Monty Roberts | Join Up Ask Monty

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Question 1: What is Join-Up and why do you send the horses away from you when you begin to work with them? Monty's Answer: Join-Up is the training of horses using their language to establish trust. As I do Join-Up, I am dealing in the language of equus. I have learned that horses use 'sending away' within the family group. I have concluded that they do not regard this as an act of violence, but a use of temporary isolation as a form of discipline. There is no hitting and there is no force. Click here to read on.
Question 2: Loading a horse seems to be one of the great problem areas. Why can't you just put some food in the back of the trailer and wait for the horse to go in? Monty's Answer: One could certainly do that, and horsemen often do. It is a problem if one never teaches the horse follow your requests to load. There will be times when the horse is not hungry, and it might take hours and hours before it decides to go in. With my system, the horse learns to load as a partner with you and allows the horseman the opportunity to enjoy a relationship with a horse that will load every time and with no stress.
Question 3: As I go to mount my horse, he blasts away in fear... not a safe way to start the ride. Do you have any learning tools to help me? In my educational DVD called Fix-Up has a part of three hours and 15 minutes actual footage of a horse that wouldn't stand for mounting. You will see that a Dually Halter is most effective in the schooling process for horses that won't stand to mount. I recently worked with a Tennessee Walking Horse that had injured a man in his sixties who was a good rider for decades. It took me about a half an hour to get this horse 'bomb proof' regarding mounting.
Question 4: My horse is absolutely terrified of bicycles and becomes quite dangerous in the presence of one.Can you help us? Monty's Answer: My recommendation is to school to the Dually Halter so that you have full control of your horse. One needs to stop down any desire to blast away from you at the sight of a bicycle. Once you have achieved complete control, then you can begin to present sights such as bicycles passing by and begin desensitization. Should you choose, you can get the DVD Gentling Your Spooky Horse and by executing these procedures you can change the mindset of your horse.
Question 5: My horse is fed well and cared for, but I still wonder if she has digestive health issues. Is this possible? What can I do? Monty’s Answer: Yes, horses have delicate guts, and even pleasure horses can have problems, because they can’t graze constantly, or we keep them in stalls. There is a product called SUCCEED that can really help. It’s natural and helps keep the horse’s stomach and colon working like they should. And I’m working with them to provide a version especially for the leisure horse.

June 24 - Ask Monty Question

Hello I am Stan Sijbers, and I am 13 years old. I did some tests with several "green" horses for our annual Science Fair on my highschool (Stedelijk College) in Eindhoven. My research question is: How long does it take before a green horse gives up his flight instinct? I already saw your Join-Up video on youtube.com I wanna know if you have something you think I need or can use. Here are the results of my tests.

	HORSE1	HORSE2	HORSE3	MONTY'S HORSE
START	0 min	0 min	0 min	0 min
PRESSURE OFF	8 min	5	3	2
LICKING/CHEWING	9	6.5	9	2.45
BOWING DOWN	15	17	5	3
JOIN-UP	14	21	11	4
FOLLOW-UP	16	23	12	4.3
SADDLE UP	19	28	13	5.45
END	32	32	28	23

Kind regards, Stan Sijbers

Monty's Answer: Dear Stan, it absolutely amazes me to read your recent communication. It is so gratifying to discover that there are people out there in the world with your level of understanding where animals are concerned. Wouldn't it be great if the majority of people could open their minds to explore the possibility of utilizing the language Equus to gain the trust of horses the world over? From this one communication of yours I regard you as a precious treasure when it comes to potential for violence-free training.

Yes, of course I have things that you need or can use. These things are more education, a better understanding and an ongoing effort to add to your experience with horses. There are schools which teach my concepts all over the world. Since you are in Holland you should be aware that Annemarie van der Toorn does a fantastic job of bringing my concepts to hundreds of students each year. Annemarie is listed on my website and would be happy to receive correspondence from you. I have several students here in California at the moment who have received training from Annemarie.

With regard to your question "how long before a green horse gives up his flight instinct?" let me remind you that horses vary a great deal. Just like people some learn more quickly and others take longer. Some are more shy and frightened and others are more bold and determined. These factors cause some green horses to take as much as 3-4 times longer than others. To reach Join-Up, I find that green domestic horses will willingly come to you in between 3 and 10 minutes. One should remember that is a week faster than when trained conventionally.

It is my hope that I will meet you one day, shake your hand and congratulate you on your recent accomplishment. How well I remember the excitement I felt when the horses learned from me without violence. I remember clearly my work when I was 13. It was 1948 and I was training many horses. It was a time when Brownie was winning many championships in American horseshows. It was also a time when I won in open competition on Mischief. Both of these horses were trained in the methods that you have included in your experiment.

It would be fun to continue to communicate with you and I look forward to seeing you somewhere on the road if my team can put us together. It is my plan to visit Holland in the springtime again but possibly, through communication, we could arrange to meet even sooner. Perhaps you could come to Germany in November when I will be spending approximately 3 weeks there. It would be fun to get to know you and visit about the wonderful experiences you have had and relate it to me in your communication.

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We also encourage you to explore Monty’s book, “From My Hands to Yours,” a comprehensive how-to manual on his Join-Up® training philosophies which includes detailed illustrations of signs and reciprocal gestures on the language of Equus.

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