Monty Roberts...Mumbo-Jumbo or OK??

chickeninabun

chickeninabun

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I am going to see Monty Roberts tomorrow night and just wondered what people on here thought of him.
I have seen a few programs of him on Horse & Country TV and he seems pretty good. Not too mumbo-jumbo like this parelli stuff!!!
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Got a spare ticket now too...
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Monty is ok, much less fluff than parelli, although will try to flog you stuff, but then everyone does these days.

When you are there watch Monty's body language around the horses, he has everything down to a T!
 
I think he's an amazing man - not only for the work he does with horses but also the way he helps troubled young people. His heart is in the right place.
 
I like him a lot, even though he is American (I enjoyed Kelly Marks more). The methods seem more appropriate for ordinany horse people. You must make your own mind up, and of course remember its only one method and not a quick fix. I recall someone on this forum spouting about a poor loader who was loaded at a demo, a few months later it was as bad as ever - mmm, I wonder why! Like one evening is going to fix a problem for ever!

I loved his story about getting naughty kids to dig drainage ditches!
 
Also you dont have to buy the gear - However I have a dualy halter and must say it was well worth the money. I hardly use the control part now, but Its an exceptionaly well made, very adjustable headcollar. It looks like new after 3 years of abuse and machine washing.
 
I went last year - took one of our rescues. One of the best days out in the whole of my life. We did benefit from spending the whole day there with Monty, Kelly and crew and what a day it was.
He sponsored our show earlier this year. Any money took realy does go to horses that need it.
Amazeing man. I do think horses used for the demo shopuld carry on with a follow up from a recomended person - well the owner mainly as the work needs to be kept up.
Enjoy yourself.
I wish i could go again.
 
We aren't taking our own horses, in fact we don't even have any "naughty" horses, just thought it would be a very interesting evening, but yes his ideas look very good and make sense, but of course it's up to the owners to keep up the good work.
It's lovely that he gives so much to charity too. I also heard him and his wife had about 30 foster children at one point. Quite a man. Am really looking forward to tomorrow night.
 
this is very much IMO but i got given tickets to go and see him, and was very very 'suss' thought would just see a load of 'showmanship' and BLAH BLAH BLAH (bit like the P word) BUT, he is very good at quirky horses,,, to the point that ive actually used some of his stuff on young untouched horses myself and it actually worked really well and quickly!!! If you sift through the 'selling' stuff 'buy this'buy that' and take out what works for you i think if you come away with one new technique its got to be worth a go!!!!
 
Be interested to hear, as from what I can see the problems may be resolved '' in the ring, but for eg I believe they use a lorry rather than trailer to load and have the round pen sides round it..not exactly day to day situation?
 
personal experience - i used to believe in what he does.
Until we took a horse to him. He only takes horses for the displays that he know will be easy to fix - otherwise he would be seen as a failure in the display !

We took our mare who was a bucker, he gave us all the talk about how he doesnt just take the easy horses, but out of the 6 horses he had to choose from he took the easy 4 for the display, a problem loader who took 10 mins to load, a horse who would l;et you get on without side stepping away, a spooky horse and a new breaker, and offered the other 2 of us with actual ridden problem horses 6 weeks with ian at £200 per week!!!

Now think its all a pile of poo!

My Honest Opinion!
 
I think hes ok. The stuff he teaches and talks about is just common sense to any good horseman or anyone who has ever taken theime to just watch their horses "be". For instance driving away a horse who wont come to you - it works with dogs, horses etc and just plays on their need or company and acceptance - simple concept really and not exactly a new heory. However he pretty much spells it out for less experienced horseowners and gives a basic insight into horse psychology. Parelli stuff IMO is a load of bollox creating unnatural circumstances. I mean howwould teaching your horse to play fetch (or whatever = it looks like fetch) make him a more willing and able mount?

Having said all this, i did go to a monty roberts demonstration in Kill Eq Centre years ago and we brought a YR showjumper who was 15yrs old and no-one had never been able to clip her - sedated or not. He assessed her before the demo and tried turning on a hair dryer around her. She freaked and he wouldnt use her for t demo - ended up using fairly simple problems in the demo. He said she was a pretty hopeless case as she had gone so long with this fear. We dont know was there an incident that started it, shed been like that when she came to us at 9yrs old.

Two years later she was retired to riding club/riding school and since she wa working far more in winter she really needed to be clipped. With patience and time we managed to get her clipped in late November(blanket) - with sedation and decided against redoing it later in the winter. For the last few winters sh has improved no end. in fact last weekend she was clipped for the first time without anyone holding her. Shes 22 now!
 
I think to judge him on which horses he uses from demonstrations is a bit harsh.

Some horses need a lot of time to fix problems, these are not the one that you'd pick for demonstrations as your audience would get bored. I can understand that you'd be disappointed not to be picked.
 
Yes it is a little unfair to judge him by the horses he chooses for the demo, as Cotwolds said, it would be silly to show an audience something that couldn't be fixed/helped in 15 minutes in the roundpen.

Obviously, by suggesting you needed 6 weeks with someone to train your horse, then he must think that it's not a quick-fix problem and something you really need to work on over time, that's all.

I wouldn't dismiss his ideas just because of that. From what I have seen his body language definately works. Yes some of it maybe common sense, but not everyone was brought up around horses to think about their natural instincts and the psychology behind their behaviour.
 
Monty has brought new information regarding horse behaviour and how to interact with it into the public domain. For example, dominant mares, (although there is now some question about this!), join up, dominance, etc. He's also made us think about the ethics of using horses for our own ends - his ideas really stood out in inhumane world of rodeo! So, there are things to like, especially the idea about dominance both on and off the horse. (Professional jockies are probably doing this without thinking about it!)

However, for me, some elements of the NH movement are useful and some should be disregarded. I personally try to train my horses using predominantly behavioural techniques (Learning theory.) with a little of Monty's/NH domiance thing thrown in for good measure! Really, behaviourism/learning theory is the only method which is scientifically proven to work with both predators (dogs, humans (!) etc) and the predated (horses, etc) Positive [and negative] reinforcement (amongst others) always always always works!
PS. I guess Monty does use negative and positive reinforcement in his work though without calling it that?
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Oh im not judging him based on his choices - though to be honest he does on one hand go on about how quickly he cn solve some pretty big problems - he neglects to tell the general public that most problems require ongoing work to "solve".

I was a huge fan as a kid and his ability to back horses so quickly is im sure of use in the States on ranches and the likes though its not so much of use in britain or Ireland. Now I understand the power of marketing a lot better
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but I still think his work is useful -though im much more into the "do it yourself" side of things.
 
Yep, I think that you have to see through it a little! It's not the 'be all and end all'. Some aspects of it are useable and some aren't - it's just one of many tools in a tool bag to get the best out of a horse. But I guess that's the same with classical riding as well. As long as we're humane and working with the horse I think it's perfectly legitimate to 'pick & mix' our methods!
 
Regarding the horses he won't use at demos, he won't use horses that are very unfit, slightly unsound or not mentally mature enough to cope with a demo atmosphere. At the couple of demos I've helped out at, he's chatted to the owners of the rejected horses explaining why they've not been picked. With immature horses he's gone on to suggest that one of his recommended associated work with the horse and owner to help with problems.

Tonks I do agree with you that his methods, however open they are especially compared to Parelli, aren't the be and end all. Beyond Monty I've discovered Mark Rashid and Klaus Hempfling, both just as intuitive, innovative and inspiring.
 
I went to see a MR demo a couple of years ago when I was beginning to tear my hair out with one mare I had who would not load - under any circumstances. While I wouldn't go the whole hog with everything he said and did - I did find him motivational and inspirational. The next day when I got home I went and worked with my mare - for about half an hour in the school, and then spent 10 minutes by the lorry, and she loaded.

I do believe that mindset of the human is a lot of the battle when dealing with any horse - not just problem ones - and I did find by listening to MR I found it easier to get myself in the right frame of mind to ask the horse the right questions.
 
I went to see him about 8 years ago after reading his book. I was impressed with what he did with horses but I was more impressed (as I am a school teacher)by his thoughts of how teaching and learning works. He has this no nonsense, common sense approach of rewarding good behaviour (by offering safety - not an edible treat) and discouraging (not punishing) bad behaviour by giving more work and yet always leaving that opportunity open to show the good and correct behaviour.
It is a philosophy I have used in my teaching and it works! But then Monty has had many foster children in his life and they have often been difficult kids who he has set on the straight and narrow.
 
Everyone who is as popular as Monty Roberts is going to have someone who tries to jump on the band waggon, personally i like to make my own mind up. Ive seen his demos every time (exept one) that he has been in this country and i cant wait until the next one.
Ive seen Parelli too, wouldnt give him the time of day. Carrot stick is a fancy name for a whip and a recent photo i saw of him making a FOAL jump a log (well the poor thing was halfway over) really put me off big time!!
 
[ QUOTE ]
It seems pretty clear that he never studied horses in the wild, even he himself has come up with 3 different versions of that tale.
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http://www.horsewhispersandlies.com/
http://www.horsewhispersandlies.com/id3.html

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He had to - he was caught out in the first TWO lies on THAT subject!
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BTW - if any of you are also members on the 'other' forum, don't mention THAT book or you'll get banned! Seems they are a bit sensitive about it!
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And as for 'non profit' - that's the biggest lie of them all! From a two-bit horse breaker to a very rich man with a very posh, expensive property - you don't do THAT by being non-profit (unless it's a very interesting interpretation of non-profit!)
 
Bramleyhedge, just read those two links, they won't contaminate you and will respond to your points. If IH is about being open minded don't you believe in being aware of all the information available?
Janet, wouldn't dream of being a member of that forum. Boring.
 
I think to be fair MR is non-profit making now. In the beginning he had to earn a living but once he became a rich man - he was able to earn more for charity.

I read a useful quote once, it said "the best thing you can do for the poor, is not become one of them"!

His approach to horses from what I have seen is fair not always soft but always fair.
 
TinyPony - I don't personally see the relevance here?

I don't bother with the preamble about Monty's life or the link you sent saying that said preamble was inaccurate, both are tedious and have nothing to do with his training methods.
 
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