Hmm..Monty Roberts..

S

SusieT

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 September 2009
Messages
5,964
Visit site
Just sat watching his programme,seen it before but never seen the backing part. Tbh it's making me very uncomfortable in that he appears to be progressing faster than the horse is ready i.e not waiting til it accepts each stage and I wouldn't be surprised if this process has to be gone through a few times each time it's ridden for a while. Never mind that the young unfit horse is blowing hard :S
Any thouhgts?
 
Not sure which one you watched but if you keep an eye on the text that slides along the bottom of the screen now and then, it makes it clear what the actual length of time to achieve something was. But this usually has to be edited down to make a TV program so it all looks shorter than it really was.
 
I saw him backing a horse last week. The horse took it all its its stride and he did make sure each stage was completed first and the horse was happy before he moved onto the next one.
 
i've been to his demos and he does take his time and has even stopped and said "Ok, this goal looks like it's going to be unrealistic" and sets another and tells owner how to proceed to original goal at later date.
 
yes-but that doesnt get away from the unfit horse being very puffed and it wasnt the time as I'm aware they edited it down, but the fact that the horse evidently wasn't ready, it was not standing still and calmly at any point when he moved on to saddle/rider etc.
neither did I think his version of backed was my version of backed, or that the horse would be trotting the next day and cantering the day after that!
 
From experience breaking in using the 'Monty Roberts method' (bosses orders). It does work in that in a day you can get a horse to accept saddle, bridle, ropes round legs and a rider on their back (most of the time) but it fails in that I have never seen a video where he goes on to explain how he thinks you should then teach them to stop, walk, trot, canter, turn etc.

After having gotten to the able to get on stage via Montry Roberts (so boss happy and no longer hovering) I then went back taught the horse to long rein and go to voice commands so that when I rode out of the round pen I had come control and the horse could work out that rein pressure meant stop as it was accompanied by the 'ssssssh' Id taught from the ground.

Another thing he fails to explain is how to deal with them when 4 days/weeks down the line they go 'nah this isnt fun Im not going to walk down the track I think I will dump you here'. Becasue no matter how well you have joined up with the horse it doesn't really work when your on board.

Im not knocking M. Roberts his way of breaking in has made life alot nicer for 100's of horses in south america. The theory is just not the silver bullet / wonder cure it is ocasionally cracked up to be.

PS Before I worked at this place I was a total 'join up skeptic' I do now recognise that it does have its time and place, and is very useful with semi-feral youngsters (ie only handled to be branded and wormed once a year after weaning).
 
I've been to three or four of Montys demos over the years, and the most recent was Friday. I think he shows a way forward for horses and owners who have got stuck, somehow (he didn't do a backing at this demo). He had a horse which bucked, and was booked in to be PTS in five days time, ex racer, 10 year old, a real looker, boy did it buck, I've never seen anything like it, real rodeo hanging in the air stuff! That isn't cureable in 20 minutes, but he showed a method to make the horse rideable, and it was ridden successfully, and wasn't unduly stressed. Same with the spooky pony and the bolshy youngster who wouldn't load. None of those three horses are now cured for life, but their owners saw that their horses could improve, and were shown how they could help with that.

IMO, Monty has opened the minds of a lot of people, whether you use his methods wholeheartedly, a little bit, or not at all, he gives an alternative way of thinking, and if in the long term that works for the horses and humans, that's got to be good.
 
My husband was at that demon on Friday too.
What he shows is the 'start' of training, never does he say, there, that's sorted. The owners are expected to continue working with the horse, progressing their education. Interestingly, on Friday he apparently fitted heart monitors to show whether or not horses were relaxed or uptight.

As for a youngster puffing at the end, many horses puff after working, when they are unfit(or even fit ones!)
 
Spot_the_risk put very eloquently what I meant about horses in South America and M.Roberst stuff in general =)
People now have a 'nicer' way of breaking in and there is no embarresment in 'being soft' as M.Roberts has developed such international respect/recognition of his methods that they are accepted (it helps that he is male, imagine if he had been a she, people would probably still be laughing (sorry feminist rant over)).
 
[ QUOTE ]

What he shows is the 'start' of training, never does he say, there, that's sorted. The owners are expected to continue working with the horse, progressing their education.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with this. I had a Kelly Marks RA out to me and my horse last year to help with general handling and loading problems. At no point did she ever say "there, that's sorted" or claim to have waved a magic wand. She showed me lots of exercises but stressed that I needed to keep working on it all at home, to keep reinforcing things. I actually liked the fact that she was honest with me and didn't claim to have a magic cure - I have spoken to other "behavioural" people who claim they can sort it all in one sessions but I don't believe them. I liked the Kelly Marks / Monty Roberts approach because I feel they are honest that things take time to sort out. I also like the fact that they are honest with *you* about what you're doing wrong, and they show you how to behave correctly. Other behavioural people make it all about the horse when in reality, with a "problem" horse, I often think the owners need to take some responsibility and change the way they deal with things.
 
I watched him back a shire a couple of weeks ago, this was all done within half an hour and the horse was fine, no stress or signs of distress. I believe that he does some work with them before they are 'live' i.e join up - but he has had a lot of bad press for 'stressing' horses out during his time working with them.

To show that his work actually lowered heart rates he hooked them all up to heart rate monitors and by the end of 'join up' your could hear and match readings that prooved the horses were less stressed and heart rates decreased through his work. Even helping a horse face its fears - in this case a fear of donkeys, by the end of the session the horses heart rate had dropped dramatically and only raised again when the donkey was taken away!

I keep an open mind with everything he does but this shire was introduced to the saddle, tacked up, long lined and backed all very carefully and from what we all saw, was a success!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top