Settling In!

[Ample Prosecco]

I don't want to derail another thread but this came up and it made me curious. Quite often here and on FB groups there is reference to a horse needing to settle in. And this is used to explain/excuse all manner of behavioural and health issues for extended periods of time. Some people don't ride till they have 'settled in' - occasionally for weeks or months. Sellers will sometimes say 'he's never done that before, he must need time to settle.'

On the other hand, horses get sent on sales or competition livery and I doubt many owners would be happy to allow a horse to 'settle in' for weeks on end while they are paying for a service. Plus they also expect the horse to cope on sales livery with being ridden by lots of people and to never-the-less show itself off as a good buy! If settling in was such an issue for so many horses, sales livery just would not exist.

So what is your 'new horse' routine. What signs do you look for in a new horse? What behaviours have you seen that you think are settling in issues?

I normally ride the day after the horse arrives. Lottie had 48 hours in a field with adlib hay after her journey over from Ireland, but was then back under saddle on daty 3. I expect them to pace a bit, call, be more on their toes/alert. I expect them to react to anything unfamiliar - arena lights, tractors, animals. I don't exepct them to be off their food or to look unhappy/ill. I don't expect major vices to suddenly appear (cribbing, weaving etc). I don't expect major problems under saddle (rearing/bucking/broncing.) A bit of anxiety driven napping and spookiness is ok.

Only 1 horse did not settle very quickly. She box walked all night every night as she hated the yard pig. I gave it 6 weeks and then moved yards with her by which time she was thin and had ulcers! I was not prepared to leave her in a situation she clearly was not coping with for longer than 6 weeks. I don't think a horse should take longer than that to 'settle' personally but curious to hear other peoples experiences.

 

[Glitter's fun]

Can't really answer the wider question but personally I 'd be trying not to buy the kind of horse that needs to settle in.
I like to spend a few days away now and than, staying with friends or attending a clinic etc that's a bit far to get to. A horse that's stressed in new surroundings wouldn't suit me.

I'd ask minute detail of the horse's routing & follow it as exactly as I can, including riding on day one if that's been the routine before. I'd expect to take some time to get to feel relaxed riding it & that it would be needing a bit of reassurance while it gets used to me doing the handling but more than that I'd be worried I bought the wrong one!
I do the same on my trips, to the (maybe ridiculously over the top) extent of saying the same things at feeding time & taking the yellow bucket with us & always putting it on the left - that level of "keeping the same"
Not sure if that's necessary- just what I've always done.

 

[HelenBack]

I think it possibly depends on the horse and their personality but my experience has been that either they settle pretty quickly or not at all. I've had experience with two yards now where the horses didn't like it for whatever reason, even though I thought the yards were nice and should have been suitable for them. One of these was several years ago when I just had the one and in this case the top horse moved shortly after we arrived and then the second in command was PTS a few months later so I think that was unsettling for him. The other was since I had two and I moved them to a yard that would be great for them but again they didn't settle well at all. The older one wasn't so bad but the younger one became very anxious and his ridden work suffered as a result. I gave up after about six months and moved them on again and both breathed a sigh of relief and settled in to the new place almost instantly. I think I rode the day after arriving.

Like you I might expect a little bit of anxiety for a few days but I certainly wouldn't expect it to take a year, and if any of the more major issues you describe above arose I would conclude that the horse wasn't happy there or there was something else going on.

 

[HelenBack]

On the staying away thing, I do think some of that comes with maturity and experience. The first time I took my older one to a camp I could tell he was a bit discombobulated at first and he didn't lie down the first night. After that he was fine though and he just got used to going all sorts of places. I'm hoping to take my younger one to his first camp in the spring and I probably expect him to be a bit confused at first too, although maybe he'll surprise me and be fine.

 

[shortstuff99]

Two of mine I could drop off at a new home tomorrow and they would be perfectly rideable and behaved. One of mine would have an absolute meltdown. She can just about hold it together if we move yards or do a stay away show but throw in a new person and you would have a hot mess.

Different personalities really.

 

[Hackback]

Interesting discussion. I've been lucky that none of ours (only 3 over the years) have been really difficult. One came from a busy stud and producers to a livery yard/producers which was run in a strict routine, which I guess more or less matched what he was used to.

One had been moved about a bit and he took a good 6 months to settle, but he was fine to ride, handle etc, he just got stressed being stabled or even tied up - he broke so many head collars and lead ropes in the early days. He loved a routine though and ended up being very relaxed.

I feel for the latest because for the first two years of his life he had lived on the farm where he was born and had no idea of an existence outside his immediate world. Then he was bribed onto a wagon and had a two day journey (overnight stop) to get to me on my small yard with just one strange horse for company. He was difficult to start with, but I don't know how much of that was due to being unsettled, being untrained or just being himself as a 2 year old. In hindsight I don't think I'd do that again.

 

[Esmae]

I've always given them a few days to settle. Just for them to get with the routine etc and then crack on. I had one that although I was riding him regularly he took about a year to settle with the set up at home. He was okay but got stressed easily for no apparent reason. Eventually that got less and less. He was something of an odd character altogether. He was the only one though.

 

[94lunagem]

I'm fairly gung-ho and just get on with things, but I've always had fairly steady types who are used to being out and about competing and seeing life anyway. I don't do high maintenance or highly strung!

That said, my little Sec A is sharp and certainly not to be trusted with children (he's now 20, I've had him 7 years but his previous owner is a friend so I have known him since 3) but he is considerably more relaxed than when he first arrived. He still snorts and protests at a new vet or the dentist/physio he only sees once a year, but he's no longer scared of his own shadow or anyone he sees on a regular basis. And I do put this down to him needing time to settle.

 

[OrangeAndLemon]

Mine came from living out 24/7 on a quiet farm to a huge, busy competition centre. I think it's taken him 6 months to really figure it all out and feel like home for him.

Obviously he was worked through that time and the work helped him figure it all out and let him explore his new world. I think that would lead me to believe that getting on with riding / handling etc is the best way to help them settle into a new environment; by doing something they know how to do in a new place.

 

[ester]

We didn’t realise F was still settling until his demeanour/anxiety was a lot better 12 months down the road, think partly as he had 2 changes of ownership in a realistically short period of time.
When moving yard with me I did pick what I thought would suit him but he wasn’t himself for the first 4-6 weeks (while I was promising the YO he would be more zen). Didn’t change what work he was doing

 

[sugarpony]

I did a big move with mine not long ago. He’s what I would describe as stressy/sensitive to change. But as you describe, I wouldn’t have expected any major behaviour changes/vices. He was lunged the day after we arrived, then just cracked on as normal.

The only noticeable difference was that he was quite “looky” the first few times in the arena, mostly looking at the other horses turned out around it. And that it took a few weeks for him to start really digging into the hay (he was eating it, just not as much as you’d expect). But he’s very fussy with food anyway, and he’d gone from 24/7 turnout on relatively poor grazing, to being in during the day and out at night on lush grazing.

We’ve been to camps before, the first time he was definitely very unsettled, but he hadn’t been over from Ireland long and in that time had been with the dealer, then at my yard, then at camp (literally all within 2-3wks!). But at camps since then he’s always been fine, other than a bit more worried about leaving his friends to be by himself.

ETA: took about 2-3wks for him to be fully “normal” at new yard, but if you didn’t know him you wouldn’t have known anything was wrong

 

[splashgirl45]

When my loan horse came to me she was dropped off by the owner late afternoon in winter so she went into the stable next door to my friends horse who she was going to share a field with. We hacked out the next morning and turned them out together. She paced the field a bit and as she was an ex hunt horse I was a bit worried she might jump out as her yard was only a few miles away. She seemed to settle in quite quickly and was well behaved but after 6 months I felt she had relaxed and was happy. It took till almost a year before I felt she had accepted me, the reason I say this is that she would allow me to stroke her but seemed a bit aloof , at almost a year she would approach me for affection so I felt she had accepted me then..

 

[The Xmas Furry]

If its a ridden one, then generally I'll get on as soon as arrived after fitting tack on, then turn out adjacent to the other incumbents even if it's only for a short while.
I generally find it takes at least 6 months if not a year for younger ones to become 'part of the furniture' and accepting of yard, fields, the others etc.

Absolutely no way would I leave a horse or pony to settle days or weeks if a ridden one. Even a youngster would get handled and led during the 1st fortnight.

B took a little while to get her head round things like trees... she was 8, just backed and had never seen a tree before, let alone lots of them!

 

[Flowerofthefen]

I rode my boy the day after I bought him home. He is an ex racer. He was generally great. He went from quite withdrawn to a bit naughty. I would say it was round the year mark that I thought he was completely settled at home. Having said that I took him to stay away shows and he was fine. But really settled at home after a year.

 

[HufflyPuffly]

Two of mine I could drop off at a new home tomorrow and they would be perfectly rideable and behaved. One of mine would have an absolute meltdown. She can just about hold it together if we move yards or do a stay away show but throw in a new person and you would have a hot mess.

Different personalities really.

Pretty much that ^ they’re all different.

Topaz take ages to deal with change, she takes a fair while to settle back into a less high alert mindset on a yard/ hacking move. She has done plenty of away shows, and we can ride her straight away but you can feel her tension. She takes time to trust a new setting. Same when we bought her, she really struggled with a new place + new people bless her.

The other two are fairly standard, and just got on with it all. With the caveat of the last yard I was on Skylla never really did settle 100%, and gave herself ulcers when we first moved. I only really realised how much she never really let go when we moved again . She is so much more chill on the yard we’re at now…

 

[SEL]

Real mix with mine.

Baby cob came on a Sunday and had Monday off because I was on a course. I popped him on the lunge and walked him round eyes on stalks on Tues, hopped on board on Wed.

He'd been where he was born until he came to me and although he was "ok" it was a few months until I really saw him relax.

Microcob would just get on with whatever, wherever. The Appy is neurotic but I've always kept her in a routine when we've moved yards so that helps.

 

[Peglo]

All of mine has been different but yes my newest one has taken a long time to settle.
I tried to ride her and she wanted to throw me off. She did not want me on her. She was feeling very insecure and I decided if she didn’t want me on her I wouldn’t ride until she did.
After a horrible winter here I still haven’t tried again as the weather’s never let up long enough to start anything but she has started to settle and I’m starting to see more of the horse I saw when I viewed.

It’s so open here, no hills or trees compared to where she came from, she didn’t have her old friends, she found herself at the top of the pecking order which she wasn’t used to and she didn’t trust me or me her to be honest.

I decided to give us both time to slowly get to know each other. She’s been happier coming in, maybe as her stable’s airy but enclosed rather than being in the open all the time so she feels safer but maybe the routine is helping too.
I keep horses as I enjoy having them, riding is a bonus. When she told me she didn’t want me on her I listened and I don’t think it’s done any harm to slow things down and build up slowly. It’s a privilege to ride them so i will go at her pace and hope i will always listen to what she’s telling me.

I’m sure if she went to a sales livery they could make her do as they want and ride her through it but that doesn’t mean she would be settled there.

 

[LEC]

It depends what they have come from and are going to. If it’s moving from having just been turned out 24/7 and barely doing much to a full on change with being bought in etc then it’s a big change. I normally allow 6 weeks for them to settle, learn the routine and adapt to a new person. In that time I just allow for them to be unsettled and take that into account with what I do. I don’t ask big questions and I treat them as a strange horse who might be unpredictable.

 

[irishdraft]

My latest horse has probably taken about a year to settle , I've had her 18 months she's 100% better now but is naturally anxious & reactive something that wasn't apparent when I viewed and rode her at her previous home. My set up is exactly the same as her previous home so I wasn't expecting her to be so unsettled or for her to take so long to relax. I would like to take her on a holiday somewhere but whether she would be able to cope with a new environment I'm not sure. It's been a very long & slow process with her.

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

I’ve always given a week for settling, allows me to work with the horse on the ground and get a feel for it. If I’ve already ridden the horse the I’ll know how it goes normally. F I’ve bought a project and not ridden it then it’s square one from the ground up.