Time to Settle.

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Foxhunter49

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Why is it that people give a horse 'time to settle' when they first get it or move stables?

If you have a young horse and send it to a professional to be say, broken then you would not expect it to be given a week or two to settle in but want them to start working it straight away.

If you take a horse to a show or a pleasure ride you do not give it a few days to settle.

Racehorses travel to race courses and stay over night - they are highly fed extremely fit and not given a chance to settle - same with event horses and even more so with show jumpers.

A new horse gets worked the next day, it is immediately put into my routine and although it might be a bit restless at the activity, manners are expected and excuses for it being 'unsettled' are not allowed.

If I have bought a horse I want to try it in strange surrounding right away just to see if it is it is meant to be. A week or two is often enough for the horse to change and become nothing like it is meant to be.
 
Same here! I start as I mean to go on and, same as you, we get a lot of horses in for training here and if I had to wait a few days or a week to crack on then I don't think my owners would be very chuffed!
 
I start straight away and am not a fan of letting them settle in. Get straight on with it, show them who's boss and let them know straight off what their role is. Each to their own though, that's just how I like to do it.
 
I always wondered why people do this too. I've always been desperate to get on and ride whenever I've had a new horse and where I used to work we used to have them straight off the lorry, saddled and get on with it. We used to take horses for schooling and sales though and I guess time is money haha!

I wonder if some people feel a little nervous and want to get to know the horse for a week, I don't know. A week is a long time in a horses brain, long enough to assume this new home doesn't require any work and so when work is introduced it could have the attitude of hang on a minute, this isn't part of the deal!
 
I have no idea, Horses thrive in a routine so I dont get why people change it when going somewhere new. surely sticking to a routine help them settle?
 
With mine I like to collect in the daylight, so middle of the day usually. Arrive home in the afternoon and then ride the following day to see how they go.
 
Ridden the next day.

There isn't time for them to settle when at away shows so I expect them to get on & work. It's the handling, in the stable & in the field with others that I've found takes time to settle xx
 
I do not think people should be made to feel inferior because they choose not to jump straight on the horses back after its unloaded.

Professionals do not have the luxury of time, hobbyists do.

There is no harm in taking time to watch and observe. Watching and observing is a forgotten art by people who rush.

This attitude of getting on and riding whatever the circumstances was demonstrated to me recently.

6 year old horse had been on a lorry from Sunday to Wednesday evening, except for going to market one day, where it wasn't sold.

Arrived on the yard at 6pm. Was tacked up and ridden at 6.30pm for an hour, and jumped. And the next morning and evening.
Horse finally exploded.
The new owner was a 'get on and ride' person. Riding a tired, stiff, dehydrated horse isn't clever.

The horse was quickly cast off and returned to the dealer.

It is a genuine little horse, now owned by an acquaintance with whom its fine.
 
I think the sooner they get into a work regime, the happier they are.

I've had horses which have been unsettled for a few days but I don't think not working them helps with this at all
 
After much debate I decided to ride the next day. It worked well. I wouldn't want to give a horse a proper break as then you are not just getting on a new horse in new surroundings you are getting on a fresh horse who has had a break potentially making things more difficult for yourself.
 
I think leaving them to settle is a form of anthromorphism. It's what we think horses should want, it's what we ourselves might want - a nice induction period.

In reality the horse wants to very quickly understand what is expected of it, where everything is, who is in charge and what it's relationship with you is.

Once these things are established in a preliminary way the horse can start to relax and have a proper look round. Those relationships will probably be tested at about week 3 to see if initial impressions were right, but generally I think the horse is a sponge for the first few days and unless it's job is to stand around being groomed, then it should do a lot more than that when it arrives.

That is not to say you shoudl be inflexible or overly domineering but calm leadership and some small challenges immediately will pay dividends ime.
 
I think it depends what you mean by 'time to settle'. I will ride the horse the next day and start as I mean to go on, but I do make allowances for erratic behaviour. This does not mean they are not disciplined, just that my expectations are not so high for the first few weeks. If they perform brilliantly, then yay! If not, then I am not disappointed and don't automatically think I have a luni on my hands. My mare was a nightmare for six months and she did not properly settle for a whole year. But she ended up being my best horse ever. I have had horses arrive and act as though they have been here their whole lives, others have been nervous at first. I treat them as individuals, not one size fits all.
 
I don't believe in going all guns blazing as soon as the horse arrives either. New horse arrives and is either stabled or put in a field but isolated to protect other horses. Does nothing in arrival. Next day would be low key, checking tack and hacking in company then build up. Going away competing is not the same as owner is still around and horse has a routine. Arriving in a brand new yard with everything changed is different and I would let the horse relax in a peaceful environment. As for new horses arriving for training, I still think that a day of settling in is needed. I have seen people who think they should crack on massively with a new horse with lessons, clinics etc in the first couple of days and it rarely goes well. No need to take weeks but a bit of common sense goes a long way to a good introduction for the horse in a new life.
 
I always give a new horse at lease a couple of days to settle in which always includes settling in with the new herd and burning off the excitement of it all. After my old girl (ex racer so should have been used to moving about) went loop the loop and caused herself an injury being generally stressy and excited.

Just seems sensible to me.

My boys however settled in very quickly, couldnt ride though until hooves were sorted and I had better tack.
 
Depends what you want the horse for and it's type.

Stabled Competition horses are used to change and constant work, whereas little homebreds living out are not.

Competition riders are used to change and constant work, but us older and gentler souls are not.;)

It doesn't mean we don't and can't ride though.:)
 
It is personal choice surely..not something to be picked upon by someone who doesn't? I also think "settling in" should allow for the emotional response to a move for s horse. After all, if you were suddenly placed in a new home with new rules/quirks/expectations...you would probably appreciate someone giving you a bit of time to settle in wouldn't you?
 
Foxhunter49 said:
Why is it that people give a horse 'time to settle' when they first get it or move stables?

If you have a young horse and send it to a professional to be say, broken then you would not expect it to be given a week or two to settle in but want them to start working it straight away.
Click to expand...

Because most of us on here are amateurs who have no need to start working the horse straight away. Nothing like making life easy for yourself and giving the horse a day or so before starting to work it.
 
Ive done both, ive given time to settle to all my ex racers i've had as i have wanted them to chill out in the field and forget about racing and not have any pressure put on them. Where as my new horse who was in regular 'normal' work, i hacked in the afternoon after picking him up that morning.

Alot depends on the individual horse but IMO a competition or older school master type should not need time to settle when ridden, however a youngster or horse who is going to do a different job may need longer to settle and understand what is expected of them
 
I think it depends on the horse, but prefer to work next day
My loan horse arrived lunchtime and was working next morning, because he's a horse who needs routine and can get naughty if not worked and at 17.2 id rather keep him on an even keel.
If the horse has been hacking I also prefer to hack out on my own initially as well, to have them see me as their support rather than another horse.
A friend had a horse delivered to her yard,an unknown entity but reported by seller suitable for a novice, they gave him "a few days" to settle, jumped onboard and horse wnt ballistic, friend ended up with pins and plates in her arm as she jumped on for the nervous owner.
 
My newest riding horse has had flaming months to settle :mad: January was a dumb time to buy a horse :(

Oh I've bimbled bareback around the paddock on her but it's been such a hectic time here that I just haven't had the energy or the inclination to ride, plus I have had to have a saddle custom made in Colombia and am waiting on that.

By the time I've fed dozens of hungry babies, done all the feeding/water/blanket/four legs - no blood type stuff you do, and it's blowing a hooley (with or without rain and snow) it's cold and the ground is hard then at the moment I can't be bothered to ride. If I had an arena, an indoor, or, like SF horses that were paying to be ridden etc then I would pull my finger out and get on with the job asap and sod the discomfort.
 
I am considering buying a horse I know very well in Italy and bringing him over here via a horse transporter.

This will take about 3 days and once he arrives I will certainly give him "time to settle" and also recover from the journey. Whether this is a couple of days or a couple of weeks will depend on how well he is coping. But that is something subjective to the horse and it is my prerogative to decide when I get on.

I would consider it highly unfair on the horse to jump on him as soon as he arrived at the yard!

It all depends on the horse and their backgrounds, as someone pointed out earlier it is different expecting a horse that is regularly competed and is accustomed to travelling to work as soon as they step off the lorry to expecting a horse that has only ever lived on one yard and hasn't been travelled before to act in the same manner.

Maybe I am anthropomorphising, but I personally believe a more subjective approach to the situation is necessary in order to get the best from the situation and each individual horse.

(In the past I have ridden a horse within a couple of hours of her arriving at a new yard after travelling for 2 hours... I look at each situation and make my judgement based on the individual and their history/temperaments.)
 
I think it depends on what is expected of your horse. You guys are clearly people who have machines, I mean horses, with jobs to do and that is there role in your life. Im more in the mindset that this poor animal has been whisked away from everything person it has known, everything that it is familiar with and put somewhere else. Theres prob a lot of stress going on in that head of theirs and its prob wondering what on earth is going on. I like to give time for them to get to know me and its new surroundings before I start making demands on the poor thing. but then I am also of the mindset of why would you put a horse through the stress of showing it, feeding it up to the eyeballs etc etc. Like I said it depends on your mindset and what you have a horse for.
 
Enfys if it's any consolation I am soooo glad we don't have any in to be worked at this moment in time. I'm sick of this belated winter we are getting atm and I really don't think I'd enjoy working with any right now as I've barely ridden my own horses this past month.

On reading some of the replies with exceptions, I also have exceptions. Horses who are travelled thousands of miles to me, yes I do give them a few days rest before doing anything with them. Any racers who are being let-down, I will leave for a while before I do anything with them (totally depends on the mindset of each individual horse). But these are exceptions! Any riding/competition/training horses we have/buy are normally worked the following day, if they arrive early enough in the morning, we may pop on them quickly that evening just to see what we're dealing with.

And as to the snarky poster Claribella above telling us our horses are 'machines', no sorry, to me they are horses. Horses who are not 'poor things' but horses bought to do a job and remain useful and valued animals within the riding world. Do as you like, doesn't bother me, but hang fire with the snarky comments eh?
 
One of our racehorses, Jingo, came back to the yard on Sunday (boss went to fetch him), had front shoes put on Monday morning and went straight on the walker. I'm going over tonight and he should have had backs on and been out in the cart at least once if not more since Monday!

I often think routine helps them to settle :cool:
 
siennamum said:
I think leaving them to settle is a form of anthromorphism. It's what we think horses should want, it's what we ourselves might want - a nice induction period.
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I think the word anthromorphism is much misused. I do not think giving a tired, stressed, dehydrated horse time to get its bearings is treating it like a human being. Its treating it like a sentient being.

If the horse has travelled some distance, let the horse stretch its legs, smell the environment, eat and drink, and assess its surroundings.

Different circumstances need different approaches. For a competition horse, an hour or two in the box is a normal day. Fine, get on and ride. My last mare was such a horse, on arrival she was a nightmare in the stable, but as soon as the tack came out, she settled into work mode and was happier.
For other horses, it may not be so. Reading the horse is more important than a gung ho approach that sees a horse as a machine to be ridden without consideration.
 
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As with all of these types of issues, it depends on the horse!!!

It is all very well to expect a competition horse to settle in different environments quickly, as this is part and parcel of their lifestyle....

However a leisure horse that has been in the same yard for years and never leaves it except for a hack, may take longer to settle into a new home.

When I buy a new horse I do aim to ride it within 24hrs - however I have had the rare ones that are clearly unsettled so would just do some groundwork and basic handling until they were more relaxed.

I wish people would not make these sweeping statements on the forum - whether right or wrong, it is up to every owner to make these decisions for themselves. Of course if they ask for our advice then that is the time we will all happily add our two pennies worth!
 
siennamum said:
I think leaving them to settle is a form of anthromorphism. It's what we think horses should want, it's what we ourselves might want - a nice induction period.
Click to expand...

Not for me. Being someone who keeps horses at livery it's crucial to me that the horse settles well and quickly in to a new herd environment - that far outweighs any work I might want to do with it. The overriding concern is always getting the horse out without too much disruption. After a couple of days, I'll ride it.
 
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