New horse coming from Ireland tips for settling after travelling

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Oscar

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As per title, we have taken the plunge and bought a new horse unseen from the West coast of Ireland and we are on the East coast of the U.K., so the poor horse has a long old journey ahead. What can I do to help him settle and relax in without any stress? How soon should I think about worming? He's a 4yo not backed yet so won't be put under any ridden/work pressure for a while but just want him to settle and not get colicky or ulcers. He is leaving Ireland Friday and arriving here on Sunday so lots to do!!

Mine are currently out overnight and in during the day for a few hours for a feed, work, rest etc. I have no idea what time he will come so will play it by ear. My plan is on arrival offer a small damp feed of chaff, speedibeet and carrots and a haynet and water will obviously be available. Then I thought if he's chilled I will put him out in a paddock next to my others and then depending on time, bring them all in for the night so he can eat hay as my fields are set up in such a way that the others could wander off and leave him and unsettle/terrify him. Then gradually introduce them together but my lot are quite chilled with new horses (touches wood!!).

Any other ideas for feeds, supplements, workers etc?
 
If he has had a long journey the best thing you can do is let him move and lower his neck. So if arriving in daylight get him in paddock. If later at night then I'd walk for 10 mins then pop in box with hay on floor until morning turnout. I'd always recommend that some form of quarantine is applied to horses coming from Ireland via transporters
 
We are also on east coast of uk (can't get much more east than us) and horse came across from Ireland. He had a nightmare journey over with stationary traffic on the A55, M6 and M62, turning what should have been an 8hr journey (from the transporters yard just outside of Dublin to Hull) into a mammoth 17hr job.

Horse arrived dehydrated, run up and exhausted. My vet said best way was to pop him in a stable in the quiet but with a nice quiet horse near him and let him rest, a small Haynet and lots of water with the chill taken off it (mine arrived in the colder months) and just leave them alone! Don't be tempted to interfere too much on that first day unless something is very wrong (stick your head over the door occassionally but leave them to rest and avoid going in if you can)

On the second day mine was allowed to hand graze, allowed out in the school in sight of the others. It was about 4 days before we wormed him as he took that long to settle and let down his belly
 
Good advice already :)

I would also recommend putting him on a decent gut balancer for at least the first few months.

Congratulations on your new purchase :)

Also, meant to add that we moved our horses from Cornwall to Scotland, which is not a short journey! They were fine, hopefully your boy is coming over with a decent transporter.
 
Auslander said:
This! I quarantine any new horses, but I'd be particularly careful in this scenario
Click to expand...

Why? Just curious.

I've just got a new young horse who travelled from the very south of Spain, through France, through the UK to us here in Ireland. The journey took 5 days in total, with overnight stops along the way, obviously. She's been here 10 days now and has settled in very well, but she is a super brave mare.

She was a bit wound up for a day or so when she arrived, I kept her in for the first day with just soaked hay and some electrolytes. Since EVERYTHING was different for her I took the introduction to grass, feed, turnout, climate and temperature very, very carefully, but there really isn't so much of a difference between the UK and Ireland so you don't need to be as cautious as I was. She was tucked up and a bit thirsty for a couple of days, but the tum has dropped now she's out in the paddock. I had her wormed in Spain before she came over, so didn't have to load her up with chemicals right away. I did keep her separate from the other guys for 5 days, but they all came from Spain too so have been exposed to the same sorts of pathogens.
 
Baggins came from Ireland and had marks from ringworm, my vet commented how common it seems to be. It's highly contagious so quarantine a must.
 
I always keep a new horse separate for a week or so no matter where it came from. Commercial transporters are required to disinfect after every trip, although strangles would still be a risk so I understand your concern. There is no health documentation required between the UK and Ireland (France too, unless the tripartite agreement has ended?), but from Spain the horses have to have a vet cert before they can travel.
 
Strangles is not a notifiable disease to the department of agriculture in Ireland and there has been recent scares of outbreaks, so deffo quarantine.
 
I send horses to the UK regularly and we've never had any problems. All of the major transport companies have very experienced horse people working who take great care and water the animals regularly. The thing is though you cannot force a horse to drink and it can happen that as a result horses arrive dehydrated. But you can ask the seller to give a couple of electrolytes before they leave to ensure they don't get dehydrated travelling.

I could list the good companies but won't as that could set off the button pushers:) It's important not to just go with the cheapest transporters - they're not always the best.
 
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