Join Up!

[Equine Princess]

Hey Dudes!


What do you think about Join up?
I know there have been worries about it before
and some people think theres nothink wrong with it
But what about for a first time horse owner?


Thanks

[heartofrainbow]

Hey

my friend is really into the monty roberts thing!

I think that you can form just a good a bond with your horse, by spending time with him or her, doing things like grooming and stroking, working together etc etc

Don't get me wrong join up is great for certain horses, but I don't think that it works for every horse or rider!

One piece of advice would be to get someone to show you how to do it (if possible) and maybe practice on a older more experienced horse! And as I have heard from my friend it takes a lot of practice to get it right!

As I understand it is quite difficult at times (trying to remember everything!) and some horses are really responsive and will alter themselves from the slightest change in your body language!

Hope this helps!

[Equine Princess]

Thank you!

[Joyscarer]

I'd be willing to bet that in many cases if you work a horse in hand and then let them losse with you in the school then they will have joined up witout going through the formal motions of it. :)

[Yann]

Very definitely, it's one means to an end among many. It isn't complicated but there are an awful lot of misconceptions about it and several types of horse that it's unsuitable for, so it can be easy to muck up if you don't really know what you're doing. The most common one is that people will keep going if they're not getting a response, sometimes for hours, which is absolutely wrong. Most successful join ups done by those who know what they're doing are usually over in less than 10 minutes from beginning to end. If it isn't working then stop and do something else.

If you want to know more about it the book Perfect Manners by Kelly Marks covers the process in some depth.

[Kathryn128]

I find it's best not to "do join up" but to work with them on the ground then turn them loose. It ends up achieving join up anyway, without chasing them round and round and round, getting more and more tense, which is how a lot of people try to do it.

Merlyn will join up in approx 2 minutes if I just turn him loose and send him out in the lunge pen. After a bit he's normally ambling around, licking, chewing and gagging to come in. Will then let me cuddle his head, which he will never do normally.

As everyone's said though, it doesn't work for every horse. With Merlyn, it establishes respect and a bond between just me and him in that lunge pen (he would walk all over me if I let him), before we get down to proper freeschooling work. His rewards are to come in for a cuddle, before we either change reins or stop.

This works for us and has really helped with his disrespect for me in the stable.

[JamesJackson]

I don't practice join-up as a standalone thing, but the way I've been taught to lunge and break in horses results in a joined-up horse. Make sure you get shown how to do it by somebody who really does know what they're doing; it's very easy to get it wrong. Firstly, you sometimes see cases where the horse has joined up with the owner, rather than the other way round! Secondly, you can end up with a chronically scared and confused horse.

It's great, but be careful.

[mayoguinness]

There are a lot more passive ways of achieving better results through reading the body launguage of the horse at liberty and positivly reinforcing the good with your body launguage and negativly the bad by just a swish of your rope tail, the horse doesn't need to be made to run but have the option and be gently asked and set up till they're emotionally ready to join up with you! Just my opinion but its what I'm spending a lot of my time learning and watching at the mo!

[Spoof]

What do you think about Join up?
Great method, particularly if the horse hasn't been handled, isn't safe to touch or approach, you have a time constraint, and the right facilities (like an auction barn). On the other hand I've seen horses go over 6ft fences, attempt to scale an 8ft slatted round pen fence and slam into all of them at least once. This was a very popular method where I originally came from. I've seen it take anywhere from 10 min to 2 hours.

But what about for a first time horse owner?

You can do a horse more harm than good by not knowing what you are doing in a roundpen, especially the smaller ones. You've got to be really good on your release of pressure and reading the horse.

I'd stick to the in hand stuff, especially with your first horse. Trained horses just need time to develop a bond with a new owner, and that will come from time spent with them. :)

[Yann]

Great method, particularly if the horse hasn't been handled, isn't safe to touch or approach

If you were following the Monty Roberts / Kelly Marks approach to using join up then you probably wouldn't use it with these sorts of horses as they don't see being allowed to come in to the human and be touched as a reward.