Horse Sense Audience Amazed By Trainer’s Unusual And Successful Method

It seemed a peculiar performance to spend $25 on: a man chasing a horse around a pen as he claimed to communicate with the creature.

But roughly an hour and a half after Monty Roberts had begun his demonstration, some of the more than 600 spectators were describing the horse trainer as “incredible” and “amazing.”

“I think the guy’s great,” said Gary Roy of Deer Park. Roy owns two mares and couldn’t wait to try Roberts’ technique on them.

Roberts was at the Fairview Farms arena near Mead on Sunday night demonstrating his method of getting a horse to accept a bridle, saddle and rider.

He has trained horses for the queen of England, has been on “Dateline NBC,” “Good Morning America” and National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” and has scored a four-page spread in People magazine.

Now Roberts is in the midst of a tour of the United States, England and Germany to promote his book, “The Man Who Listens to Horses.” He has no connection to the best-selling novel or its movie spinoff, “The Horse Whisperer.”

His performance Sunday night was a one-man show. He stood in the middle of a fenced pen and spoke to audience members as they sat on bleachers and folding chairs.

For thousands of years, humanity’s relationship with animals has been based on “you do what I tell you to do or I will hurt you,” Roberts said.

Through violence, horses have been trained to carry riders, he said.

But he said there’s a better way to get a horse to accept a rider: earn the animal’s trust; give positive reinforcement; and communicate using Equus, a form of body language Roberts created.

“I found the language being used by horses, and they were my teachers,” said Roberts, 61, who is on a personal quest to end the violent breaking of horses.

It’s a language he began learning when he was 13 and spent several weeks in the Nevada desert observing wild mustangs. Through Equus, Roberts moves toward his goal: “That magical moment called joining up,” he said.

In simplest terms, joining up means the horse chooses to be with a human.

After a 30-minute lecture, Roberts began his demonstration with a 2-year-old, unbroken horse owned by a stranger, John Dailey of Farmington, Wash.

Roberts chased the horse around the pen, tossing a rope at it.

In the hushed arena, the only sounds were the hum of the lights and the panting of the horse.

After about 10 minutes, Roberts stopped chasing the horse and turned his back to it. The horse came to a halt.

Over the next half-hour, Roberts eased up to the horse and rubbed it between the eyes. Then he gently rubbed its withers and sides. He was earning its trust.

Soon, the horse was following Roberts around the arena.

When it was time for the tack, Roberts placed the pile of leather and buckles in the middle of the pen and walked the horse around it a couple of times. Then he eased each piece on.

Thirty-five minutes after the horse entered the arena, it had a saddle and rider on its back. The horse didn’t buck its rider.

About 95 percent of the time, a horse will buck its first rider, according to Roberts, who claims that only happens 5 percent of the time when his method is used.

Dailey called the demonstration with his horse “magnificent.”

“I think amongst our crowd there weren’t any skeptics,” said Elaine Edwards, owner of the Indiana Harness and Saddlery Co. “We were sold on him.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo