It has been 20 years since I owned my last horse. Career and family have been my focus and I finally at 40yrs of age am able to afford my own horse. I bought a horse last weekend and am going to bring her home in a couple of weeks.
What do I need to have as a major necessity and as secondary necessity to bring her home.
These are the thing I have thought of: Priority necessity:
Hay
Grain
Water source in stall and pasture
Make sure electric fence works
Put down stall mats and bed stall with shavings
Double check there are no obvious things that can injury her (pointy things, etc)
Secondary things to be concerned about:
Organize supplements for feet
Organize all sauves, betadine,ointments, fly spray
Organize farrier
Organize vet for an introduction
What would NECESSARY emergency items be to have on hand right away?
I feel like I am missing things but don't know what. Been to close to it to see what is an obvious oversite. Thank you for your insites.
So is this horse going to be kept by herself? When you say home do you mean home or to a boarding situation?
I would always try to bring a new horse into a small by herself (no buddies sharing the same area) pen that the perimeter is clearly defined and solid, not a tape pasture that she can get a head of steam and plow through the fence. I've seen horses head for home when they've gotten loose at a new barn miles away from the old place. At a minimum she needs hay, water, salt and a good quality mineral/vitamin blend. You don't know if she needs grain to maintain weight. Grain or a ration balancer would typically satisfy her vitamin and minerals. Everyone is putting up hay right now so it should be easy to find decent hay. She doesn't need a bedded stall. It's summer and she should be out unless the bugs are out of control. Saves you the work as well as $$. More time to enjoy her. Start making calls to vets in the area and get recommendations from friends now. Don't wait until you have an emergency and don't have a choice. If you are fortunate enough to have a handful of vets to work with don't feel the need to stay with one if something is amiss. I think most of us cycle through a few before we find the right one. Fly spray and a fly mask would be nice as it's that time of year.
Save your $$ and don't buy any supplement until she proves to you she need them. If her feet are bad simply changing her living environment and/or her farrier might be all she needs to have the world's best feet. I think the only thing to have on hand from the start is something to slow or stop bleeding. Leave the assessment and care up to the vet until you have a handle on it but have some cotton wrap (disposable diapers work) rolled gauze and vet wrap (duct tape works in a pinch) on hand to stop the bleeding, hold the flaps of skin where it needs to be, reduces swelling and helps keep debris from getting into the wound. There's a ton more things that are nice to have on hand but that will come over time and if you don't know how and when to use a product, what's the point?
I'll just add that when you do buy equipment for your horse, buy the best quality that you can find and afford. When you go cheap, it seems to cost more in the long run because you replace it because it breaks, fails, isn't comfortable, doesn't fit...
Start making calls to vets in the area and get recommendations from friends now. Don't wait until you have an emergency and don't have a choice. If you are fortunate enough to have a handful of vets to work with don't feel the need to stay with one if something is amiss. I think most of us cycle through a few before we find the right one. Fly spray and a fly mask would be nice as it's that time of year.
Yes! Get the best vet you can find and do it right away. Ask for farrier recommendations as well. It's too important to just go with some random person.
I'll just add that when you do buy equipment for your horse, buy the best quality that you can find and afford. When you go cheap, it seems to cost more in the long run because you replace it because it breaks, fails, isn't comfortable, doesn't fit...
I don't know how the bugs are where you live right now, but here they have been insane. I've never seen an early summer like this. If it's bad where you are it might be important to have a fly sheet ASAP.
It sounds like you're going to be keeping this horse at home and that she will be a single horse. Sometimes it is hard to find a farrier willing to come out for just one horse, so I would start looking around for that soon if you don't already know someone who will do it.
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