From  HORSE  AND  RIDER  -  Jan. 2016

Introducing a new horse

Home

sweet home

Whether you're moving your horse to a new yard or welcoming a new

horse into your life, helping him adjust to different environments is

essential. Anna Saillet explains how to smooth the move

Our expert

Anna Saillet is an Equine Behaviour Consultant. She gained a BSc (Hons) in Animal Behaviour from Liverpool University, and an MSc in Applied Animal Behaviour and Welfare from Newcastle University, in which she specialized in equine behaviour. She has competed in dressage, showjumping and eventing.

Moving house is commonly thought of as one of the most stressful situations for people to cope with. But do we give enough thought and consideration to helping our horses adjust to the change when we move them to a new yard?

Horses are social herd animals who create and maintain close bonds with their companions, and who can suffer considerable distress when these bonds are broken. Being a group member is an important anti-predator and survival strategy, and because of this, horses have developed complex social behaviours to minimize conflict within their group of companions - fighting is not a behaviour that horses typically use unless it is a last resort.

However, aggressive behaviour is much more common among domestic horses than their wild or feral counterparts due to them being kept in small areas, often with limited resources, which they may be forced to compete for. Another important factor contributing to increased incidences of aggressive behaviour in domestic horses is that there are often changes within the group, with horses coming and going, so the group is never stable. Regular changes in groups of horses who are turned out together are likely to result in increased aggression and injuries, whereas a stable group is more likely to live together in harmony.

When horses become used to living in a particular place, they know exactly where and when they will find their resources, such as food, water and shelter. Being confident about the positioning of these things provides horses with a degree of safety, because these resources are essential for their survival. When moved to a new yard, horses must start from scratch in learning where they can find these resources and whether they are safe to rely on. Safety is extremely important to horses and when they don't feel safe in their environment, they will
experience increased stress levels and may be more likely to demonstrate problematic behaviours.

Each time a new herd

is disrupted - for

example, to be stabled

overnight - there is

an increased risk of

agonistic behaviours

occurring when they

are reintroduced 

the following day

efore they are introduced to each other, and vice versa       ■    '    ' /

Scent swapping

This is something which is commonly carried out when introducing new cats or dogs to our homes, but is something that often gets forgotten about when we are dealing with horses. Horses have an extremely powerful sense of smell and they use this system to gain a great deal of information from their environment. Before putting your horse into the field with his new companions, ensure you have carried out two-way scent swapping. This can be done by placing one of your horse's droppings into the companions' field, allowing the other horses to investigate the scent of the new arrival and gain important information about your horse's sex, reproductive status, age and general health. It is important to do this in an open space, such as the paddock, so that the horses can move away if they want to. Remember to also allow your horse access to the other's droppings so that he, too, can learn about his new companions before meeting them face-to-face.

Making use of safe barriers

When you first allow your horse to come into physical contact with the other horses on the yard, it should be carried out with a safe barrier between them - for example, a stable door or a sturdy post-and-rail fence. Electric tape is not a suitable barrier due to the potential risk of either horse receiving a shock from it. The negative and painful experience of receiving an electric shock when meeting another horse could frighten them both and, in the worst case scenario, they may associate receiving an electric shock with meeting other horses. This could cause serious problems for future introductions.

Explore the field on his own

Before your horse is turned out in a group, ensure he has had the chance to explore the field on his own first. This will help him to feel safer when he is turned out with the others as he will already know where to find the important resources (food, water, shelter) and also where the gates are.

Allow your horse to be loose

If it is safe to do so in your yard, it's beneficial to allow your horse to be loose when he meets his new neighbours over their stable doors without the restriction of being on a lead rope. This will allow him more freedom to move where he wants to and will help him to feel less restricted, which will encourage more relaxed behaviours. Always be nearby so that you are able to intervene if necessary, but try to provide your horse with enough freedom to behave as naturally as possible. Some squealing may occur when the horses sniff each other, but this is typical behaviour during olfactory investigation of one another and it is important not to reprimand the horses for this.

Disruption to the herd

When you do reach the stage of turning your horse out with the herd that he will now become a part of, bear in mind that each time the group is disrupted, there is an increased likelihood of agonistic behaviours between them when they are turned out together again. For example, if the horses are out during the day but stabled at night, this stabling will cause a disruption to the herd and the following morning the herd may not be as peaceful as they would be if they were allowed to remain turned out. By allowing your horse to remain in a permanent, stable group you are more likely to have a calm and peaceful herd with minimal risk of injuries.

When we talk about introducing new horses to an existing herd, there is often a lot of talk about horses trying to gain their place at the top of the pecking order and about horses being the dominant one in the herd. Horse herds are co-operative communities made up of individuals - the belief that herds have a pecking order does not hold scientific validity and the term pecking order originated in the 1920s from studies on chickens. As I am sure we are all aware, our horses are not giant chickens and their behaviour differs from that of chickens, too! It is also fair to say that thanks to scientific developments, we now know a great deal more about animal behaviour than we did in the 1920s.

There is no linear pecking order in horse herds and a horse who chases another away from a pile of hay can still be good friends with him. 

Groups of horses typically work as a co-operative and their relationships can change and develop over time, and may alter depending on the availability of resources and each individual horse's needs. While one horse may be dominant over another in certain situations, if the second horse always submits to the first during any altercations, this does not mean that the first horse is dominant per se, because dominance is not a personality trait. No horse, human or dog is born dominant, despite many professional trainers suggesting that this is the case. Much recent research carried out by equine ethologists supports the notion that horse herds do not have linear dominance hierarchies, but that herd organization is far more complex than this outdated, simplistic viewpoint.

Resources can be a cause of conflict in domestic horse herds, so it is essential for us to consider how these are supplied and where they are placed in the field. 

Water is an important resource and drinking is a social activity for horses. This means that, given the chance, horses will congregate and drink together, but because yards are often designed with the human's needs above the horse's, this is rarely possible. Troughs and buckets are typically placed at the edges or corners of fields, and this immediately creates a possible area for conflict to occur, because it becomes easy for one horse to guard the water supply and prevent others from gaining access. It also often means that when one individual is drinking, they can easily become trapped in a small space if other horses approach and this, too, increases the likelihood for conflict to occur.

In a natural setting, when food becomes scarce,

horses disperse rather than fight over what is

available, but in a domestic setting it is 

impossible to do this

Shelter is also an important, but often overlooked, resource for horses, particularly during the winter months and those rare hot summer days. When you introduce your horse to a new environment, it is important to ensure that there is shelter available in the field that is big enough for everyone and that is easy to escape from should your horse feel the need to get away from his new herd members. It may take some time to develop relationships with the other horses until he is accepted under the shelter, so ensure that he has access to other types of shelter, such as trees or bushes, and that he has access to enough forage to eat, which will provide him with his own internal central heating.

Ensure that there is enough space at the new yard for all of the horses who will be turned out together. When your horse is initially introduced, there is great potential for some fight or flight behaviours to occur. If a horse is unable to properly take flight when threatened by another horse, due to limited space, it greatly increases the likelihood of fight responses, which are, of course, more likely to result in injury.

Last but not least, sleep. When horses are moved to a new home, it is common for their sleep patterns to be negatively affected because to experience good-quality sleep, horses must first feel safe. Because horses rely on their companions to be on look-out for any danger while they are sleeping, it can be difficult for them to sleep without a companion that they trust to do this for them. To have rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, horses have to lie down flat, and they are unlikely to do this unless they feel safe and confident in their environment. When moved to a new yard, horses may not sleep at all for two or three days and they may have reduced sleep for up to a month. This can have a huge impact on their behaviour and welfare, and is also an important safety consideration.

I'm sure we all know how grouchy we can be if we have missed out on a proper night's sleep and your horse's behaviour will also be affected by improper sleep. This is just one reason why when moving yards it is advisable to allow your horse some time off ridden work, as he may become more spooky and difficult to manage, which can have serious safety implications for both you and your horse. Riding a new horse the day after he arrives at your yard is not only extremely stressful for your new horse but may be dangerous for you, too. 

Instead, spend the first few weeks getting to know your new four legged friend from the ground by taking him for in-hand walks around the new yard and fields, while giving him lots of positive reinforcement to help him to become more confident and settled in his new home.

If you begin to find your horse's behaviour difficult to manage when you move to a new yard, contact a local qualified and experienced equine behaviourist - there will be lots that you can do to help your horse to settle in and expert advice is invaluable in this situation. ■