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First time horse owner checklist

Everything you arrange and record in the first month, on one sheet. In a month you know what is normal for this horse.

Content checked in October 2026

PDF · A4 · version 1.2

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What’s on it

The paperwork: passport transferred, the history obtained.
Week by week: apart, feed, the professionals, out together.
His normal: temperature on three evenings, pulse, breathing, weight.

How to use it

Print it the day you say “yes”; the paperwork before he arrives.
Measure his normal in week one and put it on “Before you call the vet” too.
Tick what is done; the rest is the list for next week.

The first thirty days

Checklist for a new horse: arrange, take it slowly, and learn his normal

Halster

Horse

Arrival

Previous owner, number

Previous vet, number

The paperwork

Passport checked (microchip matches, food-chain status read) and transferred into my name within 30 days (UK/IE); US: bill of sale, Coggins, registration papers; AU: PIC for the property
History obtained: vaccination dates, last worm count and product, farrier cycle, feed chart, particulars
Insurance decided (yes/no) and arranged
Purchase agreement and pre-purchase exam report kept

Weeks 1–2: apart and quiet

Separate paddock or stable, own buckets and tools, two to three weeks
The same feed as with the previous owner; hay mixed in slowly
Temperature taken daily in the first week
Fence line, water and shelter walked together once

His normal (week 1)

Temperature evening 1

evening 2

evening 3

Pulse at rest

Breathing at rest

Weight (tape)

Photos taken: side, hooves, front (date)

What I saw (eating, droppings, drinking, how he stands when I arrive)

Weeks 2–3: the professionals

Worm egg count sent before joining the others in the field
Farrier: met, cycle agreed: every ____ weeks
Teeth checked if more than a year ago
Vet: met, records handed over if anything is going on
Feed changed step by step (only after two weeks, in quarters)

Weeks 3–4: together and out

Met over the fence, then one quiet companion, then the group
Grass built up (schedule)
First ride short and on familiar ground; saddle checked
Stable card hung up; yard owner and liveries know what he does and doesn’t get
Care calendar filled in with the dates from the passport or records

In Halster

Keep the arrival and first observations together

Note your horse’s arrival and what you notice about eating and behaviour in the first few days in Halster.

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