Would you expect to be told if a horse is added to your field?

Jo1987 said:
In your situation (small established herd of mostly my own horses) I absolutely would expect to be told and would be quite annoyed if I wasn't.
My horses are in a large (12+) herd and are often having new ones put in, which are generally accepted after a few hours. I don't expect to be told every time a new one arrives.
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This is exactly what I was going to say (except it's the other way round for me, my set up is more like yours, OP).

If you're renting from a non horsey farmer they quite often don't 'get' things like this.
 
I consider it polite to be told but it doesn't always happen. I know my boy tends to stay out of trouble in general and he gets bored of charging around after a few laps of the field and is the worlds most useless bully (He successfully guarded a hay bale last winter but that's only cos the other 2 in the field were the biggest wusses in the world!) so I don't worry about him causing problems for anyone else either. I do like to know just in case though, if nothing else so I know the new horse is supposed to be there and hasn't escaped into the wrong field!

Where I am it's difficult for them to do over the fence introductions (tbh I've never been at a yard where this has been an option) but if you've made it clear in past that's how you'd like things done and the setup allows for it then a bit annoying it hasn't been done that way.
 
I would want to be told as a new horse being added to an established heard can be a recipe for a disaster. In any event I would want any new horse on a yard to be put in isolation for the first two weeks just in case they have an infectious disease such as Ringworm, Strangles, Flue etc. I would also want it's rear shoes removed so that any kick would be less dangerous. Have known a new horse to break the leg of a horse so I would want to be cautious.
 
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Is it any wonder that so many livery yards are now split into featureless individual paddocks.
 
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I would expect to be told even if only so I could plan my day accordingly. I would be dead miffed if I turned up planning to ride only to find a new horse had just been put in the field & he was too excited/ exhausted from hooning.
 
im definatley the odd one out here, as i know that theres a slim chance one day i would turn up and theres another horse in the field. it would nt really bother me at all. im just so gratefull that i have found somewhere that my horse is able to stay out with other horses 24/7 and is happy and content, they allways sort it out themselves in the end.
 
I think it is shame because a lot of these things are caused by poor communication. Most people have mobile phones and it does not take much effort to send a text to say new horse coming on date X will be going into same paddock as your horse.

I think especially if the yard does not have any yard manager or people to supervise the introduction then people do need to know what is going on.
 
We had a new gelding added to the herd this week, I noticed when I called my boy down and he followed. They had a bit of a jealousy kerfuffle at the gate, nice big chap though, backed off as soon as I told him.

I wouldn't have expected to have been told. It is a large gelding herd, well managed by the YM. I trust her abilities to monitor the herds.

I am a bit suprised at those stating they would demand to be asked. If you rent a feild and its yours alone sure, or there is no YM and non horsey YO - but if you are on livery then they YO doesn't need to seek your permission with how they run their business surely? Ofc with a small cliquey herd with horses with various issues, it would be wise of the YM to advise you that another is going in, but to be asked?
 
I think though in your case it is different as it seems like this is a managed herd with a YM who monitors the herds to make sure they are ok. The yard I am on is the same it is managed and YO familiar with all the horses and monitors them so it is not really an issue.

It is probably different in situation where it is a very DIY yard and people are totally responsible for their own horse with no YM or person to monitor the situation. If they don't know what the new horse and owner will be like or if anyone will be around to monitor the introduction of the new horse or what the routine of the new livery might be they might want to know in advance so they can be around to check the horses and to meet the new livery so they know what to do for example if there is a risk of horse being left on its own if everyone else has brought in etc or like in the case of the OP the horse is not being allowed near the water or there are issues around the gate.

alainax said:
We had a new gelding added to the herd this week, I noticed when I called my boy down and he followed. They had a bit of a jealousy kerfuffle at the gate, nice big chap though, backed off as soon as I told him.

I wouldn't have expected to have been told. It is a large gelding herd, well managed by the YM. I trust her abilities to monitor the herds.

I am a bit suprised at those stating they would demand to be asked. If you rent a feild and its yours alone sure, or there is no YM and non horsey YO - but if you are on livery then they YO doesn't need to seek your permission with how they run their business surely? Ofc with a small cliquey herd with horses with various issues, it would be wise of the YM to advise you that another is going in, but to be asked?
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SO1 said:
I think though in your case it is different as it seems like this is a managed herd with a YM who monitors the herds to make sure they are ok. The yard I am on is the same it is managed and YO familiar with all the horses and monitors them so it is not really an issue.

It is probably different in situation where it is a very DIY yard and people are totally responsible for their own horse with no YM or person to monitor the situation. If they don't know what the new horse and owner will be like or if anyone will be around to monitor the introduction of the new horse or what the routine of the new livery might be they might want to know in advance so they can be around to check the horses and to meet the new livery so they know what to do for example if there is a risk of horse being left on its own if everyone else has brought in etc.
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Yes that's a fair point :) If the field was large enough though, and the YO did ask the current liveries if a new horse could be introduced, what would happen if they just said no! I can certainly agree with being told in such circumstances of a very DIY set up, but I can't see the liveries having much right to refuse ( other than to leave if it dodnt suit them ofc).
 
cblover said:
I wouldn't expect to be told.....I'd expect to be asked!!
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But if you're on a yard that only has a single herd or one mares and one gelding herd then 'asking' is academic, there's only one place where a new horse is going to go.

Of the various yards I have been on, only one told us when a new horse was being introduced, these have been mixed diy/part yards so no differentiation. It would be nice to be told but it doesn't really happen. Of the ones that didn't 2 I trusted the yard manager enough to monitor the situation and in 1 there was just a high turnover that it was a weekly occurrence so wouldn't have been practical for me to be at the yard to monitor.

Interestingly enough what has personally caused me most problems was actually when a horse was removed not added. Horse in question was herd leader and meant a couple of other geldings behaving very aggressively in an attempt to take control.

ETA the only situation where liveries could really say no is if they had knowledge that the new horse had been very problematic in previous yards and had behavioural issues.
 
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T
Kitei said:
Just curious really, as went up the farm today to see another horse in with the group (went in yesterday), and was wondering whether it's usual to not be told about it. I'd rather have been asked my opinion, as I could have told them it'd need a careful introduction and being popped in wouldn't really work out... There's a small paddock next door that it could easily have gone in for introductions.

The group is usually 3 of 'ours' and another gelding who they've been with from the start. 3 geldings and a sec a mare. One of ours, and the other gelding, can be quite... not quite aggressive, but certainly very resource possessive, towards newcomers if they're not properly introduced, but are quite amiable when done properly, over a fence for a few days first. I think if he'd even been introduced to Harry first on his own, then he might have been better accepted.

A bit concerned for the new horse, really (sec d gelding) as he's being chased away if he gets anywhere near, and is being kept away from the only water source in the field. This also happens to be by the gate, so I imagine trying to get him in or out will be very difficult. He got quite thoroughly chased away by RB for thinking about coming over when I took Harry out.

Was wondering, really, whether it'd be worth bringing it up with the YO's tomorrow? I guess I'm a bit taken aback because they are already aware of how difficult he can be. Before it comes up, I'm not against there being other horses added in the slightest. I'd prefer it, as really they're on too large a field for 4. But I'd feel awful if they caused some kind of injury, or indeed the other way around, and it were avoidable. I'm hoping they'll start to settle in a few days, but in the meanwhile it's getting very hot out there, and as I said, they're not letting him near the water.
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in my opinion it is common decency, to notify owners when a new horse joins as

A. Should be separate Before joining groups for interaction purposes safely with fencing between to minimise injury

B. Owners may want to plan to be there for emergency

C. Owners may have wanted boots on their horse in the event of a new horse to protect their from injury.




Don't agree with this and I would be peeved and annoyed. All my liveries know when the new horse moves in and know it is after the initial separation period.
 
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