. I have done that with foals but no older. Safe journey.
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Yes, I worded that badly but he is very much still a yearling physically! I'm probably worrying over nothing as he is a level headed chap but as awelshandawarmblood said, first experiences are so important to get right...
 
My 2 yr old came over from Ireland about 10 weeks ago. Unfortunately they had dreadful weather at the border so he had to be temp stabled for 4 nights by the transportation company, not ideal given first time away from his breeder!
When he eventually they had moved him into a 2 horse lorry and he traveled the remaining way on his own tied up as normal. He was tired but fine. I left him stabled next to my older gelding for 24 hours and he pretty much slept the whole time 😴
He then went straight out with my gelding and they have had a ball ever since!!! Good luck!
 
There is no way I would tie a horse rising 2 in a trailer until I was sure he had learnt it all. I took another horse to bring a youngster home once in the lorry and it didn't work. The youngster didn't care about the other horse, didn't get anything from him. I would pay a transporter to bring him home travelling loose (on his own) in a 3.5 ton. Mine travelled from Scotland to Devon that way and didn't even want to get off the lorry, he had enjoyed it so much. It was worth every penny. When he arrived I put him in a stable with the top door shut and spent the night with him on a chair. Although he had spent around 10 hours on a lorry he was as bright as a button and wide awake all night. I made sure there was a deep straw bed in the lorry and no hay nets.
 
I've bought and moved lots of youngsters on what has been their first journey and first time away from breeder and have never had a problem with any. I never use a trailer so not sure what approach I would go for if I did, but in a 3.5/4.5 lorry I generally prefer to travel loose because I've seen youngsters (not belonging to me) go over the breast bar, over/under partitions and get their heads wrapped up in the rope.
Having said that, my two younger ones now were both travelled tied up 🙈 (both 2 at the time) - one because I was begging transport off a friend and didn't want to ask her to take out the partition too, and the other because she was an impulse buy so all I had to move her was my 7.5t, so I just wedged her in at the back and hoped for the best.
 
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