How long would you

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mitchellk

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leave a horse to settle in to a new home before riding it- and would you turn out and/or lunge first to see how it reacts before getting on?
Have a horrible feeling I might be getting horsey back!- just interested folks I am sure you lot must have common sense
 
Turn out for few days, maybe a week/s if big move. Start with 'walkies' and sesions in my ring, then start lunging when there some sort of relationship. Atlo this is for younge, problem horses.
 
Depends entirely on the horse. For some horses Id ride within 24 hours, more sensitive types I would give it longer. But we do have the advantage of a very quiet indoor school, would be much much more cautious if I wasnt riding in a confined safe space!
 
Depending on the horse....
If it's an older, widely travelled horse then i'll ride the next day, usually a hack out in company or time in the school working out where the buttons are. Provided that goes well it's business as usual from then on, no excuses.

A youngster or a horse thats come with 'issues' (the ones i love!) will not be ridden for a couple of days, but will start groundwork the day after arriving. They'll then be hacked out in company for the first week or so to get them used to being out on the roads around here - lots of lorries!
 
I generally ride that evening, depending on if the horse is used to being exercised reasonably regularly as I find if you leave it too long they tend to get overexcited and stressed.
Does depend on the horse, but I compare it to a competition realistically.
 
Totally depends on the horse but normally I will ride them either the day they arrive or the day after. Occasionally I have one who takes a bit longer to settle, but that is very rare as all my horses here are very laid back and used to new horses arriving all the time. The new horses generally make friends very quickly so are pretty chilled within an hour or two.
 
I leave them to chill out and make friends with the rest of the herd etc. before beginning any work - they have enough to deal with without putting on the pressure of work as well. How long depends on how they settle. Then I would lunge and see how they are.
 
Same day. Ours aren't allowed to go out until they have all been fully wormed so I wouldn't want ot get on something that has been stuck in a stable for a while and was also new
 
Always ride the same day, they tend to settle much better once they've been ridden. We bought pony no.6 a few weeks ago and he had been kept in since the vetting so we let him loose in the school for 10 minutes before going on a short hack. We didn't want him belting round the muddy fields like a loony so it was better to ride him before he went out. In the end he just wandered into the field and starting eating the round hay bale with the others.
 
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