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Help your horse fit in: how to introduce a horse to a new herd without stress or conflict
Introducing a new horse to a herd is a delicate balancing act – get it wrong, and stress or injuries can follow. From first meetings to subtle signs that peace has been achieved, there’s an art to helping ensure herd dynamics work. In this article, experts share the steps they take to help horses settle into a lifestyle that prioritises their welfare. Be patient – it might take longer than you think...
There are few nicer views than seeing relaxed horses grazing together or grooming each other in the field, but these fond friendships don’t always happen overnight, and introducing a new horse to a herd takes time and patience.
When you get a new horse you’ll likely be looking to keep them at a livery yard, or at home if you have appropriate grazing land. The three Fs model focuses on a horses’ three essential needs; friends, forage, and freedom – horses are highly social animals and providing companionship is vital for their welfare.
Veterinary behaviourist expert Dr Gemma Pearson, who is director of equine behaviour for The Horse Trust, says that it is important that horses can groom each other.
It’s important for horses to be able to groom each other, which herd life affords, according to veterinary behaviourist expert Gemma Pearson.
(Image credit: Alamy)
“There are scenarios where it’s not possible for horses to be in the same space, but in those cases having fencing that facilitates that they can still groom each other over the top, for me, would be the lowest acceptable standard for most horses,” she says.
“If horses get to live as a herd it means they get to choose who their friends are. Often we put them in pairs, which is fine, but we’re deciding who they’re going to be friends with.
“Whereas if we allow them to be in a slightly bigger group, they will often choose who they spend the most time with. Some will give the best back scratches, others might be the best at swatting flies off their face, or good to have a good gallop with, so having that ability to interact with several other horses is the gold standard.”
Introducing a horse to a new herd can have its challenges and should be done with the help of someone experienced. Gemma says that there is not a “one size fits all” herd, and it often comes down to individual yard set-ups. If you have moved to a new yard, it is likely they will already have established groups, which might include separate mares and geldings, mixed herds, or horses grouped by similar ages and heights.
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“We know that as a preference horses will prefer those that are a similar age, because they want to do similar things; younger horses will have a higher play drive and older horses tend to want to relax a little bit more,” she explains Gemma.
Horses tend to prefer being in a herd with others their own age as they have a similar play drive, such as this group of young thoroughbreds.
(Image credit: Alamy)
“Sex can also be a component – we find that geldings enjoy playing with other geldings, whereas mares spend more time standing next to each other or grooming. But in mixed herds you can get mares and geldings that choose to be more friendly than with their own sex.”
How to introduce a horse to a new herd
When introducing a new horse to a herd equine welfare charity HorseWorld lets horses meet over a fence in adjacent paddocks.
“We give new arrivals time to bond and form a small group or pair, and then we move them into a larger herd,” says Sarah Hollister, HorseWorld’s head of equine welfare. “This means the new horse has already become acquainted and has a couple of friends, and it just seems to help them integrate into the herd a lot easier.
“With a new herd we would always do introductions earlier in the day to make sure they’ve had time to settle, but if we’re not too sure about how they are getting on, we’d separate them again overnight and start again the next day. It’s important to have people around that can monitor the situation and if it’s not going well you can remove them for a little while.”
Gemma says that most disagreements between new horses will occur in the first 48 hours.
“Sometimes people think if they run around for half an hour and they start to graze it’s fine, but actually it’s at least 48 hours before things have really settled down,” she says.
“Some chasing is OK – that is a normal part of an introduction of a new herd member. What usually happens is a member approaches the herd and there will be some sniffing and squealing, there may be some strikes and kick-outs, but they shouldn’t normally make contact.
“A lot of this is display behaviour. The new horse may retreat a bit, and it’s important that they are in a big enough area that they can get out of the way and have somewhere to go – we see most problems when the paddock is too small and a horse can’t get away.
It can take a little while for horses to settle down with their new pasture mates – this is normal.
(Image credit: Alamy)
“Then normally over a period of time, the new horse will get closer and closer. In my own experience with my three-year-old I got this spring, it took three to four weeks before he was really grazing and integrated into the established herd.”
Sarah reminds us that horses are individuals and the time it can take to settle into a new group can take vary greatly.
“It can take a couple of hours or days, or it can take a couple of weeks or months,” she says.
“Everything is going to depend on how those personalities match, their gender, and just their general history. For example you might have a horse who has not been well socialised growing up and who has spent a lot of time alone previously.
“So it can take a long time, and a lot longer than people expect, but generally you’ll see they’ll become more comfortable in each other’s spaces over time.
“The only time I’ve seen horses struggle to live with others is when a horse has been kept alone, especially if it’s been since they were a youngster. However, we’ve never had a case where a horse hasn’t adapted to living with others.”
Sarah advises during the settling in phase to give extra resources.
“If feeding hay rations make sure they are really well spaced out, and you might need to offer more than one water source,” she says.
Spacing out the hay rations can help keep the peace.
(Image credit: Alamy)
“Giving hard feed can be a real trigger so rather than doing this in the field, we would recommend taking horses out of the field to feed them.”
A livery yard’s approach to introducing a horse to a new herd
BHSII and UKCC level 3 coach Danielle Quigley Cutter keeps single-sex herds of six at her livery and competition yard Holmside Hall Equestrian.
“To begin with we will put a new horse in with one other, and let them settle,” Danielle explains. “Then from there we introduce one more at a time. I would expect some squealing and playing, but we would then be looking for them to start grazing and we would usually give them around a week to settle.
“We keep ponies in separate herds from horses, from a safety perspective of children going to take their pony out of the field – and we have a mandatory rule that everyone must wear a hard hat when bringing in or turning out.”
Many yards have a mandatory rule that people should wear helmets when turning horses out – especially when in herds.
(Image credit: Andrew Sydenham)
Danielle’s yard has a set routine which she believes helps horses settle in.
“All our horses come in at night during the winter, and in during the day during summer, and we find having that system really helps horses adapt to being in a new place,” says Danielle.
Troubleshooting
In cases of concern, for example where a horse hasn’t been in a herd previously, Gemma says it can be useful to speak to your vet about prescribing a psychopharmaceutical – a non-sedative drug that can help with anxiety.
“It doesn’t sedate them, but it can help take away a little bit of anxiety and adrenaline. I’ve used this for quite a few horses now and it can really help them to just not run round as much so things don’t escalate,” she says.
Gemma adds that she tends to see the most problems occur when horses have been isolated for 14 days for biosecurity reasons when arriving at a new yard.
“This approach does increase the risk of problems as you’re more likely to get ‘post-inhibitory rebound’, a process where a behaviour is performed to excess following a period of restriction,” she explains.
“I personally would avoid isolating horses prior to introducing them to a new herd. We still need to consider all the biosecurity aspects so owners should speak to their vets and yard owner about what’s going to work best for that premises. Some yards may accept a guttural pouch lavage (a diagnostic procedure to detect the presence of strangles) before moving to a new yard, and I believe the strangles vaccine could be really promising in reducing the prevalence of strangles in the future.
“In terms of diseases, a lot is going to depend on where a horse has come from on what the risk is. A horse from a dealer’s yard that’s spent a lot of time travelling and hasn’t been on that yard very long is going to be higher risk than a horse that’s been at a private yard for maybe 10 years and hasn’t been anywhere, so it’s important to take individual circumstances into consideration and discuss these with your vet and yard owner.”
A happy scene in terms of horse welfare, fulfilling the “three Fs”: friends, freedom, forage.
(Image credit: Alamy)
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Since joining H&H in 2018, Becky has covered a broad range of equestrian news including welfare matters, veterinary studies, FEI Tribunal hearings and road safety campaigns. She has also interviewed top riders including Scott Brash, John Whitaker and Ian Stark, to name just a few. Becky’s reporting has taken her to Canada for Spruce Meadows and France for Pau five-star, as well as the Royal Highland and Blair Castle International Horse Trials closer to home. She was also a key part of the remote reporting team for the Tokyo Olympics and the Europeans.
