At the ISES conference last week, two studies investigated aspects of round yard training tested the assumptions and observations made by Monty Roberts in leading to development of his ‘Join-up’ method.
Experiments performed in the round pen showed that untrained ponies responded with flight behaviour to the handler’s speed rather than either his body posture (tense or relaxed) or eye contact (looking at the horse or looking away). In fact the ponies showed more alarm when the trainer looked away from them.
A second study which had been undertaken to unravel whether mares do indeed chase away youngsters, as indicated by Roberts, found that when a young horse is placed in the round pen with a mare, the chasing behaviour occurs only 27% of the time and that predominantly colts were chased. The study’s authors concluded that
‘the welfare of horses being subjected to round-yard training methods may often be jeopardised by trainers having unrealistic expectations based on incorrect assumptions that the behaviour exhibited mimics that of the horse-horse interactions in more natural environments.’
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Wow that is very interesting. I have always been on the fence about round yard training for “join up”. Sometimes it seems to be a great way to get a horse’s initial attention and focus on you, other times I feel like it is just making things worse by initiating a prey response and associating you with that response.
Hi Molly,
Yes, I think you hit it on the head. After all, we want the horse to be comfortable in our company and not to feel chased or uncomfortable. When you look at the classical trainers working on the ground with the horse, he is very relaxed and at one with the handler. Klaus Hempfling is also interesting to watch work with horses – they very quickly become comfortable with him and his body language. He’s on YouTube.
Yes I have seen Klaus Hempfling. He has a very lovely way of working with horses that shows hours of work and dedication. He works with a cordeo right? Any thoughts about that way of training. I am interested in learning more.
Hi Molly,
I have not forgotten your question, I have been giving it some thought and would like to give it the answer it deserves!
Will answer in the next few days!