The methods described in Part One are very similar to those of Monty Roberts to produce the initial "Join Up" (as he describes it) of the horse to the rider. At Orchard Land and Cattle, the methods have been modified significantly based on the experience of the author, Wade Clayton and Stefan Slater. The methods work universally for starting babies, starting young horses, retraining older horses and rehabilitating "problem horses. Evaluations of new horses start here to determine the mental and physical readiness of both the horse and the rider. It does not take long to diagnose problems in communication between them. A program to address each horse and rider team is then designed to meet the specific needs of each team. A round pen is absolutely essential for the initial "Join Up" work. You may choose to continue the next phase of training (rope training) in the pen or anywhere else you choose. Once you gain the horse's respect, the learning process speeds up quickly since the horse has now learned to focus strongly on the trainer and has learned to ignore most distractions.

Tools For Round Pen Work

Using a 6-foot high, 60-foot diameter round pen for the initial work is strongly recommended.  This pen has enough room to be relatively safe from an aggressive horse and enough height to guard against a horse going over the top if they get too excited.

A 12½ foot (Pat Parelli) lead rope with leather thongs on the end is recommend to use for "driving" the horse in the initial training. It is needed later for the rope work that comes in Part 2. Lunge lines, a lariat or any lead rope may also be used at your preference.

If the horse is very aggressive, hard to control, or possibly dangerous, carry a four-foot fiberglass stick (Pat Parelli "Carrot" Stick), or a wooden sorting cane if you prefer, for a bit of personal safety. This has only been needed once in the past three years, but it helps the student's confidence to have it available for the first session.

Initial Flight

Most horses will move away from you as you first step into the round pen with them. This is a part of their makeup as a "flight' animal. Let them move away while you make your way to the center of the round pen, then settle your emotions, focus on your task and let the horse relax as much as possible before sending them out and away from you.

Sometimes you will find a very curious horse, or one that has had some training, that will follow and try to stay close. Talk to the horse and pet it if you like. Then walk around normally, turning left and right at random until the horse loses its focus and leaves you. Now, send it out in a flight away from you. Try not to squelch any effort of the horse to want to be with you, at any stage in the training. Let it try until it makes a "mistake" (losing its focus on you at any time). When that happens, send the horse out away from you around the pen and keep it busy until it signals that it is ready to come back into the center of the pen with you. Make it uncomfortable to be wrong meaning keep it working until you get a "right" answer.

Once you are settled, get your rope coiled in one hand, keeping about three feet of rope dangling to act as a driving aid. The other hand holds the bull snap so that you will not accidentally hit the horse with it if you throw the rope.

Move toward the horse making "eye to eye" contact, walking aggressively toward its eye until it starts to move away. If necessary, throw the rope so that it falls behind the horse without touching it. When you do throw it, use all the strength you have and try to "pop" the leather thongs on the end of the rope. Be aggressive at this point. You must convince the horse that you are the boss and not to be trifled with in any way. If you draw yourself up to your full height, widen your arms and shoulders, jut out your chin and drive toward the horse, eyes on eyes, the horse will begin to flee from you. If it doesn't, you need to get more aggressive, very quickly. You can kiss to it, slap the ground hard with the end of the lead rope, throw the rope and make aggressive noises with your voice and general body demeanor. Kicking dirt at the horse's rear end is especially effective to get them moving.

This initial flight is the most dangerous time for the trainer because the horse is nervous and agitated. This aggravates any aggressive tendencies it may have. Be prepared to throw the rope into the horse's face if it looks like it is turning to attack, or come at you, with its ears laid back and mouth open. You can see in its eye if it even thinks about such a thing. Act quickly to shut down the thought. Follow the rope throw as quickly as you can with a swipe of the stick to protect yourself if it should ever become necessary. You must be prepared to react quickly and decisively to defend yourself. This is a rare occurrence but you must be prepared for it, especially right at the beginning! Never step into a pen by yourself with a horse that you are physically afraid of.

The important thing is to get the horse to move away from the pressure of your "presence" or "body language". At this point don't worry about the direction of flight, or if the horse reverses direction, as long as it takes itself away from you. This establishes you as the "Alpha" Partner, the position you must gain and guard jealously for any training to proceed. Monty Roberts describes this action as similar to what the matriarch of a herd does in the wild, or in any large pasture where a number of horses are kept together. Any horse that misbehaves or aggravates the herd gets ostracized until it sends signals that is will come back into the herd in a passive, non-aggressive manner.

Extended Flight

Once the horse moves consistently in whatever gait it chooses, begin to modify its flight so that you eventually take over the controls and start making the decisions. Make it difficult for the horse to be "wrong" (doing what we don't want) and easy for it to be "right" (doing what we want). Try to move yourself back into a very small circle at the center of the pen while driving the horse. You are supposed to be driving it, not vice versa.

Most times the horse will leave in a gallop or at least a fast trot. Don't worry about how it starts out. If the horse only walks and tries to ignore you, then you can be sure that it is going to take a lot of energy to get it to respond to your body language in a significant way. These are the tough ones! Just keep working on them until you get what you need before going any further. There is no problem with stopping if you or the horse gets too tired. You can come back to it the next day and you will start from a little more advanced position than the previous work. You have to have sufficient energy and the horse has to also. If you do stop, look for a spot where you have had a relatively positive thing working at the moment if at all possible.

In any case, get the horse so that it makes about 3 circles of the pen without breaking stride at either a trot or a canter. Then if it has only been trotting, increase the driving pressure until it moves into a canter and maintains that gait until you take the pressure off. There is no way to tell how long this will take, but most horses have come around in less than a half hour in our experience. Monty Roberts teaches that the horse has a "flight distance" of about a quarter mile, roughly 7 circles around the pen. After that it should start looking around to see if it still needs to run away.
 
Now, begin to look for signs from the horse that it is beginning to focus strongly on you. First, there will be a change in its overall demeanor and it will begin to relax. Initially its attention was outside the pen, looking for an escape hatch, and finding every possible distraction that it could to keep from focusing on you. John Lyons teaches that you should look at distractions as a "teaching opportunity". If you can break through in spite of the distraction, the horse learns the lesson much more strongly! Do not remove distractions unless absolutely necessary. After five or ten, sometimes more, circles at a canter you will see the horse's attention start to come inside the pen.

Next, the inside ear (the one toward you) will begin to cock toward you. As soon as it stays pinned on you, its attention will follow.

Now, begin to look for other signs, like the horse starting to cut across one side of the pen in a shortcut. It may begin to lick and chew and move its tongue, which is a solid sign that it is willing to listen to you. The horse may drop its head, which is a very submissive signal and the one that Monty Roberts keys on.

Once the horse is focused, take the pressure off by going calm in the center of the pen, diverting your eyes downward and bringing your hands together in front of you in a non aggressive manner. The horse normally will slow very quickly to a trot or even a walk. Now look for the body language of the horse signaling that it would like to come into the center with you. The eye will come toward you, the head will turn and the legs will try to come with it. The horse usually has chosen a spot in the pen where it is most comfortable and will have communicated this to you if you have been paying attention. Try to use this spot! Give it a signal to come into the center with you just before it reaches that spot. At least, expect it to happen there.

Come To Me

A lot of times the horse will immediately turn and come across the half width of the pen as soon as you release the driving pressure on it. Be prepared for this and try to let it happen without losing this first chance. It is easy to get surprised and scare them off, which confuses the horse. If you do make a mistake, just go back to what you were doing and be more watchful the next time. You will find that the horse is very forgiving of your mistakes.

Other times the horse will stop with its head turned toward you, but its body pretty much parallel to the side of the pen. When this happens, stop and let the horse stand and relax. It must get the idea that it can only stand and relax when its attention is focused on you. Then lean back a bit and give a "come to me" signal, maybe moving the palm of your hand toward your chest. If it does not move toward you, walk to it in an arc toward the inside hip that is facing you. A few steps at first, then stop and signal it to come.

Keep your eyes on its outside front foot, the one farthest away from you. The instant that foot moves forward or even sideways toward you, stop, and take one step backward while urging it to come to you. This is one of the most simple, powerful things that works consistently to get that initial "join up"; with the horse coming forward to meet you, as its own decision. Repeat this step as many times as necessary, stopping the instant that outside foot moves.

Anytime the horse loses its focus or moves away from you, immediately send it out to work again around the round pen. It actually needs to make a few mistakes so that you can correct and give it a chance to find out how good the right answer feels. The horse will begin to look for the comfort. This is one of the most important tools that you must master in order to make your training effective.

After the horse has given the right answer a few times you can slack off a little
If it starts to leave you but stops and looks back. Give it another chance to change its mind and come back to you instead of immediately sending it off. This is really difficult for the horse to do and shows that it is definitely starting to think about what it is doing. Horses that seem to do everything nearly correctly at the start and make very few mistakes tend to stall out for a time and seem to learn more slowly. Those that are really tough and do everything wrong in the beginning, finally figure out the right answer and then seem to learn much quicker and in greater depth. These are the ones that you will remember!

Join Up!

Once the horse comes to you and stops at a distance you choose, let it stand and relax for a moment, telling it how good it did. It is difficult to describe the emotion that is packed into this moment! You feel like you are truly communicating directly with the horse for the first time. Monty Roberts describes this is the moment of "Join Up". One student has described the moment as an "Epiphany Experience".
When you are collected and ready, reach out slowly and stroke its forehead from top to bottom. This takes a lot of faith on the horse's part since it cannot see your hand up close because of its binocular vision. Just stay quiet and friendly for a few minutes, relaxing and enjoying this wonderful moment.

Handle The Horse All Over

Take as much time as necessary with the next few tasks so that the horse will accept your hands anywhere on its body while staying relaxed. Keep your hands and your body language calm, steady, friendly and firm. If the horse feels that it must leave you and walks or runs off, immediately send it out vigorously to make a few circles around the pen at a gallop, then calmly ask it back in and start again. Don't get mad or perturbed. This is part of the learning process and punishment will only set you back at this stage. Control your emotions and make the horse work. It will soon realize that it is a whole lot easier to stay close to you after a few episodes. If you find the horse getting sluggish or bored with the program, send him off with gusto and get some adrenaline flowing in its veins. The horse will start to react more quickly and pay much better attention. Take his emotions up, and then bring them back down as soon as you can.

Begin at the left front shoulder of the horse, stroking from the poll to the withers along its neck. Try to establish a rhythmic, light stroke using one hand after the other in a nice easy motion. Make sure that the horse is comfortable with each section of the body that you are working on before going on to another part.

Then move that stroking down its back, then down the hip. Move back to the front shoulder and rub it under the chest where the saddle girth goes, then back along its belly. Most horses get really sensitive when handled here for the first time, so move a little, retreat back a little, then move on a little more. Do not rush this. Eventually you should be able to work your hand back all the way to the hind legs. On a stallion or gelding, you need to be able to handle the penis lightly without causing a major reaction. On mares, you need to be able to handle the teats gently, without setting off her flight mechanism. Proceed cautiously, but persistently. Soon you should be able to handle the horse all over its body while it stays calm and begins to enjoy the touch.

These exercises encourage the horse to want to be with you, where it will feel safe and comfortable. Nothing else works so well to preserve your safety around the horse.
You become its "guardian angel" or "protector" so to speak. This state of mind makes most of the extensive "de-spooking" work (described as absolutely essential by so many trainers) unnecessary.

Move back to the horse's head and stroke the forehead again rhythmically. Fondle its muzzle softly (they really love that) and put a finger into the side of its mouth in the area where there are no teeth (the bars of the mouth). Get it used to having your fingers in the mouth. Later, when you go to bit up the horse, or to administer medicine, etc. there will be an easy compliance instead of a full-blown fight.

Now, the most important thing is to repeat everything on the right side of the horse. This will be a different horse, so be prepared to go through the whole process the same as you just did on the left. Most horses get handled so much from the left side that they get very "left sided". It may be comfortable to have you on its left, but the minute you try to get around to the right side, the horse is in flight, its head goes up, it is scared, and may be very dangerous. This happens regularly with most horses and the only way to lick this problem is to do a whole lot of work on the right side.

Pick Up The Feet

Once you are able to handle the horse all over, the next task is to teach it to pick up its feet. A lot of people are very fearful about picking up a horse's feet so it doesn't get practiced very often. It is absolutely essential that you learn to pick up the feet correctly and safely.

Start at the left front foot, since the horse is usually most comfortable with you in that spot. Make sure the horse is standing squarely (both front feet straight across from each other) and quietly. Facing the front, have your right foot beside its left foot, then reach down with your right hand and tickle the chestnut on its lower leg. Put your right shoulder into its shoulder and lightly put pressure on it until the horse shifts its weight to the right foot.

 The instant its weight shifts, the left foot becomes light as a feather. Combined with the tickling of the chestnut, most horses will bend at the knee and pick the foot off the ground. Calmly slide your hand down to take hold of the pastern and hold the foot with your hand as close to the ground as possible for the first few times. If the horse does not pick up the foot on its own, you can slide your hand down the front of its cannon bone, applying backward pressure until it lifts it. Then slide your hand down to the pastern and hold it for a moment.

Set the foot back on the ground each time you pick it up. Don't let it drop back on its own. Once the horse picks the feet up easily, try to handle the foot by the hoof wall, instead of the pastern. It is much easier on the horse and you actually have better control of the foot. You will find that you can control the horse with only the pressure of two fingers on the hoof wall if done correctly.

Next, move to the right front and repeat the procedure switching hands. The important thing is to go slowly, waiting for the weight shift before trying to pick up the foot.

Then move to the left rear leg next because this one has usually been handled more than the right. This time, face the rear, keeping your "rear" as far from its rear feet as possible.

 With the palm of your left hand, feel for the point of the hip, the joint high, near the front of the hip. Slide your right hand down the back of the horse's leg from the hock down the cannon bone. As you start to move your right hand down, put light pressure on the point of the hip with your left hand and again, wait for the weight shift. Once the horse shifts its weight to the right rear leg, you can easily lift its left rear, sliding your hand down to the rear of the pastern and holding it low to the ground.

Gently set the foot back down on the ground and after practice, start to handle the foot by the hoof wall. The lower you can handle the feet for the first few times, the less resistance you are going to build up and very soon the horse will accept this exercise as just another friendly move.

Then it is time to repeat this procedure on the right rear, shifting sides and hands.

Lead Without Restraint

The last task in getting the horse's initial respect is to teach it to stay with you wherever you go, without restraint of any kind, except mental. This is also one of the most enjoyable exercises and is great for your confidence as well as the horse's.

Begin by standing at the left shoulder, facing forward and relax the horse by stroking and talking comfortably with it. Then, start walking as if through its face in an arc around to your right. You may want to push its face away from you a little the first time or two, but try not to grab hold of it in any way. Your body language should be enough to move its feet some. You may lightly slap your right hip with the palm of your right hand as you step off, saying, "come on" or something like that.

If the horse moves off with you, take about five steps, then stop and pet the horse and let it know how good it did. Then repeat the exercise and go a few steps further. After a few times it should follow you closely. We like to have its nose right at our elbow while walking in a normal pace. Don't go real slow, begging it to come. Step right out and expect it to come. If it doesn't, immediately send it out around the pen again, call it back and start again. They quickly understand that it is a lot easier to stay with you than to lose their focus and leave you. Don't get upset or mad if the horse feels it has to leave. Calmly ask it back in to you and try again. The horse has to make some mistakes so that it knows how much discomfort the wrong answer causes and how good the right answer feels.

Once the horse will lead with you going around to the right then the task is to teach it to follow you going straight ahead. You may start in a slight arc to the right just to help it get started. Now, your body can't give as much support to the exercise as it could when you were driving it around to the right. Accept a few steps at first, stopping to give a little rub or give a few kind words. Then ask for more steps (one or two at a time) until it follows freely. Don't be tempted to push the horse too far to the point that it feels it must leave. It is more sensible to build up slower as opposed to faster.

Now comes the real test! The horse may be standing still or you may be walking straight ahead. Make a turn to the left away from the horse sending it a strong signal to follow you (maybe tapping the hip). As soon as it will follow around to the left where there is absolutely no body language support you have the horse's attention completely and hence, its respect. This is the moment we key on to start the next phase of ground training.