Monty Roberts and The Next Generation Tour

Monty Roberts has been part of my life with horses as long as I can remember. I remember reading his book years ago and how many times I have wanted to study his horsemanship methods (I have even gone so far as to apply to his training program but never made it all the way to California).

Luckily with time you realise that this life might be too short to study with Monty or ride for Apassionata. So this time, compared to the last time I saw Monty Roberts, I could follow with a bit more perspective and concentrate on the show rather than just thinking how amazing a trainer he is.  This does of course not take away the fact that there are no quick fixes. The horse that was loaded at the arena yesterday can have the same problems again with his owner the next day  What Monty Roberts does and trains comes from years of experience and his amazing calm way of behaving around horses. It is however fantastic that he was strong enough to go against the trend of breaking horses in a violent manner and every demonstration that he holds or  horse that he encounters just comes to show that in training horses violence (using the whip, tying horses down, sedating them and so forth) is never the answer.


As Roberts himself today said, he would not have wished for his father to brake 72 bones in his body, but at the same time his father sent him on a mission for the horse. He said and probably says it every time that he wishes that his father would see him today. Roberts can never forget what his father did to him, and we will never forget what Monty did to all of our horses.



These are some of Robert's words that I took with me from today:

• Do you know what are the two most important things when dealing with horses? The second most important thing is that you have fun. The most important thing is that the horse has fun. Then you talk about partnership.
• You want the horse to do the things they want to do. It is so important also for you to do the things you want to do. Every single day that I get up I am doing what I love to do. Every day is a holiday. I don't have to be here, but I love to be here. This is a labor of love for me. 
• Violence is never the answer. The answer is to get the horse to want to do it.
• Schooling should not be hard but instant. 
• Bucking when starting young horses at clinics has gone down from 60 per cent to 30 per cent. It is because of trust. 
• A flight animal has to go away to come back. In the wild the horse is sent away if it does something bad.

• One of the most important things that you can teach your  horse is to stand still. For the ferrier, for the veterinarian or when taking a picture of the horse. 
• If you want the horse to move to move from standing still. Nuzzle him, cross his body and then move. Exactly the same thing that the mother did when the foal was hiding in the bush. 
• I use Ritualistic habituation. I am creating a ritual and causing the horse to habituate. (Monty has 2 degrees in behavioural psychology.)
• Backing the horse away from the trailer is something that is common knowledge to the parents. When you tell little Johnny that you can go into any room in the house, but not into that room. 

You can't get much closer than this in the audiemce.

More information: 
Monty Roberts
Equus Finland

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