Would love that kind of relationship with my horse - hopefully get him soon!
I know I shouldn't because it could have gone wrong and the horse could have hurt itself jumping out of the ring but I had a wee giggle to myself picturing the munching grass bit as if to say "ha ha! I got out of work, I got grass, I got what I wanted, I rule!"
So is this a bit of a contraversial subject then? Like I say it's not something i'll be able to do what with time and school availability but I always think these things can be quite interesting if only theoretically.
P.s Is it also considered as a fluffy bunny hugging passtime? I don't think i'm a fluffy bunny hugger really
very strange. What is actually the case is that there are some horses in which the fight or flight instinct is so strong that it would be dangerous to put them in an enclosed space and trigger that behaviour - they would end up either hurting themselves or the handler. It's also why he didn't want to leave at the end - how was he to know Roberts wasn't going to leap onto a horse and chase him for miles again. Better the devil you know ... they're not daft, horses 
I think it is probably a bit like marmite - people either love it or hate it
As has already been mentioned, it's unlikely that Roberts 'invented' or 'discovered' join up - old horse-types have been doing it for years, I can remember being told how to walk down an uncatchable pony in a small field by driving it away from you years and years ago when I worked for an old dealer - way before Roberts every came here. In a book written by Monty's father there is a description of something that very closely resembles join up. So some may argue that he learnt it from watching his dad, nothing to do with wild horses. As I said before, to my knowledge horses doing join up with one another has never been videoed - surely if they used it as Roberts describes it would be seen by anyone who goes out and watches feral horses and ponies and would be easy to get on camera? The clever thing that Roberts did was identify a very specific set of behaviours that horses display when they are uncomfortable with the status quo (being chased in circles) and would very much like the option to do something else. This makes it look a bit like 'magic' - until you understand learning theory and ethology.
If it really did as it said on the tin, ie, improve the relationship, the origin wouldn't really matter, and you could just put it down to fancy marketing/poetic licence and leave it at that. However, horses only 'join up' in the round pen because really they only have a limited amount of choices - run round, or come and stand by the handler and stick with the handler. If they don't choose they come in/stick with option then they get to run round again. So the horse doesn't come in because he chooses to be with the human, he just doesn't want to keep running round the pen and he is looking for the other option. I don't believe that being forced into that option then makes the horse view the human as leader either - first off (as mentioned in one of the articles I put a link to earlier) there is no evidence that horses view humans as other horses, or as 'leaders'. Secondly, and perhaps more compelling, when given the option outside the roundpen the horse doesn't choose to stay with the handler - they walk away. Surely, if the human was now viewed as leader by the horse, the horse would stay with his leader? But he does not, suggesting that the idea of 'leader' is flawed one. The reason the horse walks away is because the learning is context specific - that means that the rules (stay with human or be chased around) apply only in the round pen. The learning has to be generalised - ie, happen in lots of different situations and locations - before the horse figures out that the handler chases him away in a variety of locations, and therefore it is easier to stay with the handler than be chased away - again the horse is just choosing the easy option, not necessarily displaying a desire to stay with the human as a result of 'leadership', 'respect' or any other anthropomorphic (humanising) emotion that we like to attach to equines.
Roberts asserts that he is speaking 'the language of equus' in the roundpen - however it is accepted that there are certain horses to which join up is not suited - so what is being said is that there are certain horses which cannot speak the language of 'equus'
If Roberts (and his followers) were clear about what was happening in join up I would take less issue with it (although it's not something I see the point of, or would do with my horses). But it is dressed up in flowery language about relationship and choice and leadership and respect - whereas to my mind the best way to get a relationship with a horse is, as others have said, spending time with horse, getting to know him, building trust in each other and so on - as well as learning how to read body language accurately, studying horse behaviour and acquiring good training skills - all of which makes you far more trustworty in the eyes of the horse, and therefore someone who it is a good idea to be around. The 'fluffy bunny' aspect of it comes (I think) because it attracts people who desperately want a 'good relationship' with their horse, and believe the marketing hype that this is a good way to go about it. These people tend to believe that 'join up' is enjoyable for the horse - lol, I don't think so
With regard to 'Shy Boy', I think 'Knackered Boy' might have been a more appropriate name for him. Any horse can only run so far, in the end he has to stop and turn to face the thing he fears - if the pressure is taken off him at that moment (ie, he is negatively reinforced - the removal of an aversive stimulus) then the laws of learning and behaviour say that he will repeat the reinforced behaviour - hence staying with Roberts - trying to leave results in him being chased again. This is a very effective approach - yes, it does stop the horse from running away - but not because the horse wants to be with the human, but because the alternative is to keep running
Anyone who regularly does join up on their horses will observe that (if the horse is being read and responded to accurately) the horses will produce the head lowering/licking and chewing behaviours earlier and earlier - this is not because they want to be with the person more and more - they have merely figured out which behaviours to produce to stop the pointless chasing round in circles
Very informative Tess
No join up for me and my new horse methinks Tomorrow is vet check day! Crossing every bit of me that is crossable! Hope my eyes don't stay like this! It's a nice thing to play with for us, but you wouldn't drill it, what would be the point.
can. worms.
OP... good luck.
the worms are all over the place! 
)
Persephone, know what you mean! Hard to say without seeing the whole picture but I have had horses do that, it's as though they start trusting you and then have a moment of "what am I doing?!" but given a minute to see that you're not going to get annoyed/angry with them, they join up happily and are a lot more relaxed than when they started. Clipping on was the right thing to do imho. And wearing a hat as recommended. Funnily enough it has been my experience that the more confident (to the point of bolshy) horses can be the quickest to join up but sometimes it's as though they have a moment of doubt when they are not sure you can be trusted. Once they see that you stay calm and nothing else changes, they tend to settle nicely.
They all have their own nuances in joinup, I find it a useful way to assess their character and attitude to things. With your 3yo I would be paying close attention to ground manners, my guess is that if you don't make sure she minds her Ps and Qs she may start to make up the rules as she goes along.