What is join-up and who developed it?

Join-up is a method of establishing initial communication and trust between a human and an untouched or fearful horse by using the horse's own herd communication language — specifically the body language exchanges that determine social acceptance and rejection within a wild horse band — to invite the horse to voluntarily choose to approach and follow the trainer rather than flee. The method was developed and formalized by Monty Roberts, a California horseman whose career began in the traditional breaking methods of mid-twentieth century western ranching and who observed wild mustangs in the Nevada desert as a teenager, studying the specific body language exchanges through which herd members communicated acceptance, rejection, and leadership. Roberts observed that the lead mare in a wild band uses specific threat postures — a squared-up body, direct eye contact, and driving energy — to send a disobedient or disruptive herd member away, and that the rejected horse communicates its desire to rejoin the herd through specific submission signals — licking and chewing, lowering the head, turning an ear toward the lead mare. He also observed that when the lead mare accepts these submission signals and turns away from the driven horse, the horse approaches and joins up with the herd again. Roberts adapted these observations into a method for working with untouched horses in a round pen, using the same body language exchanges to drive the horse away initially and then invite it to join up with the trainer rather than the herd, establishing the trainer as a trusted companion rather than a predator. Roberts has demonstrated join-up publicly thousands of times across six decades, including demonstrations for Queen Elizabeth II and before audiences across Europe, Asia, and the United States, and his books and training materials have influenced a generation of horse trainers across disciplines and cultures.