STOCKYARD
HORSE  DISCUSSION FORUMS

up4thechase

Hi my friend has a horse on our property that we have encountered a few problems with lately. He is a 6 yo t/bred and she has had him since he was 2 but he hasn't had much done with him. So I suggested to her that he needed a bit of work and maybe she should try join-up with him. So today we attempted join-up and it didn't go too well. I have done join-up on about 15 horses all successfully (the first 5 were under instruction). I am by far an expert but I thought I was fairly competant. As soon Dynamite (the horses name, not a good start) goes in to the round yard his adrenaline goes up. He starts sweating within a matter of minutes and constantly works himself. During the process of trying join-up his adrenaline never went down. He carried his head up in the sky the whole time. He would put his ear on me and come off the fence and start licking and chewing but he wouldn't lower his head, at 1 stage he did slightly so I thought this is as good as it gets so I stepped in front of his shoulder, turned and offered mine. He stopped and looked at me but didn't come off the fence so I went in an arc around him up to the fence and off again a couple of times but he still wouldn't come so I sent him away again and the same thing happened. I went a bit closer and his muscles started twitching so I walked away to talk to my friend cause at this stage I was scratching my head. I said it is like he doesn't understand what I am asking. It's like he was an orphan or something and she said he was. His mum died shortly after having him. As I said I am no expert but that was the impression I got. It could be that I was doing something wrong and not even realise. I have the basic knowledge but not a whole lot more than that. Maybe I was asking him to come in too soon? But I couldn't have kept the session going even if I wanted to cause he was just dripping in sweat which he didn't work nearly as hard as what he looked like he had but I think it was the amount of adrenaline pumping through him that sweated him up so much. His adrenaline level I believe never went down either. He was pumped the whole time and his owner said that is how he has always been. Would anyone be willing to give a paid lesson? Or help with advice that would be greatly appreciated.

Bucking mad

Hiya Up4thechase.



I'm no expert either but some horse take a lot longer than others. I had one mare that took over an hour to lower her head, no adrenaline like your boy, but very dominant nature and she didn'y want to give over lol.


I also do some basic ground work, if possible, with a rope halter and 12 ft leadrope, before hand so they already have a little bit of respect fro you and know that you can control where they put therir body. Ie disengaging the hips, both sides, backing and driving away onto a small circle and getting them to stop and face up by using the disengagemnet. i find after doing these that most (not all) horses want to follow you around.

Pm me if you want more info.

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"I'll Ask, Polite, If The Devil Wants A Ride, Because The Angel on my Right Ain't Hanging Out with Me Tonight!!" - Nickleback

smash

i would go back 1 step.
as you are wanting him to join you. and he is unsure of where his "comfort zone" is.
i would do exactly as you have been doing, but when he stops and acknowledges you, i would very gently walk over, and just stand beside him, and stoke his neck, (so he starts to think, oh she is nice) and wait for him to lower and relax while you gently stroke his neck.
once he relaxes, i would walk away and start again with the join up, and repeat the gentle stroking exersise every time he acknowledges you.
i feel this will help him WANT to come to you instead of stessing, what he is supose to do.
also he may be a touch sore (????)
i would not at this stage but any pressure on him (like halter work and trying to disengage hind quarters and stuff at this stage) as he allready thinks humans are too much pressure as it is (if you know what i mean) but would definately do it, once he as accepted you (decided that it is nice to be with you instead of running around in circles)
i feel he just has not worked out that humans can be nice and relaxing to be with. once he has this worked out, i feel he will except any kind of handling you want, with ease.
to him, humans are just a pain in the but, and that is what has to be changed first.
good luck
cheers

WITCHERY

I would also look at changing his diet, if his adrenaline is always up.

Also join up does not have to be done in a round yard it can actually be done any where.

taeliesyn

My suggestion if you can't find someone more experienced to do the join up, is to put him in the round yard and leave him to his own devices for half an hour to an hour for a few days until he no longer stresses by simply being in there.

Once he has calmed about being in the yard, then you should have more success with join up. That said, if he was effectively orphaned at a young age and didn't spend much time with other horses as he grew up, he simply may not understand what is being asked. I have just finished reading 'From My hands to yours' by Monty Roberts and he states an orphaned horse may have trouble or not even be able to acheive full join up because it never properly learned its own language.

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~Monty Roberts on Apollo "He really is the spirit of the desert"

dayna

Kerry no longer lives in Darling Downs, she has moved to Bullsbrook now. If you want her details please PM me and I will pass them on.

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If you can't be a good example -- then you'll just have to be a horrible warning.

up4thechase

Thanks everyone. I thought about approaching him and did turn as if to move toward him but his muscles started to twitch and he was ready to flee. We have put him in the round yard many a time but he just constantly works himself until you get him out. His feed consists of chaff sweetbulk and copra. So nothing that I thought would be anything high energy. I did start join-up in his paddock to begin with cause the problems started one night when my partner put his bib on ready to put his rug on and he was really toey cause he doesn't get any work and then he took off so he couldn't put the rug on and kept bolting around. I thought I would wait until he calmed down and try again. I tried 3 more times but he just kept bolting and I couldn't get near him so he was left with just his bib on over night. The next day I fed him and went to take the bib off but again he took off and I couldn't get near him so I thought I would try join-up in his paddock, I had him going in a circle around me (which I thought was quite good) considering it was a paddock but I had my 2yo son hanging off the fence so couldn't finish but he did get a good work out. That afternoon we had to grab my horse and take him to his paddock so he would come and up and we could catch him so we could rug him for that night but he was fine the next day to rug etc.

Horsetalk

I think you hit the nail on the head Mr T.

Kyara

Hey...

I had the same problem with a pony that I was training for a little while... He always wanted to run and not stop...

I just had to keep him going until he was tired and didnt want to run anymore... I took a while but it worked, I dnt no if it will worked for your friends horse but it mite be worth giving it a try...

Merrylegs

In my experience and backed up by a Monty student who used to live in WA, horses that have been dropped are often very difficult to join up with.

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