31/07/2025
Off the Track and Into the Deep End: Why "New Home Syndrome” Runs Deeper for Racehorses 🐎💥🏠
What is “New Home Syndrome” — and Why I Named It
I coined the term New Home Syndrome to describe the often-overlooked psychological and physiological stress response and its impact horses experience when they move to a new home.
It’s not just general stress or “settling in.” It’s a full-body, full-mind disruption — one that affects a horse’s behaviour, health, sleep, wellbeing, and ability to learn. It’s a syndrome in the truest sense: a cluster of symptoms that consistently occur together in response to a sudden and overwhelming change in environment.
All horses are impacted when they move homes. But for off-the-track Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds, the effects can be magnified tenfold.
Why? Because they come from a world of order and routine. Their lives have been shaped by structure — same people, same schedule, same job. They’ve been conditioned to perform a specific task, and their environment is designed to support that task with military-level predictability.
When all of that vanishes overnight, their nervous system doesn’t just wobble — it spirals. And sadly, this is often misinterpreted as “bad behaviour,” “danger,” or “problem horse” status.
🖼️ This is Dash — imaged attached.
Dash is a 10-year-old off-the-track Thoroughbred and a powerful example of what happens when New Home Syndrome goes unrecognised.
He was returned to his rehoming program three times, labelled as “dangerous.” But the truth is likely something else entirely.
What happened to Dash was a full physical, mental, and emotional unraveling — a textbook case of New Home Syndrome.
His world kept collapsing and no one saw it for what it was. His confusion, anxiety, and distress were interpreted as reactive and unpredictable.
But he isn’t dangerous, he was just being dangerous because he was drowning.
And Dash’s story helped shape this blog — and the resource we created to help horses like him make a successful transition into a second life.
Thrown Into the Deep End
When a racehorse leaves the track, they don’t just change jobs — they enter a world they don’t recognise. 🌏
They’re used to:
- Routine and repetition
- Clear, singular expectations
- Practical, task-focused handling
- A training system designed to produce fast, forward responses
Suddenly, they’re in a paddock. Being hugged. Offered carrots. Asked to stand still in wide open spaces. Handled by unfamiliar people using unfamiliar language.
They don’t understand what’s happening — and they don’t know how to navigate it and that is acutely stressful. That’s New Home Syndrome.
And without support, even the kindest horse can spiral into confusion or panic.
Not a Behaviour Problem — A Learning History
Working with Isabelle Chandler — a racing industry insider, brilliant bodyworker, rehoming advocate, and former track rider and jockey — I’ve come to appreciate how subtle things we are completely ignorant of can trigger huge reactions in OTTBs.
Take Dash again in the early stages of his re-training. 🐎
Isabelle showed me how simply putting feet in the stirrups triggered him. He braced, tensed, and got agitated. Why? Because on the track, riders only put their feet in the stirrups when they’re ready to work. 🏇
The moment she removed her feet? He softened and instantly relaxed.
It only took a few quiet repetitions to reframe the association. Soon, Dash could stand at the mounting block without tension. No drama. No confusion. Just a horse learning something new — the right way.
These horses aren’t being difficult. They’re just doing their old job in a new world.
When Affection Feels Like Pressure
Many OTTBs haven’t experienced affection as comfort. Touch often meant tacking up, grooming, or veterinary care — not bonding.
So when you reach out with affection, they may brace, flinch or become unsettled— not because they don’t like you, but because they don’t know what that touch means. 💔
They’re not used to your way of loving them yet. That will come — with consistency, safety, and time.
Connection doesn’t start with cuddles. It starts with understanding.
Retraining Isn’t Enough — You Must Rebuild
Helping a racehorse transition isn’t just about teaching new skills. It’s about:
- Unlearning old patterns
- Establishing safe routines
- Reframing ingrained associations
- Supporting body, mind, gut and nervous system
These horses aren’t blank slates. But they are brilliant learners — and with calm, skilled guidance, they transform.
Because deep down, just like every horse they just seek three things - peace, predictability and safety. They just need someone to help them find it. 💛
New Home Syndrome Isn’t a Setback — It’s the Starting Point
Off-the-track horses don’t need fixing. They need time, empathy, and someone who understands the path they’re on.
When we offer that:
- They settle
- They soften
- They connect
- They begin to shine ✨
And we see the truth: they were never crazy. They were just misunderstood.
And Because Dash Deserved Better…
Horses like Dash — and so many others we’ve met — made it clear that something was missing.
There wasn’t a clear roadmap. There are gaps in understanding between the inside of the racing industry and the broader equestrian world — and it’s in these gaps that many horses get lost. Dash nearly did. 😔
Without that shared roadmap, you have well-meaning, brilliant people — rehomers, trainers, owners, coaches, equine professionals — all trying their best, sometimes in the dark.
Rehomers and trainers hand horses to owners who may not have the same skillset or insights. Owners turn to instructors on the outside of the industry who may not recognise what the horse is truly going through. And no one is at fault — we just haven’t all been working from the same page. I am an experienced trainer but I have learned so much from Isabelle that I was unaware of!
So Isabelle and I started putting our heads together — combining her experience in the racing industry, rehoming and rehabilitation with my expertise in retraining and teaching people how to work well with horses — to piece together a better way forward.
What emerged is a resource built from everything we wish more people knew — something to develop people’s knowledge, skills, and awareness for the task of rehoming racehorses:
- How to recognise and support horses going through New Home Syndrome
- How to retrain patterns shaped by life on the track
- How to identify, manage post-racing health, pain, and stress
- How to create stability, safety, and real communication
It’s not a quick fix. But it is incredibly effective.
We also got expert help from veterinarian Dr Jodie Gossage, Standardbred breeder, re-trainer who is involved in harness racing to add an entire section on these horses who have their own unique misconceptions!
It’s the kind of thing we believe can change lives — horse and human. 🧠❤️🐎
And if you’re someone who wants to help these horses thrive, this might be exactly what you’ve been looking for. In the comments will tell you more.
Please share — the respectful way.
💬 Hit the share button — don’t copy and paste. This piece is the result of lived experience, collaboration, and deep care.
Sharing it might help a horse like Dash land softly — and maybe help someone like you give them the second chance they deserve. 🙏🐴
IMAGE📸: Dash with Isabelle and me — we’re on a mission to raise awareness of the gap in understanding and skill that nearly cost this lovely, sweet, and clever horse his future.
