To join up or not to join up

Welcome to another adventure in the captivating world of horse training! Today, I'm thrilled to share a poignant story with you about a technique known as "join up." But before we get into that, did you catch that playful play on words? So much fun for pun words! Join up, join us – a little humour to kick things off!

So, let's dive right into it! Join up is a widely utilised tool among trainers promoting the ideology that it creates connection with our equine companions. However, like any tool, it carries inherent risks if not wielded with caution. Picture this scene: I'm engaged in a join-up session with a stallion, aiming to nurture a bond, when suddenly, the situation takes a terrifying turn. The stallion unexpectedly lunges, seizing me by the throat and flinging me to the ground. It was a jarring wake-up call, to say the least!

As I lay there, shaken but thankfully not seriously injured, questions flooded my mind: What went wrong? An exercise that supposedly builds a relationship between horse and rider resulted in aggressive behaviour that could have been serious. Just at that moment where we often see horses “soften” and approach he lunged and attacked instead. It prompted a deep introspection, causing me to scrutinise every aspect of my approach to horse training.

Here's what I learned from the experience: join up means more than just mere mechanical steps; it hinges on comprehending the horse's emotions and honoring its boundaries. Join up as an application of pressure release with no escape for the horse is only a sequence of events that can be recreated with a remote control car (seriously check out the literature here https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2012/07/13/researchers-urge-rethink-of-monty-roberts-horse-training-method.html) and does not build trust, rapport and connection as touted. Instead, building trust with horses necessitates patience, empathy, and a willingness to earn their confidence over time.

So, what's the overarching lesson here? 

Well, for starters, join up isn't a panacea. It's a tool, yes, but its efficacy rests squarely on the handler's understanding and sensitivity and other connection, trust and relationship building exercises the handler is using. We must approach it with humility, always prioritising the horse's welfare above all else. Creating an environment that develops psychological safety, felt sense of safety and emotional agility first and foremost.

It took me quite a few years delving into the realms of connection training to find my answer to the aggression in a horse. Horse aggression towards humans is the same as spookiness. The horse feels unsafe and the nervous system is being activated by the perception of threat to protect itself. It's just that the horses that act out aggressively are confident enough that they can take out the threat or are cornered and so that is their best option. Even my most flighty horse king would act out rearing and striking when cornered and felt unsafe. 

That is why the first module of our Holistic Horse Handling Program is developing an awareness of tension holding and tension releasing so as to create a felt sense of safety first and then the psychological safety to communicate this tension is building second. It gives the horses and us the tools to navigate the emotional agility required in training and develops trust and confidence and our eye for when we need to take the pressure off and hit the brakes.