Moving a horse that has lived in the same place all his life....

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Charla

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How can I make it as least stressful as possible for him? Has lived in the same place all his life with same owner, now aged 7. He's always been stabled over night and out for a few hours a day in a field on his own. However the plan is for him to live out 24/7 as long as the weather is ok. He's also been on a bare field when out so mainly lived on hay and small feeds of livery mix and alfa a. The field he will be in has plenty of grass. So should I cut out feed/and or hay?? Just want it as least stressful as possible for him!
 
if he was mine i would start off with being in at night for the first week and just give him very a small feed with the same as he has been used to so he is eased in gently ,and make sure he has another horse for company....just to reasure you, i had to move my mare as we lost our grazing and she went from being out all day to being in 24/7 and only being grazed in hand for as long as i could manage. she had lived in the same place for 23 years and i must admit was a bit unsettled at first as we had to split the field companions as none of the local yards had more than 1 space. i had to keep her there for 3 months and finally managed to find somewhere with grazing and the second time she moved she settled in immediately....hope this helps..
 
Im debating as whether to make a similar move myself. Situation for my horse is very similar to yours. Ive decided that if I do it I will keep my horse in for a good few nights to try and keep his routine as much as it is then go to 24/7. Im not sure whether this is the best thing to do as he will be stressed being in at night, in a new place with all other horses out but theres no way I could turn him into a new herd and leave him out 24/7 on good grass, he would either be end up injured from being with loads of new horses or end up ill from too much grass.
Its a difficult one but I dont think you can expect to turn him onto good grazing 24/7 and other horses when hes used to sparse grazing, being on his own and in at night.
Good luck, I hope what ever you decide works out for you both.
 
My old mare lived on the same yard for nearly 20 years before we bought her but we had to move as we had issues with people stealing our things.

I was lucky that I had my other horse to keep her company & he had lived on the yard for 18 months previous so the transition wasnt too bad, they had each other and I had no issues.

I know of a lady that owned her horse for nearly 30 years she was totally fed up with her yard but couldnt move as the horse was far too elderly and she thought the move would probably kill him.

I think it depends on the age as to how they will take it, you will never know how they will react until you take the plunge.

Good luck :)
 
friend of mine had to go for surgery last summer so took her horse off livery and put him down with mine. hers is an arab who was born on the livery yard, stabled all day and out at night and used to a busy yard, he went from that to being turned out 24/7 on farm livery,my 4 were in the same field but separate paddock and apart from a bit of fence pacing the first 2 days he settled down well. We had him in a paddock with not too much grass so that she could keep on feeding hay and giving him a nominal feed just to avoid a sudden massive change in diet but he didn't seem to miss his stable at all!!
 
It's very much down to the individual horse to be honest and I would just ask a bit about what the owner thinks. You may find you are over analysing it all and thinking too much - the majority of horses really couldn't give a stuff and, providing they have food and water they are fine. Sure he may be unsettled for a little bit, that would be expected for any horse going to new surroundings and the only reason I would maybe juist take a few precautions to start with is if he hasn't had the grass and you are suddenly going to put him on decent grass - you may just have to introduce it slowly to avoud any shocks to his digestive system! Then again - as with my previous comments, some horses it just has no affect on whatsoever!
 
I would keepthe change in forage to a minimum for the moment, as this is likely to upset his stomach. If possible to keep him seperatly on slightly less grass for a while it would be best. Especially as the spring grass is coming through now.
 
Not quite all his life but after 11 years of being in the same place I was really worries about moving him. I boxed him up, tacked up when I arrived as I'd do at a show took him out hacking then came back put him in his new stable, then turned him out a little later ... Settled perfectly. He did know my other horse who he'd been turned out with at the old yard 6 months previously he remembered him which I think helped settle him. I think most are more adaptable than we give them credit for, of course they maybe a little stressed for a while that's natural, but routine helps.
 
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