My first join-up :) :) :) :) :) :)

[hApPiNeSs]

yey! not with only one but with two ponies :D

I don't know how much I have told you about Sandy, but she is a mini pony who was abused and then driven out of a gypsy camp and ended up in somebodys garden, terrifyed of people :(

Before we had Happy, we took her on as a companion for Fern, as she was going to be put to sleep.

2 years later, she is still scared of people, but can just about be led and lunged over little jumps. If i went to pat or pet her though, she would freak out and probably kick and bite for her life.

Well yesterday, our round pen had all the hay bales taken out of it, and i decided to try free schooling. Join-up never occured to me at that point. I had my lunge line and just slapped it on my leg to get her to move around, and then I noticed her coming in off the track and licking and chewing. So I just relaxed a little bit and a few laps later her head bowed down on the ground. Got in front of her movement and turned in, and she FOLLOWED :D. She was right behind me and I did the arch thing, and we joined up *proud mum moment*

She followed me everywhere chewing and licking, and i even managed to stroke her along her back and she completely relaxed, she even nuzzled me :D :D So that was highlight number one for the day :cool:

When we finished I got Happy out and sent her out. Now, Happy was a bit more obstinate and didnt like not being the herd leader. So it took us about 10 minutes to join up, but we did it and I was really pleased, because I always felt like Happy never trusted me that much :)

I think I might tell me careers advisor i've had a change of heart and am going to become the next horse whisperer :cool: :p

sorry, pointless thread, but i just wanted to share, because im so happy about it *grins* :D

[peeweesgal]

oh wow thats great! you must feel so happy to have acomplished that! I bet it was quite hard work with Happy though! Congratulations!

sarah
xxx

[dotsanddashes]

yey! not with only one but with two ponies :D ...........
sorry, pointless thread, but i just wanted to share, because im so happy about it *grins* :D


Well done you........not pointless - isn't this what this whole forum is about? Being able to share experiences and learn?;)

[Yann]

You've got a round pen and they store hay in it???:eek:

Sounds like you've done some good work there, especially with the little one. People have varying opinions about join up but it does work, and it's obviously worked very well in this case. If you think Happy has benefited from the exercise then it might be worth doing a couple more just to cement things with her, from what I can gather it is an exercise that can be repeated a few times when you're working with a horse. Make sure you don't run her ragged though if she doesn't show all the signs, the fact you have her in the pen and are controlling her speed and direction is teaching her something anyway.

Not pointless at all! Well done :)

[Exmoorlover]

Well done :) I went to a monty roberts demo in november and would love to do that! Must be a really good feeling to be able to join up with your pony and to know that they trust you :D