How do I take care of a horse once it has got of the truck after some hours of travel?

Question

I'm working in a horse spelling property. And a new horse is unloaded after some hour's travel on a truck. How do I cater for this horse

Answer 1

Both quality answers, I would add to take the horses temperature also. Especially if it has been a LONG ride,(say more than 6 hours. I think you should think about them as you would yourself, walk around and stretch, then just relax....simple enough.

Answer 2

Lead the horse out of the trailer and walk him/her slowly around. Letting the horse run right away can either pull tendons, or in worse cases, even cause colic.

Offer the horse a drink of water,a small amount of hay, and a stall or small paddock to be turned out in. Do NOT turn the horse out with other horses at this time. He/she needs to get used to their surroundings first. And horses have a pecking order, which will, in the days to come, be established between the horses themselves, without human interference. The horse should be left alone (though check on him every so often) in the stall or paddock. Allow him/her a few days, up to a week to get used to things before expecting work from him/her.

Answer 3

First, let it run.

Answer 4

first don't let them drink too much at once, esp. if they are extremely thirsty, sometimes van drivers don't water them down, and they come off the van dehydrated, ESP. if it is a long trip, so if this happens(and the way to tell is that horse will dive into a water bucket), so you have to sloowly let them drink, little by little. However you accomplish this depends on the situation of your facilities. If you have stalls, put the horse in a stall and every 10 minutes or so put some water in his bucket and not a lot, like a quarter of a bucket. Like I said however you do it is up to you, just don't let them guzzle buckets of water all at once.  

If they are dehydrated and drink their fill at once, they could founder, it doesn't happen so often, esp. if they are watered down for the length of the trip. But it can happen and is something to be aware of. Outside of this just let them relax for some time,feed them some hay in a stall if you have one, before you do anything with them. And then treat them like you would any NEW horse to the stable.

Rattle has good advice too, the answer just above me.