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Joining up question

924 views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  Saddlebag 
#1 ·
In general, is it easier to join up with a gelding than a mare? I have three horses, two geldings and a mare. I was working with them today and did the join up process with the two geldings. One joined up very quickly, the other took more time but it happened. With my mare, it never happened. I finally just called it off with her and will try at another time. It was like she just got more and more upset and really frantic.
 
#2 ·
It will depend mostly on the individual horse. For example, my horse is very spirited and won't be as "obvious" with his signals. His ear on me is easy to tell, but he will rarely lick his lips, and has never dropped his head. However, he still joins up wonderfully.

If she kept getting more upset and more frantic you may not want to push her so hard. Monty Roberts wouldn't push them very hard for long and you can have them trot and still get a join up. My horse is a TWH and can't canter for the life of him so I usually trot (well, pace) him most of the time.

So keep it up. Some horses take longer than others. I use a similar approach for getting hard to catch horses to be caught. However, in my situation I had to do it as a herd of 3. The BLM mustang mare figured it out incredibly faster than the other two geldings (one of which was the one I was actually trying to work with).

Good luck!
 
#3 ·
Owners often find this hard to grasp but the more you send the horse away, the more it will want to connect with you. It might mean just trailing the horse in the field and shooing it off where it is grazing. You claim the spot (horses do this all the time) for oh 15-20 seconds then walk after the horse again, shooing it away and claiming her spot. Use as little energy as possible so she doesn't take off at a dead run, unless you feel like doing a lot of walking. She'll get so she'll keep her eyes glued to you. That is a good time to turn your back to release the pressure on her. She may choose this time to approach you. If she doesn't that's ok but give her a minute. If she doesn't, then begin the exercise again.
 
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