Settling a horse into a new home?

If you can go to the yard and make her stable nice and clean and comfy. Give her a nice deep bed with good banks. Have a hay net filled and a small feed ready. And have her water buckets ready to fill and put in when you get there.

I would ride her there if it is not so far. When you get there, be prepared for her to be a bit goggle eyed and noisy! There are lots of things that she will be seeing for the first time, smells, sounds etc.

Untack her and blanket her if necessary (make sure you have these ready for her there) and then lead her into the new stable, remove the head collar and let her explore on her own. Put your tack away and give her a small feed. While she is eating it, leave her alone and go and put your belongings in the tack room in the designated place for you. Give her an hour or so and go and check her. She should be fine.

Make a bit of a fuss of her, and then take her out for a walk around the place on a bridle. Do not attempt to let her sniff other horses - she should be in quarantine and therefore should not be allowed to sniff noses with any others for about 10 - 14 days depending on the policy of the new barn.

Then take her back and put her to bed with another hay net and check her again later.

I say it really does depend on the horse how she takes it. I've moved yards quite a few times and never really had problems at all. I'd give her a day or two to settle down before you do any riding, and be careful when riding in the surrounding area the first few times because she doesn't know her surroundings. Bring her "anchors" - toys, blankets smelling of her, and so on so she has a semblance of home. And stay with her longer than normal. : ) I've liked taking my horses for long walks on a lead just to get to know the surroundings without any stress. Most horses just settle down and don't make a fuss about it.

=)

Just be sure your day is free enough to spend the needed time. Take a chair and a book with you. Sometimes I think it is more stressful for the owner than the horse! The more you can relax, likely the more she'll relax. I've relocated three horses with little to no acting out or nervous behavior. My big horse never settles well for the first 24 hours and I just have to make sure he's got plenty of food & water, secure paddock, and room to move.

If she is used to traveling out to shows then she should be fine and settle in straight away.

Make sure that her stall or paddock is ready for her when she arrives. There will be less stress for her if she has hay and water and possibly her feed when she arrives.

For the first day or two depending on how settled she is take her for hand walks around the property.

You should be able to ride the after 1 or 2 days.

I have moved my horse quite a bit previously but what I did was do exactly what I did at the old yard. I turned her out for the day and then at night she stayed in. I had a quick ride on her late that afternoon and she was fine ( If your not comfortable getting on lunge him/her.) I also found that my mare liked the yard she's at now the best and didn't take long at all for her to settle whereas at one yard it took ages. I think she is picky!!!! Hope this helped :)

I would walk her around the place a couple times a day so she familiarize herself with the smells and location. I did that for my horse for a couple days and she settled in just fine and happy as could be!

You seem to have a good handle on everything. The only thing you left out was being sure to hang around the barn for a good while to make sure that she stays settled - but I assume that you were going to do that anyway. db

Spend time with her, keep her favorite rug on, make sure she has as much familiar stuff around her as possible. If you do everything you said she will be fine!