Is moving yards stressfull for horses?

Paint it Lucky

Paint it Lucky

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Or prehaps, how often is it acceptable to move yards? Just because my horse has already been to 5 different yards in the last 18 months (through no fault of his own), two of them with me, and now I'm considering getting a job at a new yard but wonder whther it would be fair to take him with me as he has only been as his current yard a few months and is now settled there, it doesn't seem fair to move him again!
 
I would also really like to know the answer to this question. I am desperate to move mine as yard owner is a psycho and I need out but trying to be really careful as don't want to move him and then have to move him again.... it is so hard. If only i could have the yard and the horse and the grazing and the facilities in my back garden all to myself!!
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to help your horse to settle in alittle, is to take a small bucket of his horse friends poo!!! "no really" it will help him/her. put the bucket in his field or his/her stable for a week...
 
I think it depends on the horse.

One of my friends has had to move her horse twice recently and both times her horse got very stressed for the first 5-6 weeks in the new yards. It would box walk and weave really badly until it finally settled in.

I've kept my own horse at the same yard for the past 3 years but I have taken him away on a couple of riding camps and he's always settled into his new (albeit temporary) stables immediately with no obvious signs of stress.

I know some people who are always falling out with their yards and moving their horses but it's not something I'd want to do to my horse any more often than absolutely necessary.
 
I think we have to accept that moving is stressful and unsettling for any horse, the question is always about the effect that stress will have on individual horses, so taking familiar things (old bedding, even some water) to help with the transition is helpful
 
I moved my horse last week to the yard I know work it. He settled in so quickly, literally a few days. Then again he is a very laid back horse and takes everything in his stride. So I think temprement is an extremely important factors. Horses can react in hugely different ways in situations like this. Hope everything goes well if you plan to move!
 
I swear W thinks he's a 'travellers' pony he's moved that many times, doesn't give a toss (think his mirror helped a lot). Neither does the newbie who had been on previous yard since a yearling and settled straight in. I think we worry more than they do and if you keep to same routine it helps.
 
I personally have never had a prob with moving horses, they just get on with it IMHO, but I know some people DO have probs and I cannot help but wonder whether those probs sometimes come from the owners anxiety rather than the horses..
 
Well, I think the answer is more "it depends"

Moved a horse for a friend of mine and he never settled at the new yard. His behaviour improved, but he was never how he used to be before he moved there. Generally naughty however he could be really, vandalism as well as bloodymindedness. Then she moved to a new property where there were stables at home. Again I moved him for her and he came out of that trailer and straight into his new stable (he point blank refused to go in one at the previous yard for about a week) and has reverted to being the laid back chappy he really is. No obvious reason for him to be like that, but there was something about that yard he didn't like! (It's a nice yard by the way, not somewhere horrible)
 
I agree an anxious owner will not help however I recently moved my mare from her yard after 3 years. She is arab x Tb and very highly strung. I was relaxed and thinking all was well until she jumped out the field after the horsebox!
Then began box walking and weaving for the first time ever , I was then very stressed and really would never moved her again unless really essential. Its taken 6 months for her to settle down. However in saying that I know many horses who would not bother at all if they had grass and company so I'd say it depends on your horse, if they were fine last time chance are they dont mind too much at all . Good luck
 
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