While tracking wild mustangs in Nevada as a boy, Monty Roberts observed a nonverbal communication between the horses, a silent language he would later call Equus. Monty incorporates Equus into his nonviolent training approach called Join-Up®.

Monty Roberts first developed Join-Up to stop the cycle of violence typically accepted in traditional horse breaking. Convinced there must be a more effective and gentle method, Monty created these consistent set of principles using the horse’s inherent methods of communication and herd behavior. The result is a willing partnership in which the horse’s performance can flourish to its full potential, rather than exist within the boundaries of obedience. These principles are valuable tools to understanding what motivates horse behavior and increasing effectiveness in any application.

The positive results from our Horse Sense & Healing science trial, presented at the Association for Psychological Science May 2020 conference, inspired us to expand our program offering to include retreats specifically designed to focus on our vital first-responder community.

Our Fired-Up program utilizes a combination of the healing power of inter-species communication with horses, and the effective application of Motivational Interviewing (a client-centered counseling approach that mirrors the Join-Up philosophy) to provide participants insight into their life choices, habits, patterns, and other behaviors, helping them overcome post-traumatic stress and other behavioral wellness issues.

Motivational Interviewing (M.I.) is a counseling method (developed by Dr. William Miller and Steven Rollnick) that helps people resolve ambivalent feelings and insecurities to find the internal motivation they need to change their behavior. Dr. Miller has written several papers on the parallels between M.I. and the Join-Up process, and the combination of the two techniques has proven effective in allowing participants to discover change for themselves.

Our Fired-Up program helps active-duty fire service personnel dealing with post-traumatic stress symptoms and other behavioral wellness issues, re-connect with themselves and re-build their relationships, helping to provide ongoing support and resilience against succumbing to the effects of their high-risk environment.

With your help, we can positively impact hundreds of fire service personnel each year, helping improve their health and wellbeing, while they work to keep our communities safe.

You can make a tax deductible donation to the Fired-Up program run by Join-Up International, a registered 501(c)(3) equestrian non-profit, by using the donation form below.

Please contact us for further information or off-line donations.