:: Monty Roberts ::::::::::::
|
|
|
||||||
 |
||||||||
Monty Roberts
Monty Roberts - "The Man Who Listens to Horses" is internationally known for his method of communicating with horses using their own language, which he calls "Equus".
Monty is an award-winning trainer of championship horses, best-selling author, and creator of the world-renowned and revolutionary equine training technique called Join-Up®. He has won numerous awards and received vast worldwide press coverage, trained some of Queen Elizabeth IIís horses in England and been awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Monty is travelling the world continuing to spread his message of nonviolence. He demonstrates his methods in front of large audiences worldwide and teaches his techniques to the growing number of students at his Equestrian Academy in Solvang, California.
Monty first learned to listen to horses while observing wild mustangs in Nevada at the age of thirteen. Sent there to round up horses for the Salinas Rodeo Associationís Wild Horse Race, he spent hours silently watching the feral horses interact with each other. Soon he realized that they used a discernable, effective and predictable body language to communicate, set boundaries, show fear and express annoyance, relaxation or affection. Monty understood that utilizing this silent language would allow training to commence in a much more effective and humane manner, encouraging true partnership between horses and humans. Later, he would name this moment of partnership "Join-Up®" and it would become the foundation of all his work with horses and people.
After this revelatory moment with the wild horses, Roberts returned home to his familyís riding school at the Salinas Rodeo Grounds in Salinas, California. There, he had grown up watching his father ìbreakî horses using traditional methods involving pain, control, fear and coercion. Testing his new insights into the nature of horses, Monty tried out some of his new ideas and was promptly punished for challenging his fatherís traditional methods.
Monty remained undeterred from his vision and later became a champion Western horseman. Hollywood hired him as a ìstand inî rider and stunt double for stars such as Elizabeth Taylor in National Velvet and many other films. He even worked with James Dean during the pre-production and filming of the acclaimed movie East of Eden.
Monty knew that his future lay in working with horses, and he commenced an incredible career in Thoroughbred racing. Throughout the years he worked with many champions (including the famed "Alleged") and opened a training facility, Flag Is Up Farms, on 154 acres in the Santa Ynez Valley in 1966. He and his wife, Pat, enjoyed immense success training Thoroughbreds, becoming the leading consigner of two-year-olds-in-training at the Hollywood Park Racetrack for 18 years.
Queen Elizabeth II had heard about Robertsí work and invited him to come to her country and show her staff his Join-Up® method. The Queen was so impressed by his demonstration she urged him to write a book. That book became "The Man Who Listens to Horses".
Published in 1996, "The Man Who Listens to Horses" went on to sell nearly 5 million copies. The PBS and BBC television networks aired documentaries about his work, three more books were published and became best sellers, and countries throughout the world translated these materials, sharing his message that violence is never the answer.
Monty still demonstrates Join-Up® across the globe. His fourth book was recently released, "From My Hands to Yours: Lessons from a Lifetime of Training Championship Horses", a textbook format of his Join-Up training principles. His academy, the Monty Roberts Equestrian Academy, located at Flag Is Up Farms, trained more than 140 students last year using his non-violent methods. Here, Monty himself selects promising students to become certified instructors in his methods. Since Monty measures quality as more important than quantity, there are currently only fifteen instructors worldwide.
Today, Monty remains steadfast to his goal; "to leave the world a better place than I found it, for horses and for people, too."
For more information on Monty Roberts, please visit his website at www.montyroberts.com.
© Horsemanship Portugal 2005