A horse cannot tell the new barn what he eats, when he eats it, or why he spooks at a flapping tarp. Everything the old barn knows about him lives in people's heads, and heads do not move with him. The fix is a written note covering three sets of facts in order — his current feed written exactly, his routine and quirks, and his health history — handed over before or on moving day and read by the people who will actually feed and handle him.
His Feed, Written Exactly
Write what he eats, how much, and when, using his own routine values rather than barn shorthand. Name each feed and supplement, give amounts the way the new barn will measure them — scoops described by weight or by the actual scoop he is fed from, flakes of hay counted, soaked feeds with their soaking time — and set out his feeding times across the day. Add his forage: how much hay or haylage he gets, whether it is soaked or steamed and why, and how his grazing is managed, including any muzzle, strip grazing or restricted hours. Note his water habits too, such as a horse who drinks poorly after travel or who will only drink from a particular type of bucket, because the first forty-eight hours at a new barn are when intake matters and nobody knows him yet.
If the new barn feeds differently, say so in the note and agree that his feed changes gradually: his familiar feed travels with him for the first stretch, and any new feed is mixed in over several days, one step at a time. A feed swapped outright on arrival day, on top of new grazing, new water and a new herd, stacks every stress on the same weekend.
His Routine and Quirks
Describe a normal day for him from first feed to last check: turnout times and which field companions he goes out with, his exercise pattern across the week, his blanketing by weather, and how he is stabled, including bedding he does or does not do well on. Then write the quirks plainly, because quirks are where new handlers get hurt or horses get labeled difficult unfairly. Note how he loads and travels, how he behaves for the farrier and the vet, whether he pulls back when tied, barges at feed time, guards his stable door, or worries when his field companion leaves. Add what settles him, in the plain practical terms the old barn uses, so the new barn starts with the handling that already works on him rather than experimenting during his first unsettled week.
His Health History, Traveling With Him
Close the note with his health history: vaccinations and their dates, dental work and when he is next due, worming history, his shoeing cycle, and any past illness, injury, colic episode, laminitis risk or allergy, each with how it was handled. List his current vet, farrier and emergency contacts, and mark clearly anything that needs watching in the first month, such as a horse who loses weight in winter or whose sweet itch season is starting. Keep your own copy of the whole note, so the history exists in two places even if the receiving barn mislays its copy during a busy moving weekend. His Pet Passport holds the master copy of that history, so the note handed over is a copy, not the only version. The point of the note is that his history lives in his records and survives the move, ready for the next barn, the next vet, or a future owner, instead of evaporating at the gate of the old one.
Send the written summary from the Pet Passport pack on KinsLe before moving day, and the receiving barn starts with his exact routine already in hand.