Stressed horse

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crackerjack

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I moved my horse at the end of December to a new yard. There were already 2 horses there for his previous stable and they had settled in fine. He lived out for 4 weeks as we were waiting for a new stable to be built. He was on full livery so i didn't see him as much ( weekend only) but i spoke to them on the phone and he was fine. Over the weeks her started coming in during the day and hated it, he would run round the stable, get up and down and generally get himself into a right sweaty state. So he only cam him for his feeds and went straight back out again. I put his restlessness down to being away from his friends who had just gone out ( from being in stables at night). This didn't bother me so much as i could kind of put a reason to it. Now to get more to the point of this post, whenever i went to tack him up and ride he was really restless, when grooming he wouldn't stand still and kept walking around and scraping the floor, this was a real contrast to the horse i had at the old yard as he was the most docile, lazy horse in the world who i would trust with even tiny children- at this point i wouldn't trust him with anyone! When ridden he was fine, a little more perky than usual, but not naughty or spooky, it was just all new to him. I didn't worry to much as i knew he would be getting a stable soon and thought that would calm him down.

A few weeks ago he moved into his new stable, in a block of four with his friends either side of him. He is happier about being in a stable but i still haven't got my horse back. So my question is- has he still not totally settled in ( he was at his last yard for 6 years), or has he changed, he is getting more feed and exercise so maybe that is it.

I am not really sure what to do. I don't think he is being naughty he just seems quite nervous. Any suggestions?

Sorry for the mammoth post!
 
having put Pidge on holiday livery for 4 weeks where he didn't 100% settle I would have to say IMO that he is still settling in. It took Pidge a good 10-14 days to settle back at home after coming back from his holiday livery. Plus a lot of horses are pretty keen and sharp and restless at the moment anyway.
 
Thats reassuring. I am hoping he will settle in soon. It's a lovely yard with lovely people and i would hate for him to not like it there. He is has been there for 8 weeks tomorrow though
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8 weeks for some horses isn't a long time though! sis horse Sunny settled in straight away and was fine, Pidge on the other hand never really settled and was off his food somewhat, which is very unusual as he is a pig when it comes to food! The other thing to bear in mind is that he had limited contact with you when first moved so from his perspective, new home, new horsey friends, mum not there as much............. If there has been some improvement then that is good and would indicate that he is slowly starting to settle. IMO.
 
So long as you have ruled out too much concentrates for the level of work he is doing, then I would say he needs more time to settle. When I bought my horse he went through several stages of 'settling'. To be honest, they are all different and some cope with change better than others. My horse did not settle very well at all in the first 3 months, I saw a fair change after 6 months and he has gone from strength to strength ever since...it has taken a long time and if he has other big changes in his life, he usually takes a small step back before dealing with it...but that is just my boy. Give your's time, be very patient with him and keep reassuring him and spending time with him...he will get there when he is ready.
 
We've found some horses settle quickly others can take literally months.
The panicking when brought in from his friends is his way of showing he isn't as confident in the new place, it could be another horse is a bit dominant in the field, and he is unsure of his place in the hierarchy.
We introduce newbies by taking two others out of the main herd and adding all three after a week or so of being alone together. Most times they stick as a three, if not it still seems to give the new horse some sense of knowing someone, and if bullied they will run to that pair again even if they don't get on that well.
I would get a detailed breakdown of what feed he is on, and ask if they can feed more forage and less hard feed for a little while, and most importantly feed some pink powders for at least a couple of weeks. Changing feeds often makes them hyper and the powders seem to solve that problem.
Look at his behaviour when out if you can, often the problems stem from the field politics we find.
 
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