Settling your new horse into their home 

Whether it’s bringing a new horse home or moving to a new yard, it’s important to acknowledge that such a big change is going to be stressful for any horse. But there are strategies we can use to reduce their stress and make the process more positive for them.  

All yards should have a mandatory quarantine period of at least 21 days for any new arrivals before they are allowed to mix with the other horses. This is an essential biosecurity measure that aims to protect all the horses on the yard. You can find out more on our Disease prevention in horses advice page.  

Managing your horse’s needs during quarantine 

Many horses find quarantine stressful as we are restricting one or more of the 3Fs at any one time. Below, we have outlined some of the ways you can manage your horse’s needs whilst they are in quarantine. If the horse will be living out, a safe quarantine area can be established by fencing off an area of a field, using a double fence. If the horse will be spending a considerable amount of time stabled during their quarantine, we have further advice on how to keep them occupied.  

Friends

Horses in quarantine should have visual contact with other horses at all times, but no physical contact. This is only a temporary measure and is vital to maintain biosecurity. They should have visual contact when both stabled and turned out (double fenced to maintain biosecurity). Horse owners and yard staff can use the time their horse spends in quarantine to start building a trusting relationship by providing them with companionship through grooming them, doing carrot stretches or learning some horse massage techniques and just spending time getting to know them. 

Forage

All horses should have a forage-based diet. However, different yards may provide different forage (e.g., hay or haylage) and feed so it’s important to know what the horse’s diet was at their previous yard and plan to make any changes gradually to avoid upsetting their digestive system. Where possible, try and find out as much as possible about their diet and buy a few bags of their feed and ideally some of their hay/haylage to help transition them onto a new feed/forage at your new yard.  Forage can be provided in a variety of ways to provide enrichment for horses that may need to be stabled for longer than they are used to or when turned out alone.  

Freedom

Ideally, horses in quarantine should still be provided with time spent turned out so that they can move, exercise freely and engage in foraging and browsing behaviours. If they are stabled during their quarantine period, you can increase their time spent moving by riding them, doing groundwork and taking them on hand walks in areas of the yard where they are not going to come into contact with other horses. This will also help habituate them to their new environment, so it’s important to give them time to explore. 

Moving them into their new stable and/or field 

Once they have completed their time in quarantine, your horse can move into their new stable or field.  

Time is your biggest asset when it comes to settling a horse into a new environment. Some horses may cope with moving from their quarantine environment to their new stable and/or field well, while others may find another change of environment stressful. You can follow much of the same advice as above for managing a horse’s needs as they are habituating to their new environment. We have an advice page that covers introducing horses to stables if they have never been stabled before. This advice can also be applied to horses in a new environment.  

Additionally, we have guidance on safely introducing new horses to a herd, to make the experience as positive as possible for all the horses involved. This includes meeting safely over fences, getting used to sharing resources and considerations for space allowance to help reduce incidences of agonistic behaviour. 

 It can be tempting to push on with riding and training your new horse as soon as they are out of quarantine but it’s important to be led by the horse. Some may like the familiarity of being worked and establishing that routine early on, whereas others may wish to feel more ‘at home’ before engaging with riding or training activities. This is a period with lots of change and each horse will respond differently based on their previous experiences, how well socialised they’ve been, and the coping mechanisms they have developed when faced with stressful situations.  

If you have just bought a horse & moved them to a new yard, for that horse, everything has changed – so don’t expect the horse you have now to be the horse you encountered when you tried them. Try and get as much information from the previous owner about the horse’s temperament and preferences, likes and dislikes to help them through the transition to their new home.