Settling in a new horse?

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blahblah01

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Just bought a lovely flea-bitten grey, 16.2hh Irish Sport Horse X Cob. Truly lovely and am very much looking forward to continue her training. She's my first project and it's a very exciting time!

However I've brought her back to my new DIY yard and she's having a hard time settling in. Currently she refuses to graze and spends her time whinnying, staying away from the rest of the herd and running about.

I tried putting her along with another herd as well as on her own in view of other horses (yard owner very understanding and helpful must admit) but she won't settle. I even brought her in fulltime just to see but she became much more distressed, and started showing signs she was crib-biting as well as the fact I do not have enough time to accomadate that plan.

I've also not been able to ride her calmly yet. I can stay on and get her to balance, round and work nicely for me but only after half an hour of fighting and by this time she's exhausted.

The only time she's truly calm and settled is while I'm grooming or fussing around her doing other yard jobs.

Does anyone have any suggestions?
 
It sounds like on top of the stress of a move to a new yard/new owner, you have tried lots of different set ups with her in a short space of time. I wonder if what she needs is a routine and a period of stability. What was her routine at her old yard?

The usual thing to do when introducing a horse to a new herd is to first put them in with one or two kind, calm members of the herd. Once they are on friendly terms you can then try introducing her in to the big her with her new friends. Being out is definitely going to be better for her and once she has expended some energy in the field you might find she is easier to ride.

I wouldn't get in to a fight with her. In fact I wouldn't ask much of her at all if she is struggling with life at the moment. I'd be more inclined to go for some lovely long hacks with another calm horse and if she enjoys being groomed then do lots of that.

Mares can take a while to accept their new human but if you can try and see things from her point of view it will help you become buddies. :)
 
blahblah01 said:
Just bought a lovely flea-bitten grey, 16.2hh Irish Sport Horse X Cob. Truly lovely and am very much looking forward to continue her training. She's my first project and it's a very exciting time!

However I've brought her back to my new DIY yard and she's having a hard time settling in. Currently she refuses to graze and spends her time whinnying, staying away from the rest of the herd and running about.

I tried putting her along with another herd as well as on her own in view of other horses (yard owner very understanding and helpful must admit) but she won't settle. I even brought her in fulltime just to see but she became much more distressed, and started showing signs she was crib-biting as well as the fact I do not have enough time to accomadate that plan.

I've also not been able to ride her calmly yet. I can stay on and get her to balance, round and work nicely for me but only after half an hour of fighting and by this time she's exhausted.

The only time she's truly calm and settled is while I'm grooming or fussing around her doing other yard jobs.

Does anyone have any suggestions?
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Oh its you again!
 
I would not be fighting with a horse until it's exhausted at any time, and certainly not when it is already stressed from adjusting to a new environment. My inclination with this one would be to turn her out in the group she is supposed to be with, and let her be for a while, so that she realises that things aren't so bad after all. She's obviously not one who handles change particularly well, and needs a bit of time to work through one issue at a time. The most important thing to resolve is her unhappiness with her new herd - give her time to settle there, and I would imagine that the other issues will become less of a problem
 
She having trouble settling so you've put her into two different herds, left her on her own and then stabled her. Poor horse. No wonder.

I run one herd and I find it takes about 1 month for everything to settle and up to about 3 for the newbie to be fully accepted.
 
Merlod said:
She having trouble settling so you've put her into two different herds, left her on her own and then stabled her. Poor horse. No wonder.

I run one herd and I find it takes about 1 month for everything to settle and up to about 3 for the newbie to be fully accepted.
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And made the ridden experience unpleasant by fighting the horse for half an hour until the horse is 'exhausted'. My suggestion is that you leave her with one herd, establish a routine of bringing her in and start building your relationship with the things she enjoys like being groomed. She needs time to settle and she needs to know that she can rely on you to be kind and consistent. As she settles and it sounds as though this could take time you move onto eg ridden work. Your mare has arrived in a foreign land where she doesn't know anyone, doesn't know how the place works etc etc. Put yourself in that position and work out how you would like to be treated.
 
southerncomfort said:
It sounds like on top of the stress of a move to a new yard/new owner, you have tried lots of different set ups with her in a short space of time. I wonder if what she needs is a routine and a period of stability. What was her routine at her old yard?

The usual thing to do when introducing a horse to a new herd is to first put them in with one or two kind, calm members of the herd. Once they are on friendly terms you can then try introducing her in to the big her with her new friends. Being out is definitely going to be better for her and once she has expended some energy in the field you might find she is easier to ride.

Ok - thankyou! Would love to do that but unfortuantly it just isn't possible. I did however give her a couple of days in the big field but fenced off (movable electric fencing) so she could get accustomed to them.

Have been trying to do much more of what she likes, shes acctually started to settle with me but hates the thought of riding right now and is terrible to turnout but a dream to catch.
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Arzada said:
And made the ridden experience unpleasant by fighting the horse for half an hour until the horse is 'exhausted'. My suggestion is that you leave her with one herd, establish a routine of bringing her in and start building your relationship with the things she enjoys like being groomed. She needs time to settle and she needs to know that she can rely on you to be kind and consistent. As she settles and it sounds as though this could take time you move onto eg ridden work. Your mare has arrived in a foreign land where she doesn't know anyone, doesn't know how the place works etc etc. Put yourself in that position and work out how you would like to be treated.
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Ok should have phrased differently. She's exhausted because she's fighting. I've been riding her for what half an hour every day and she's used to an hour, maybe 11/2 hours.

I do agree maybe I haven't been very empathetic with her though.
 
Auslander said:
I would not be fighting with a horse until it's exhausted at any time, and certainly not when it is already stressed from adjusting to a new environment. My inclination with this one would be to turn her out in the group she is supposed to be with, and let her be for a while, so that she realises that things aren't so bad after all. She's obviously not one who handles change particularly well, and needs a bit of time to work through one issue at a time. The most important thing to resolve is her unhappiness with her new herd - give her time to settle there, and I would imagine that the other issues will become less of a problem
Click to expand...

Ok - thankyou! I'm just worried that she's going to be hurt by them. She's usually very friendly with other horses we've met out hacking and I've been told by her previous owners (whom I trust) that she settled in well. I want to try that but at the same time knowing her usual character around other horses makes me wonder if there's a reason she's not having a great time settling in?
 
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