My First Join Up

Since I was little I was always fascinated with horses. There is something about them that is unique. I would look at their size and speed, fascinated by their ability to carry such weight and travel at such speeds. For me though, it was not the strength and speed of horses that made them special. It was the bonds that you can build with horses that are just incredible, and even without join up, there are still deep friendships that are being built - all with the foundations of trust. I have always been a huge fan of Monty Roberts, the way that he works with horses is so inspirational. The join ups that he does with so many horses look staged, and my family and I are often left speechless as the once extremely dangerous, shy, defensive, stubborn, spooky horse, follow Monty Roberts around like a puppy into and through whatever objects he desires. I joined Monty Roberts online university to learn more about join up and soon after could not wait to try it out for myself. Unfortunately we do not have a round pen at the polo club so I has to wait until January to receive my early birthday present. My coach and mentor, Peter Abisheganaden had arranged a join up lesson for me at the Selangor Turf Club, and I was ecstatic. I joined up with a horse called Specky, who is now one of the school horses at the turf club, but before that he was a successful racehorse. When working with Specky my coach for the join up was Gavin who talked me through the whole process from outside the ring. I was looking for the four fundamental things when it comes to join up that lets you know that the horse is ready to join up with you. Those four things are: the inside ear focused on you, licking and chewing, lowering the head towards the ground, and making a smaller circle. Usually it comes in that order but it is not an exact science. One hour of consistent work later I had joined up with Specky. It was so special and words can not describe the feeling when you turn around and the horse walks towards you putting his head right above your shoulder. I found that the most difficult thing when joining up with Specky was to stay in the middle of the circle but still keep the horse moving on the outside. It felt like whenever I moved to the centre that he would stop and so because I had to kind of move around with him that made it difficult for him to make the smaller circle but that is something I am looking to improve. I want to thank Peter Abisheganaden for setting all of this up, it was a really special experience. If you want to check out what Peter had to say about the join up I have linked his blog post down below.

https://www.pbitg.com/the-join-up/