​The Well-Traveled Horse

​The Well-Traveled Horse
By Gaye DeRusso
 
Buying horses can be a difficult task. One thing, I like to look for when buying a horse, is how much has it traveled? 
 
Why? Because a horse that is well traveled will adjust easier to its new home. It will more then likely trailer well alone and with other horses. They are used to getting on and off the trailer and when they get off, they are in a different place. Just like people who travel all the time, they are use to it and therefore, do not stress out. They arrive and just settle into their new atmosphere so much easier.
 
The horse that has been at the same ranch or the same boarding stable for most its life with the same horses, worries me. Especially if they were always ridden off the property to trails and never trailered anywhere else. Horses get use to what they do all the time, so if they are with the same horse all its life, or the same trails, it will usually be pretty mellow there because it is use to it. But taking a horse that has lived and been ridden in the same place for 16 years and bringing it to a new home with different horses will be a stressful situation for that horse. It is not used to traveling and it is not used to being without those certain friends, so it has a higher chance of going through a lot of stress for several months or a year before it settles in and is comfortable. 
 
So, it probably won't act  as calm  as it was when you tried it, in fact you may think they drugged it because it is so different. But it wasn't drugs it was just that it was comfortable in the situation that it had been in all those years. So, pulling it away from its only friends and driving it far away, when it is not used to trailering, will cause so much stress that it may get ulcers, not eat and even colic. 
 
I like to take the horses I am selling and travel with them. I take them to new places, let them meet new horses and let them stay over in different places. This way they get use to traveling and use to just settling in. They don't need that one buddy because they have many new buddies to be with. It causes a lot less stress and the horses adjust pretty easily to their new home. 
 
If you plan to travel with your horse, then, if possible, get one that has done a fair amount of traveling with its previous owner. But if you buy a horse that has been at the same place for 14 years, never trailered out, then the adjustment to the new facility may take a long time, months to a year. In the meantime, they may scream, run around frantic and be completely stressed out. Also,  it may not trailer very well, or load or unload easily. This is normal for a horse that has not traveled much. Of course you can teach it to travel it just takes time, patience and repetition. 
 
So if you want to make it easier on you and the horse, know what you plan on doing with the horse and try and get one that has done that job before.