I am new to this forum and to join up. I have a new Rocky Mountain horse now for a month. She was trained to show and has a very calm demeanor on the ground. I watched the Join Up videos and then proceeded to join up with my horse. She was attentive with ears up and a nice gait when traveling to the right. As soon as she goes to the left she flattens her ears, bucks, closes the circle and turns her rear end towards me.
I thought maybe she was in some type of pain and yesterday on the longe line with my trainer she had some trouble on the left but did not behave at all in this way. I look forward to your thoughts.
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Bad behavior going left at Join Up
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Hi Sandy. Study the videos again - I think you're right handed & your horse maybe too. Perhaps some small adjustments to your body language will fix this. Make sure you're in the correct "driving" position & that you ask firmly & clearly - rather than pressurise. Be very generous with much rubbing as soon as you get any positive reaction. Good luck. Cheers, Jo.
Hi Sandy,
Welcome to the forum!
Your horse is telling you something.... please check for pain, let a vet make sure there's no backissue etc.
Now when all is ruled out, next step is to go through all stages of Join-Up, remember it is a conversation, never a training! You say she's very calm and has good groundmanners, so maybe she needs very little to Join-Up with you. She might feel "send away" when she's behaving nicely, this could call for a reaction.
What's her age, has she had many owners before coming to you?
Watch the video's over and over, there is much more to see than what shows the first time you watch them!
Please keep us posted,
Miriam
Mmm, interesting... I wonder if you could tell us some more about her background. How old is she? How did she perform when in shows? What training styles/methods were used before, why did they want to sell her...etc.etc. anything at all that you think will be useful for us to know.
Thank you everyone
She is a Rocky Mountain and she is 6 years old. She was shown for 2-3 years buy supposedly not as much as some. She has had one owner and was born and trained her whole life in Kentucky. She now lives in Colorado and I realize this is quite an adjustment. They sold her because she was not going to be shown anymore. The trainer does not really do much ground work. He just rides them so I realize that this work is new to her.
I will keep watching the videos and I am having my vet look at her. I just get this sense that perhaps she does have some pain or stiffness since the behavior going left is so very dramatically different that going right. She is stiff under saddle going left as well.
Thank you all again for your questions and advice!
I think you are right Sandy - vet first and then we can look st it in more depth. We are all here to support each other; you will get lots of input but as you have said, ruling out the physical needs t be done first
Thank you! Vicci-I have a good friend who lives in Wales!
Ah Sandy, whereabouts?
Swansea
Ah, right at the other end of Wales from me :-) About 4 hours drive. How are things, has the vet been yet?