02/01/2025
Yes 🙌
When you buy a new horse, be patient. Just be patient.
Why? We’ve found with all the horses we’ve brought in over the years that mentally and/or physically, they are adjusting for the better part of one full year. At least.
This is why all our sale horses and ponies come with a one-year guarantee that they will fit in and be able to do the job for their new people. Because if not (and it does happen to well-prepared horses and to good people), we want our homesick horse to come back home to us. We will regroup, wait to find his level and if the stars align, we will try again.
Some very knowledgeable horse(wo)men will scoff at this notion of a horse needing this amount of time to settle in. They will cite that they have client horses who are showing at a high level, travelling constantly, changing hands all of the time. I would point out that these horses are very accepting, to the point of being stoic. This does not in any way mean that they are happy, living their best life, or exuberant!
Ah, yes. Let's admit it. There are many times when sparkling joy is more an inconvenience than a blessing, when it comes to managing our horses. I get that. I understand.
Anyway, some very good horses will go off the rails a bit, when changing homes and methodology in their handling. As would any one of us, if we were honest. Others will take up as little space as possible, doing their utmost to blend in. They might go on for months, before the ‘company manners’ wear off.
Some will go beautifully in new hands, winning and making friends, but they aren’t eating well. They are standing as though carved in stone, not engaging in the hustle and bustle around them, nor are they interacting with other horses.
It takes a sharp eye to see what is really going on with a new horse. Most will do their best to try and please us but I would like to remind you, if you have been so blessed as to have a new face greeting you over the gate, to give your newcomer the benefit of the doubt.
Start carving out a routine. Please, don’t go changing the turnout patterns, the type of bit, the discipline, the feed, the number of times he (or she) is ridden, right away. Do your best to replicate the horse’s prior life, for a while… unless it is one that was riddled with abuse or neglect, of course.
So often, when a horse changes hands, the new owner or trainer will immediately begin changing him. Making him into something else. They’ll start rebuilding his posture, changing his way of going, trying new bits, putting him on different feed—at the same time as the horse has received a vetting, a new farrier, therapeutic bodywork, an overdue dental visit, perhaps—and while understandable, it’s too much, too soon.
Every little thing from how we bed and blanket, to how we approach and halter them, whether or not we feed treats, what sort of riding we do in what surroundings and weather, how we load into what sort of trailer, how we fit a saddle, how we saddle up, mount up and warm up... all will be different with every one of us. We will all mean well and strive to do the best for our horses, but we will be different.
Whether or not a horse will be homesick—aka grieving—has nothing to do with the level to which he has been trained! Maybe, read that one again.
So, be the patient partner, the rock. Watch your new horse and be willing to consider what he has to say. Remember, you liked him well enough as he was, or you wouldn’t have bought him in the first place!
Figure out what he is telling you, what he likes and what worries him. Go slowly but surely into new territory, for you are maybe wanting to do things that are fun and comfortable for you, but for him, have stayed shrouded in mystery, on the dark side of the moon.
You can have goals for the future but please, be willing to share the discomfort your new horse is feeling in the now. Prioritize these little changes that will add up to make him truly your partner. Realize that even if things are going smoothly between you, there will be hurdles and challenges in his social order, as he makes his way within his new herd.
Be watchful for signs of ongoing bullying, because this can make everything else in the new horse’s life extra hard. If this is the case, try to find him a group of horses that are low-key, low-energy and forgiving of strangers. If he is unusually large or small, or very young or old, these, alone, will require you to be more observant and caring during this critical time.
Note that our horses can change places easier if their people and programs stay the same; they can change key people more easily, if they remain in the same surroundings. It is the overall, straight-across-the-board shift that can unmoor any horse.
Outbursts in the new horse are so often emotional in origin, rather than caused by physical discomfort, or downright pain. This is why so many times, we feel we've been sold a horse who was misrepresented, that we've been somehow duped.
"This is NOT the same horse I rode in the trial!" we think. We are right, of course, for he is feeling terribly changed. We're quick to blame the seller, rather than question the fluid emotional state of our new purchase.
While I usually proceed with a new horse just as I mean to go on, I will be paying attention. I won't be barging ahead, dragging this confused horse along behind me. Nor, will I be letting him 'settle in' by putting him on the back burner, untouched. There is a balance to be found.
If you are purchasing, leasing or boarding a new horse, please make space in your heart for a sentient being who will often be homesick, even if you have the feeling that you are making his life better. You may even well be rescuing him and yet…
In the new horse's eyes, you have turned his life—that is, all that he knew for sure and could anticipate—completely upside-down.
Photo: Mike McLean.
Liz is a Horsemanship coach serving Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland. Liz provides a safe space for learning and exploration of horsemanship.
