Kels is off to her new home tomorrow, and I'm stressing about it already!
When I first got her she settled within hours, and when I moved her again she once more settled straight in, but both these places were quiet farm premises with only a couple of horses sharing her field, though at my current place the field next door was full of brood mares.
The new place is more of a proper yard, with more horses to get to know.
Kels is very much the alpha wherever possible, so I need some sound advice on how to deal with her first turnout, which will probably be on Monday when there won't be many people around to help and advise.
I'm tempted to just chuck her in the field and leave her and the herd to sort themselves out (they're mainly geldings but there are mares, all in together, which I heartily approve of in general), but I'm fretting that she or someone else might get hurt whlle they reorganise the herd dynamics (she isn't shod, but I think most of the others are).
Am I just going to get all upset at the inevitable fighting if I hang around and watch, or is this a sensible thing to do? There are two adjoining fields, with a large gap in the hedge that divides them, and they all seem to gravitate to the second field, so should I let her wander off and find the others on her own?
Commonsense tells me that there's nothing I can or should do if they rip lumps out of one another at first, but all the same.......
When I first got her she settled within hours, and when I moved her again she once more settled straight in, but both these places were quiet farm premises with only a couple of horses sharing her field, though at my current place the field next door was full of brood mares.
The new place is more of a proper yard, with more horses to get to know.
Kels is very much the alpha wherever possible, so I need some sound advice on how to deal with her first turnout, which will probably be on Monday when there won't be many people around to help and advise.
I'm tempted to just chuck her in the field and leave her and the herd to sort themselves out (they're mainly geldings but there are mares, all in together, which I heartily approve of in general), but I'm fretting that she or someone else might get hurt whlle they reorganise the herd dynamics (she isn't shod, but I think most of the others are).
Am I just going to get all upset at the inevitable fighting if I hang around and watch, or is this a sensible thing to do? There are two adjoining fields, with a large gap in the hedge that divides them, and they all seem to gravitate to the second field, so should I let her wander off and find the others on her own?
Commonsense tells me that there's nothing I can or should do if they rip lumps out of one another at first, but all the same.......