Need Ideas - Horse paces in turnout at new barn

[mydogs]

I have moved my horse to a new barn this week. At each new barn he has been to (while I’ve had him), he has a hard time adjusting to the turnout. He is calm as a cucumber in his stall as soon as he gets to the barn, but the turnout is a completely different story.

It takes at least 1 week for him to relax in his new field, sometimes up to 2 weeks. He will walk pace the fence line until his whole body is dripping sweat. Sometimes he starts pacing immediately, other times it happens after 5 minutes to 4 hours later. As the days go by, he lasts a little bit longer outside before he starts to pace. As soon as he is in his stall, he is happy and calm.

He does this while he is alone or with a friend in the field, during both day and night turnout.

We’ve even tried Ace and he stayed calm for a few hours before he starts to pace again.

I’ve had him on Nexium for the last month thinking maybe he had ulcers from the move to another barn in July (I was getting ulcers myself while he was at that barn).

I thought about switching him over to ulcergard instead of Nexium, because that did work for a little bit at the last barn. But don’t know how to go about switching the two and then weaning him off of ulcergard .

Other than putting him outside and bringing him in when he starts to pace, I can’t think of anything else to try.

Any suggestions on what else I can do to help him remain calm in his field?

[Princess_Sparkles]

So he does eventually settle in your experience? You said it takes about a week, which isn’t a seriously long amount of time in my eyes. Some horses just find change more stressful than others. I had one move in to my place that had the habit of pacing the gate when she wanted to come in. The barn she had been at before usually just brought her in when she did that–but when she moved to our place the owner decided to wait it out and see how she would do.

Similar to what I suspect your guy does, she kept up her weaving/pacing for about a week, maybe a bit longer, and one day it was like a lightbulb went off in her head and she went and hung out with the herd and she’s been fine ever since. She broke a pretty ingrained habit (since she had been doing it for years) and now she is out 8-10 hours a day with no pacing or even standing at the gate.

I know it’s hard, but as long as he isn’t hurting himself or completely destroying the area near the gate (which will not make your new barn happy) I would advise just letting him work through it. If his turnout buddies aren’t bothered by it and just ignore him, it will make him more likely to calm down as they are being a good influence.

Especially if you have gone through this before and have seen him settle, I would be inclined to just let him do his thing. Sometimes things that make sense in the horse’s mind are not exactly rational. Good luck, I hope he settles in soon!

[mydogs]

@Princess Sparkles

So he does eventually settle in your experience?

I know it’s hard, but as long as he isn’t hurting himself or completely destroying the area near the gate (which will not make your new barn happy) I would advise just letting him work through it. If his turnout buddies aren’t bothered by it and just ignore him, it will make him more likely to calm down as they are being a good influence.

Thanks! At least I now know he isn’t the only one who does this.
He eventually does settle. The last two barns it took about 1-2 weeks for that to happen.

Sadly, it does cause his suspensory branches to become inflamed and he dug a BIG rut at the last barn because he was left to pace for longer than he should have. We tried the “ignore him” method and he doesn’t stop, no matter how hot, sweaty, and heavy breathing he gets. He is DETERMINED to come inside.

[KLeaphart]

Could you try feeding him right after you turn him out? That way he has something to keep his mind occupied. Does he have access to hay in his field? My horse is super food motivated so if I can get him to realize he has hay, he calms right down.

[mydogs]

@KLeaphart

Could you try feeding him right after you turn him out? That way he has something to keep his mind occupied. Does he have access to hay in his field? My horse is super food motivated so if I can get him to realize he has hay, he calms right down.

I tried that with his grain and it didn’t work, but now that you mention it, I may see if he will eat his alfalfa hay out there. Thanks!

[bt1]

That really is not too long of a time to settle in new turn out. Just do the best you can to help maintain the suspensory branches and footing by the gate and remind yourself “this too shall pass” Maybe try working him early before turn out so he has less energy?

[limptoad]

I have one that does this. I do a week of Ulcergard during any barn changes and give him very abbreviated turnouts the first week or so there, if he is more comfortable in his stall. I’ll literally handwalk the perimeter of the paddock with him, then turn him loose and supervise for 20 minutes, then bring him in. I also keep the schedule as consistent as possible (aside from increasing the amount of time outside, of course), so he can get into his new routine, always with buddies nearby. I’m not a big believer in making them work through it when they’re nervous to the point of pacing. Standing at the gate; okay, you’ll survive a little while longer. Running the fence line or pacing, I bring them in.

[EventerAJ]

I’ve discouraged a few horses from pacing the fence by placing a line of ground poles in the way. I spread them out about 9ft, safe to trot or canter of they get that worked up. I figure if they want to pace, they may as well get in some cavalletti work. Mostly, stepping over poles is too much effort, and the fence running is greatly reduced. Occasionally one will decide to pace far enough off the fence line to avoid the poles entirely, but that’s OK because at least he isn’t digging a trench under my fence…and if needed, I stagger the poles farther away to give more obstacles to avoid.

It is a PITA to mow, but I’d much rather move a dozen poles than struggle to mow a big ditch alongside my fence.