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

Kitei

Kitei

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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.
 
Yes, I would have thought it would be normal to be told and also for the horses to be introduced more appropriately.

Then again, I've realised it doesn't always seem to happen!

I think I would let the YO know he's not getting access to water and that it's a bit unsafe taking horses out of field and see what they say. Hope everything works out.
 
I would expect and do get told if there are any changes planned to the herd. We do a fenced off area and I prefer to have it up for two weeks. We've tried this with tape splitting the water trough but I've had to add another bucket as my horse refuses to go near newbies.
 
Yes I would expect to be told (and always have been in the past) One of mine is a bully and the other has arthritic issues so I tend to bring them out until the running around has stopped, introduce the arthritic one (he'd never start anything but will join in) and an hour later the bully. The bully isn't top of the pecking order, just horrible to anything beneath him so if the top dog has settled he'll keep him in his place and there won't be any trouble.
 
I also would expect to have been informed.
My sister borrowed my mare and was keeping her on a livery in Bucks. She was a lovely, calm and social mare, but very dominant. My sister was aware and warned the yard owner. My sister went to work leaving my mare in her box for the day, with plenty of food, During the afternoon YO thought that as my mare was so quiet, it would be ok just to pop her in the field to see what happened. Well what happened was my mare went in like a banshee and took on the whole herd, in the space of fifteen minutes she has injured six horses, two of which were on box rest for several weeks. My sister returned to the yard amid a storm of shouting and crying. Luckily the yard owner took responsibility as several owners wanted vet bills paid and the dangerous horse removed. My sister was forced to move yards quite quickly, she felt very sorry for the other owners but it was not her fault her instructions were ignored. At the next yard introductions were done correctly and my mare slipped in as herd leader nicely, so much so the YO was devastated when she returned home to me to be retired.
It goes to show how even the calmest horse can cause problems so introductions should be done slowly and hopefully with owners present!
 
Ideally, I would like to be told but I know it doesn't always happen. My mare wasn't the most agile either and I wouldn't have wanted her chased and bitten or kicked. My two boys are both a bit arthritic and my ginger TB is a bit like annagain's horse in that he's a bully to anyone beneath him in the pecking order and gets pretty possessive of the mares in the field next door, it could end badly for him or another horse, so I would ideally rather know and manage it in a more controlled way
 
Yes as a livery I'd certainly expect to be told and not happy if I wasn't.

As a YO, I wouldn't ever dream of doing that on my yard, certainly not.

New horses to a herd need to be introduced carefully and with ALL owners' consent.

Added to this, there is the obvious concern of bio-security if the horse has come from another yard, or even if it hasn't.
 
Everything will settle down in a week or so. When I put mine into a big group for the first time he was bullied badly and was being chased (but not kicked at, thankfully).

I don't mind seeing horses learning their place & figuring out the pecking order though (actually think it's helpful for some horses - mine was one of those who could have benefitted from being brought down a peg or two).

After a week or so they had all made a few friend and mine and another two were especially good together and were always playing.

But in answer to your question, I would expect to be told. On the one occasion that we weren't my horse (different one) got kicked in the face and had to have an eye out - extreme circumstance but accidents do happen and I'd like to be there on stand by just in case!
 
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.
 
I would expect to be told, if nothing else so that you don't think a strange horse has broken INTO the field from elsewhere but where I last was, we were often completely in the dark. Who knows what its worming regime has been, who knows what it is like with strangers. My own mare was very badly kicked and bullied by a new mare when she was 29, arthritic and going deaf and partially sighted. Turned out the new one had been asked to leave the previous yard for kicking another. We had one gelding in the field who was absolutely evil with new horses and run them absolutely ragged. I mean actual body charges. One nearly ran through the fence in its panic and to see him going for an 18 month old which was mouthing frantically was horrifying. He was riggy, big and capable (and willing) to do considerable damage. He attacked my old girl on the day she was PTS when I tried to keep her day as normal as possible and put her out while we waited for the vet. He had been ok with her when it was just the two of them, but a friend had put her mare out (which my horse was stabled next to so knew and got on with) that morning too. He fancied the other mare so attacked mine when she pottered over to say hello. Not what I wanted when I was already very upset :(
 
Thanks all for your comments. Wasn't sure if this was normal practice or not, as have always been asked at Obie's yard and before that, we rented a field privately. Will knock on YO's door tomorrow and have a quick chat.

A separate water bucket would work, Faracat, though I don't have any spare. Will see if YO does, as I'm very unlikely to see horse's owner.

Horse was previously with a different batch in one of the fields opposite, I believe. He's been there a while, but never met any of mine.

I'm surr it would be different if he were in a larger herd; for one, there might be someone to put him in his place. The others are quite happy to plod along after him. The 4 of them have been together for about 8 months now, with no real changes, so they're quite settled as they are.
 
... and this is why I will never keep my horses at livery, well, part of it, the other part is that I am lazy and couldn't be faffing about with travelling back and forth.

However, as a YO I didn't tell owners beforehand when I put new horses in a group, or when I moved their horses to new paddocks, or if I moved them to a different group.
I would tell them where to find their horses. Saying that, many of my owners were absentee, I once had an owner (he was my UPS man) mention the new Paint in the paddock - it was his, he just hadn't been to see the horse for 3 months, even though he drove past every day.

My contract with Owners stated that I had the absolute right to move horses kept in groups (rather than same owner 'individual' paddocks) as, when, and where, I deemed appropriate or beneficial to the horse. My Ranch, My Rules. :)

I would never dream of putting new horses straight into an established group though, and the quarantine period, well ... I had horses coming and going from rodeos all season long, should I have quarantined them every time they came back on the yard?

Horses from sales yards, or that I didn't know did go into a separate paddock.
 
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Absolutely expect to be told and it is yard policy to tell people. However YO 'forgot' to tell me when it happened last year and I was very cross indeed. Mention something to your YO - I phrased it something along the lines of 'I absolutely understand new horses have to come into the herd on occasion, but I would like to be told when so I can manage my horses turn out around it' her response was 'oops, sorry, forgot E was in that field!' Grr.
 
I'm going against the grain here and saying I wouldn't expect to be told in advance unless I had a contract saying it was my own private field or similar as tbh it isn't always practical to be told every new thing and sometimes horses have to be moved around there and then and managing horses and paddocks can be complicated enough! However I would expect YO to be sensible and if they see horse is being bullied then a bit of elec fence between them for a few days or something or like you say pop in paddock next door for a while :)
 
We have two herds - mates and geldings. I'd generally know if a new horse was arriving, but I wouldn't expect to be specifically told and I would trust the YO to manage the introduction as she saw fit. I certainly wouldn't get any say in how it was managed - it's not my yard! - so it doesn't make much difference whether I know or not.
 
I have seen this causing quite big problems and arguments at some yards, mainly where people specifically had reasons for not wanting their horse to run around and where the paddocks were small or they wanted to be there to monitor their horses when the new horse went out into the group.

I think on a DIY yard definitely people should be told as it may effect how they want to manage their horse on the day the new horse is introduced into the herd. Some people may want to be there when the new horse goes into the field so they can be around to deal with any incident that may occur or they may want to turn their horse out later to avoid running around etc. Also they may need to have the contact details of new livery so they can contact them if new horse can't be left on its own.

I am on part livery so in my case a bit different as YO and her team are responsible for care of my pony and are around on site all day during the day to monitor the situation or deal with any incident. As they are very hands on and involved with the care of my pony and know him and the other horses on the yard well so they can then decide what the best option is with regard to introducing a new horse and I trust them with that so would not necessarily need to know if a new horse is going out also our paddock.
 
I would have been incandescent. If I were on a DIY yard, I am paying for the facilities, not for care and do not expect anyone to do anything with my horse(s) ever - unless in an emergency obv.

However, having said that, I would NEVER put my horses in a group with another owner's horse(s) and would never use a yard which expected me to do so. You lose your autonomy and have to consult regarding bringing in/leaving one on its one etc etc.

Having run a livery yard, I would never add a horse to a group without all owners of the rest of the group being present, or if not possible, having been informed and given me permission to act in loco parentis as it were, to take responsibility for the result.
 
cblover said:
I wouldn't expect to be told.....I'd expect to be asked!!
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Damn right^^^, still amazes me that people accept the treatment of YO like this. It's a business you are a customer, it is not 'their yard' to do as they please, they choose to run a business and should act professionally with the welfare of your horse as paramount concern, jeez.
 
But when you moved Obie to that yard he stayed in for a day or then went straight in to a field of unknown horses how is this different?

You effectively knew what was likely to happen when another horse came in
 
WelshD said:
But when you moved Obie to that yard he stayed in for a day or then went straight in to a field of unknown horses how is this different?

You effectively knew what was likely to happen when another horse came in
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This is a different yard, with different horses. :) Also, Obie stayed in for 2 weeks and was carefully introduced to his one companion. He's still on his own (well, not quite. Apparently he jumped the fence this morning... whoops) but I do get asked at that yard whenever someone is thinking of coming onto the yard and needs a field - unfortunately no one has yet taken it up.

The introduction on this yard was also managed as well as could be done on such short notice. Nor am I annoyed about this, as I have said. I have no problems whatsoever with new horses being added into the mix, as it benefits me as well. What I'm not happy with is how it was done, as the other horse, in this situation, has come off worse. I can't imagine it was particularly safe to put him in, either. If there is activity at the gate, the group will automatically drift over. I'd feel truly awful if either a person or one of the horses were injured as a result, especially as they are aware of his likely behavior.

However, having been on very few yards, and knowing that I am somewhat spoiled on Obie's, I was not sure whether it were the done thing or not to mention when a horse is moved in, and that's all the thread is really about.
 
Moved in Feb this year, stayed in for a few days then straight out with unknown pony who was known to be a bit difficult with turnout buddies, I rember thinking at the time the lack of caution was surprising

At the end of the day I agree you need to be at a yard where the YO follows sensible procedures but if turnout dramas follow you wherever you go it may be worth taking an objective look at your pony and asking if the yard is right for him, if you are always worried about turnout issues perhaps a companion pony and a separate paddock may be a good idea
 
Never been asked before, can't say it would ever have occurred to me that I should have been told. Maybe I was just at strange livery yards.
 
As a DIY, I'd expect to be told. If I got to the yard in the morning and found a strange horse in my field, I'd probably bring it in and put it in a spare stable, assuming it had escaped from elsewhere. I don't think my YO would ever put a strange horse in with my mare though, she has a reputation for being an evil so and so (mare, not YO).
 
yes i would absolutly expect to be told beforehand but as long as there was someone competant there supervising incase any issues arise i wouldnt go overboard letting everyone involved know i was not happy lol
 
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