Mumsnet Talk

Dpony moved to a new yard yesterday, and he's finding it a bit exciting ! He can see directly a lot more horses than he could before, and theres a lot going on.
Took him out for a walk inhand this morning, and he was a bit skittish - the sheep didn't bother him as much as I thought they might, but apparently the XC fences needed a really good stare, and he had a little flounce a few times when following 5 other horses who were hacking.

He did settle down, but apart from lunging him tomorrow before we get ds on, does anyone have any tips to help him settle in ?

It'll probably take a while, but I should think keeping to a regular routine would help and plenty of exercise.

Exactly what frosty said!

Ps expect it to take at least couple of weeks minimum. He may not really settle got a month maybe more ESP if it's a busier yard than he's used to.

Lots of turn-out so he can observe but still make use of 'flight'. Horses are watchers, the peeping toms of the animal world.

He lives out 24/7, so is getting plenty of time to mull it all over. The ad lib haylage is going down a treat too !

At the moment he's in the individual turnout section, so is next to the competition horses and the horse walker - lots of overexcited horses, but will move to a big field in a group of 7 who live out, and are much more chilled.

DS hacked him out today in the snow (on a tight lead rein), and he was loads better. The xc jump with tyres in still needed snorting at

Sensible pony, you can't be too careful of those jumps with tyres in them, the bastards have been know to eat ponies you know

Now ds just wants to jump them . A visit to 'meet the pony club' last week may not have been a good idea...

Dpony is being a star - after a bit of huffing he's got used to the indoor school (blissfull it is too not being in the cold), and is now ignoring the sheep with the best of them.

Hi CMOTDibbler, I may have a few tips that may help you. When you are walking him in hand try to make sure he doesn't cross in front of you and try to do as many stops as possible and changes of direction to help him to think about what he is doing. I always find this really helps and I even do it as I lead mine in and out of the field. Lungeing is a good idea however be sure you are working on his rhythm and balance because these are the key ingredients to a calm pony, I found a set of books called Think Like a Pony very useful when working with my daughter and her pony. I found these on Amazon.

Thanks Ponymad. I do a lot of schooling with him in hand as I can't lunge(well, only one hand works, so its a choice of rein or whip...), and we both enjoy it.

Dpony is out in his permanent herd now, and is vvvvvv impressed with the haylage bale out there.
Yard is turning out to be lovely, and dpony is being ace. Last week we hacked out with a group of 10, through woods and over streams and he didn't bat an ear.

That sounds lovely, its good to hear you are making progress.