5 Easy Steps to Introduce a New Horse

If you’re adding a new horse to an existing herd and want to ensure the transition goes smoothly, check out our top tips and tricks.

Perhaps you’ve bought your first horse, or simply a new one, and need to introduce them to an existing herd.

If this is your first horse, check out our beginner horse owner posts:

• Beginner Horse Terms You Need to Know
• 52+ Questions to Ask When Buying a Horse
• What is a Pre-Purchase Exam and Why You Need One
• How Much Does a Horse Cost?

This can be stressful as horses are entirely unpredictable and can easily hurt themselves, each other, and you.

Tips and Tricks for Introducing a New Horse to Your Herd

1. No Rear Shoes

It’s common for horses to squabble a bit while they establish the new herd hierarchy.

Even after the initial introduction, it can take weeks before the herd decides it’s final form.

For this reason, I do not introduce new horses into a herd if anyone is wearing hind shoes.

A well placed kick with a hind shoe can brake bones, so I simply don’t risk it.

2. Meet Across a Fence

When introducing the new horse, bring the new horse to the fence of the paddock with a long lead.

Let them meet on the other side of a wood fence.

More than likely there will be some squealing and possibly some kicking out of front feet.

Make sure there isn’t any way a horse could get their hoof caught in the fence while they’re displaying.

I also recommend doing this with a long lead rope so you can stand far back and not risk getting caught in the middle.

3. Grazing Next to Each Other

After the initial meeting and squealing, more than likely the new horse and the herd will begin to do what horses do best – grazing.

I like to wait long enough during the initial meeting to let everyone meet, squeal, get bored, and then graze.

Often they’ll go back and forth between “meeting” and grazing.

Anything that reflects what they’ll likely do together once the new horse has been accepted by the herd is helpful.

4. Let Them Smell Each Other

Just like dogs, horses will likely smell each other to get familiar.

Horses’ sense of smell has been proven to be better than a human’s, but less than a dog’s.

In my experience, they usually will inspect arm pits and private parts.

If at all possible, let the new horse smell the poo or farrier cuttings of the herd horses, and vice versa.

This will be a soft introduction to each other without the stress and drama of meeting face to face.

5. Lots of Small Introductions

If at all possible, spread the introductions over the course of several days.

If you can make a lot of small introductions, say, five or ten minutes at a time, it will lower the overall stress levels of all involved and make the transition completely natural.