Moving to new yard HELP

[willhegofirst]

OK I am moving my boy to a new yard this month, now, he has been on current yard for six and a half years since a yearling, I have been on this yard which is very small six horses at the mo for twenty four years!! so I and somewhat nervous about this. The new yard is large 41 stables about sixty horses, my lad is also a bit of a stress-head, so any ideas, tips etc. to help make this move as stress free as poss for both of us, PLEASE.

 

[Luci07]

Most importantly..... give yourself and your boy time to settle down and dont' expect it to feel "like home" overnight....!

 

[Snowysadude]

Dont panic! I moved my old cob (11 at the time) from the home he has been at since he was nearly 2 yrs old. There was 1 horse and 2 shetlands and then him. He actually changed from a bulshy idiot to a nicely mannered horse in the stable..... To make the move stress free i would advise you move everything possible the day before to the new yard (if they let you), leaving literally enough hay/made up feeds/rugs to last the one night and the move the next day - that helped me so much! Or at least make sure its all packed up the day before so if you remeber something that night you can pick it up in the morning. Try to get the new stable ready the day before also if possible so he can go straight in when he arrives to a nice bed with hay and water!

Dont know about your boy but i found the best way to have a stress free move for the horse was food. I gave him treats before he was on the box, on the box, getting off the box, and in the stable. He soon realised moving = food and seemed fine with it. I got him into a routine with the other horses on the yard very quickly and he settled almost instantly

Good luck with the move, hope it all goes well and smoothly

 

[Gingerwitch]

Life on a large yard can be rather strange - and you will feel like you dont know the rules for quite sometime - hopefully you will have a helpful yard manager, or owner who will give you the run down on what is or is not acceptable. I pity you if you are on a place like my last yard... every week a "new rule" would suddenly appear. But on the other hand on being at a yard for years, you can suddenly get new people who just do things without consideration for the others i.e leaving horses out on there own, not poo picking the school, feeding only there own horse in a morning when the "rule" has always been "feed your own block".

So if possible ask some questions before you get there, politley keep yourself to yourself for the first few weeks before you find out who can or cannot be trusted to make trouble for you or drop all there baggage onto you (or get you doing loads of stuff for them).

Can i ask you why you are moving?

 

[Izzwizz]

Ive been on my yard for 6yrs now and when I first went I found it very intimidating, its quite big, about 40ish horses. Would agree with Gingerwitch's comments, but have to say that I wouldnt move elsewhere now, am quite settled and yes there are sometimes people who come who are not considerate to others e.g leaving jumps out in the school so the next person has to clear them away. Having said this, theres always someone to help you out when something unexpected crops up and I do have some good friends.

Your current yard sounds really nice at that size, did wonder why your moving to a large one.?

Good luck with it.

 

[willhegofirst]

Thanks for the Ideas.
Gingerwhitch, i am moving mainly because my boy is not brave and needs a lead horse to hack out, on my present yard, hardly anyone dose anything, no brave lead horse anymore, so I am dependent on my OH or son to come out with me on a pushbike, I also feel at nearly 8yrs he is rather lacking in his education and I hope this move will help with this. There are lots of other resons including new yard has direct access to a park with no road work, and a flood lite school.
I have spoken to the yard owner at length, and have a copy of their contract, and rules are outlined, it seems a very happy yard, people don't move on very often.