HOw long do you leave a horse to settle into a field

kirstyfk

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I have just moved my horse from my parents to where I am working. 3 hours in the lorry. He is on grass livery and there is no where else to put him apart from the field he is in. I took him down on Sunday and he seemed to be ok but there was one pony who was being quite balshy and was chasing him away from the other horses. When I went to check him yesterday he was standing by the gate and very lame and covered in teeth and foot prints.

I had a check and the lameness is muscular but had to get to work so couldn't do much else. Went and checked him yesterday lunch and he was still by himself, but when I went to get him in the evening he was being chased again by the same pony. I hosed his leg which I think helped a little and put him back in the field. After a sleepless night I went up this morning and had a right job getting him out the field as the horrible pony was trying to go for him as I closed the gate. My horse pulled me all the way to the gate and dragged me away from the field.

Unfortunately after hosing his leg again and putting him back in the field the horses where round the gate and he was terrified to go in and then was chased for about 10 minutes each time running back to me at the gate. I felt so guitly for putting him this field that I have asked my dad to come and take him home.

Do you think I should have given him more time or have I a done the right thing?
 

Dizzydancer

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I would have done the same thing, it sounds like that pony would cause him alot of harm if you leave him for too long, could you seperate the field with electric fence maybe so they can get used to each other but not get hurt?
But if there is no way else he trusts you to look after him by coming back to you and as there is no other field he can go in where he is, i would definately send him back home where i no he is safe and mayb look for a different yard in the area around your work?
 

coen

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I do sympathise with you as i is a tricky situation.

At my previous yard they were put out in the field and left to sort themselves out, my horse cam in like a skinned cat for 2 weeks the was absolutely fine most horses took a week to settle in.

Now the yard I am on has alot more land so can afford to be more picky with where they go but I am having the opposite problem. A new horse entered the field and mine would chase him round and round every so often and really kicked up a fuss when they tried to bring the new horse in. No bite or kick mark on the horse but was worried he would hurt his legs or come through the gate.

So the next day they put the new horse in the other field and it really terrorised an other horse to the point they had to open a gate to let the it escape. The new horse is now said to be lame. So where to put him?

I would say as a general rule you should give them a week and leave them to be horses, obviously if they are really kicking you have to pull them out.

Interested to see what other people think
 

smellsofhorse

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I would always either put the horses in a field next the main field so they can atleast see each other for a while brfore going out together or make a small pen in the main field so they can talk but be safe.

Injuries can happen so quickly and be so serious!

Investing in some posts and fences or borrowing some is much better than taking the risk.
 

Splish & Masons mum

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I posted a similar question back in February when I got Mason.
He was continually jumping out of the field as he joined a pair that has been together for 4 years, and he was being chased by the dominant one. His rug was ripped to shreds round the bum where the others had been biting him - just biting and chasing, no kicking though - that might have been a different story...
I can sympathise, as I had many sleepless nights!
But they did sort themselves out - they started off just about tolerating each other, and ended up best friends. It took about 2 weeks if that's any help.
 

flirtygerty

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This is a horrible situation, we put our new gelding in a field where he could
see our mare and old boy, he promptly demolished the electric fencing and
commenced battle, both had shoes on and the gelding went straight for the
old boy with the mare protecting him, I had to remove the old boy before he got hurt, the other two went at it for three days kicking and biting then began tolerating each other, luckily no major damage but the noise when they
connected was awful. Two years later they are best friends but the gelding still rounds everyone up and he is the only one not scarred, we had no choice but to see it through, if I ad a secure field they would have been seperated
 

Pearlsasinger

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I would never put a horse straight into a field with a new herd. If it wasn't possible to put it into an adjoining field so that they could get to know each other over the fence, I would fence a corner off with electric fencing and put the new one into that for a while. IME it can take a couple of hours or over a week. depending on the horses involved, before I would put them all together. even then we had one kicked within the 2nd week, when they 'd been together for a few days - fortunately no long term damage was done.
 

kirstyfk

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Thank you for your replies. He is now back home feeling sorry himself. As I said there was no other option to put him anywhere before or after (well there was but I was offered a field full off old fence posts and bits of barbed wire!!!) which I wasn't happy with, another reason why I took him home.
 
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