If you are considering buying or adopting a horse as a pet, you will need to do your homework if you’ve never owned one before. People seldom buy or adopt horses as pets if they have never had any experience of caring for a horse before, so are generally aware of the sorts of issues that can arise when keeping horses. But caring for someone else’s horse and caring for one that you own can be very different experiences: you will have to think of things as an owner that you wouldn’t have to think about as a volunteer at someone else’s stables (e.g. where to stable your horse, where to get veterinary help for your horse, etc.).
The first thing to consider, of course, is which horse to choose. Be sure to choose a horse you bond with, taking time to get to know it in all sorts of different environments so that you can be sure of what you’re buying. Consider adopting rather than buying a horse since there are so many abandoned or neglected horses currently being cared for by animal charities such as the RSPCA that all need loving homes and a second chance at a good life. Horses are clever animals and will know that you have saved them from an uncertain future, and they will respond well to love and attention even if they have previously been treated badly. You need to be sure that you can commit to your horse for the rest of its life, and take considerable time choosing a good stable and physical environment for it to live in.
When you have chosen your horse you will need to make sure that it is introduced to its new home properly. It’s sometimes hard to remember that horses were once wild, herd animals as they have been domesticated for so long. But they still have herd instincts such as a respect for a ranking system of sorts and a sense of danger that ripples through the herd if one detects a predator. So if you are going to keep your horse with other horses (perhaps at shared stables), you should take advice on how to introduce the new horse to the others in a way that will allow your horse to join the herd successfully.
Be sure that the place where you’re thinking of housing your horse is somewhere without much noise, since horses rely on their sense of hearing to detect danger and can feel stressed if they are exposed to too much noise that would prevent them from hearing properly.
Finally, if you are adopting or buying a horse, make sure you familiarise yourself with where the nearest vet is who will care for your horse, and check how quickly they would be likely to be able to respond in an emergency (some stables in towns may be many miles away from the nearest specialist vet).
The first thing to consider, of course, is which horse to choose. Be sure to choose a horse you bond with, taking time to get to know it in all sorts of different environments so that you can be sure of what you’re buying. Consider adopting rather than buying a horse since there are so many abandoned or neglected horses currently being cared for by animal charities such as the RSPCA that all need loving homes and a second chance at a good life. Horses are clever animals and will know that you have saved them from an uncertain future, and they will respond well to love and attention even if they have previously been treated badly. You need to be sure that you can commit to your horse for the rest of its life, and take considerable time choosing a good stable and physical environment for it to live in.
When you have chosen your horse you will need to make sure that it is introduced to its new home properly. It’s sometimes hard to remember that horses were once wild, herd animals as they have been domesticated for so long. But they still have herd instincts such as a respect for a ranking system of sorts and a sense of danger that ripples through the herd if one detects a predator. So if you are going to keep your horse with other horses (perhaps at shared stables), you should take advice on how to introduce the new horse to the others in a way that will allow your horse to join the herd successfully.
Be sure that the place where you’re thinking of housing your horse is somewhere without much noise, since horses rely on their sense of hearing to detect danger and can feel stressed if they are exposed to too much noise that would prevent them from hearing properly.
Finally, if you are adopting or buying a horse, make sure you familiarise yourself with where the nearest vet is who will care for your horse, and check how quickly they would be likely to be able to respond in an emergency (some stables in towns may be many miles away from the nearest specialist vet).
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