Hi all, My horse is in a large rectangular shaped paddock that I pay weekly for (an agistment). He is in the paddock on his own but with many other horses in other paddocks around him. He comes to me as soon as he sees me and loves a pat. I have done all the ground work & desensitizing etc. He is wonderful and learns fast. We both have great times at our training sessions. My concern is I do not have access to a round yard and I want to do a joinup. His paddock is way to big to do a joinup in. He has already decided on his own to come to me and follow me at all times. It's just that he is putting his face in my shoulder to push me and showing a lack of respect. When he does this I believe he is going to bite me. Today I worked on personal space with the dually and he responded very well by staying where I put him and not moving. Perhaps this will stop the pushing? However I am really really keen to do a joinup. Any suggestions on how I can do this without a round pen or yard?
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Hi, it seems as though you are making great progress with him. Keep working with the Dually, it will teach him to respect your space. It is not ideal for them to be on their own, they need others really, does he socialise/groom 'over the fence' with the horses around him? If so fine. Join up - you can do it in a large space but you need to be fit and it is a lot harder! But I have to ask WHY? You already have 'join up' and 'follow up' and he is starting to respect your space and your training sessions are going really well. Just because you really really want to do it doesn't mean you should ;-) We must not treat these horses as a vehicle for what we want to do, however, if you think Join Up would benefit the relationship between you and your horse then section off a piece of your field and enjoy! If you are only doing it because you "want to have a go" then I think you need to find another way. For example attend a course, or if you know someone with a pen/horse who will let you have a go. Good luck and keep us posted.
Forgot to say, as I noticed your other post - once he is gelded an recovered he may be a little quieter too and even more amenable!
I agree with Vicci. I want my horse to be focused on me when we're in the round pen, so I try to drive him away and have him run a few circles in each direction so that I know we're both on the same page. Impossible. Well, it's difficult because he's learned to get out of running circles and stand next to me. So the question is, why would I continue to try to get him running when he's already paying complete attention to me. It's like he's telling me: "look, I'm with you. What do you want to do now?"
Hi hmartell,
As it seems your horse is already "Joined-Up" with you, so don't bore him with the same story over and over... Now's the time to deepen your relationship with Dually work, ground work etc. You could try some liberty work to fine-tune the bond even more. Horses want us to show them thay have someone to rely on, "their leadingmare".
Have fun and make sure your horse has fun, above all!
Miriam
with respect to join up having to be done in a round pen. The biggest "pen" that I have done join up in is 120' x 80'.
It worked beautifully....so I guess that the saying that applies is that..."necessity is the mother of invention". The horses were much "calmer" I found with the larger pen, my impression being that they didn't seem to feel so "trapped" and "apprehensive" about the smaller size of a 50' - 60' standard round pen.
I have a question. I am going to see a mare today to work with her from the ground and ride her. my problem is that the place still does not have pen. just open space. what do you recommend me to start with? dually work or perhaps something else to build her confidence while the pen is being finished?
Recently, we rescued 3 starving mustangs, and I thought when they recovered I would start join up with them. We got the 3 year old stallion gelded, and I really thought I would work him first, but decided it wasn't necessary, as he follows me everywhere as it is. So close sometimes that he steps on my heels. Working on that. so thought I would work the yearling. Same thing. Mare is friendly and follows us too, just not as much. But cant get away from any of them. If they are in the pasture and we go out, they follow us back to the barn, and if we shut the gate, they stay right with us. they are as joined up as Emmett and Princess have always been. I guess they must like us or something.
Dear mustang.girl
Here my ideas: The most important issue is safety. You need a place where the horses can't escape with a good ground. If there is no such place and the pastures are open you could go there, "armed" with a lunge to be able to defend you if the horses are too touchy, and start touching the horse using the "join-up" body language, then gradually put the lunge around the neck, introduce the halter in small steps, and so on. If there are other horses be careful that you don't get between them when they fight each other and from the same reason don't bring food with you.
Kind regards
Rudi
Phantommustang -so pleased your mustangs are showing you how grateful they are that you have saved them and are caring for them so well. No wonder they have joined up with you!
Phantommustang -so pleased your mustangs are showing you how grateful they are that you have saved them and are caring for them so well. No wonder they have joined up with you!