Should i move her to a livery yard...please help!

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rose bud

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Hi,
i have had my horse for 3 weeks and i keep her at someones house who lives down the road from me. It is a lovely place with 4 fields and a stable.
But, i am considering moving her to a livery yard, and heres why,
they have alpaca's which my mare hates (although they are not in the same field she can see them) they make her really spooky.
There are also no other horses there which she is not used to.
Although she is not my first horse she is my first for 10 years and i dont want to loose my confidence with her.
We are having a few issues at the moment, nothing major yet but things likd she doesn't want to go back to the field from the stable (last week she didn't want to go in the stable!) and when i tried to hack her out she napped and wouldn't go (although i saw her hacked out alone before i bought her)
i'm wondering if these are just settling in issues that will get better with time or if she would be happier at livery, as she was before i bought her?
I would welcome opinions please! X
 
Yes.
She is showing signs that she is not happy alone and may get more stressed and difficult.
If you find a good yard then you will have some support with these issues.
While she is there maybe you could find someone to join you at your friends place and move back once things have settled.
 
If you can afford to move to a livery yard and there is one reasonably locally then I don't think it sounds like a bad idea TBH. A couple of the issues you have mentioned are red flag issues to me... particularly the fact that she is being nappy out hacking when she wasn't before which makes me wonder if she is starting to take charge of you rather than you of her.

It might be beneficial to have other people with horses around and hopefully an instructor just to make sure you and her get off on the right foot and small problems are nipped in the bud rather than being allowed to escalate.

Also if she is not used to being kept alone, this can make a lot of horses very very anxious, their personalities can alter considerably. This is because they are constanly 'on guard' without another horse to share the burden. If she also anxious about the alpacas she is probably not getting a lot of rest and recuperation time which might be making her more spooky, nappy and generally difficult to manage. Some horses can cope on their own but IMHE most can't. When my pony lived on his own for 4 months (unavoidable temporary situation) he became extremely jumpy and difficult to handle. Since being back with others he has calmed back down again.

Good luck JMHO
 
Thankyou, for the replys so far... I have been feeling like im over reacting because people keep saying "give her time its early days" but i dont want a stressed, difficult horse and its not fair on her to be unhappy. I don't want these issues getting worse as she's just not the horse that i went to see before i bought her! :(
 
I would say move at least untill you get to know her and she trusts you. Maybe in time you can go back to the place you are at maybe with a friend. She would get used to the alpacas in the end!!
 
I would definitely move her, I have returned to horse ownership after 10 years too and feel we need the moral support and companionship of others, us and the horses, a problem shared is a problem halved and all that. Good luck and for what its worth think you are being wise, not over reacting - wish you well x
 
Its still early days but a horse should have horsey friends so if this isnt going to happen then yes move her.
Some horses when settled cope find on their own,although it does seem sad.
But others never settle because they need company.

If there is enough labd can youget a companion or will the land owner take on another livery like you?
So your horse has company but the owner has the respnosibility of the other horse and not you!
 
Poor mare, she must be terrified. Yes, either get her a companion or move her. Horses should not be kept alone. I am sure her spookiness will improve greatly as soon as she is moved.
 
Yep, there are always friendly people around then to help u!!!

I'm very lucky to have my own place. but have a lovely livery yard 100m away that I helped out at when i was younger and now do some holiday cover for, so always have someone on hand if I need. When my stables collapsesd and I had to move to a yard temporarily about 6 yrs ago was the best move I made as had been starting to lose my confidence.

Try it, poor girly doesn't sound very happy, which will lead to u not being happy!!
Good Luck!!
 
Samantha008 said:
yes!!! move her!!!

If shes not happy there, then why keep her there!! My mare would be miserable by herself too. Horses are herd animals and should be kept as such!!
Click to expand...

^^^ This^^^

I wouldn't even be happy if my horse had to be kept on individual t/o. Its not natural and doesn't meet their basic needs imo. Bet you'll be much happier at livery too :)
 
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