Remembering ‘The Man Who Listens to Horses’
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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This week on Consider This from NPR.
This is Fresh Air. I'm David B and Cooley.
Who was Monty Roberts and why is he remembered in this episode?
Monty Roberts, the internationally acclaimed horseman who used trust instead of intimidation to train horses, died last week he was ninety one. He defied the conventional method of breaking horses, something he watched his father do, and created his own gentler approach, known as join up. He based it on the nonverbal language horses used to communicate with each other. It was a language he observed as a teenager, watching wild mustangs in the Sierra Nevada. Roberts was born in Salinas, California in nineteen thirty five. He grew up around horses, could ride confidently at three, and by the time he was eight said he spent ten hour days working with horses, competing on weekends.
How did Monty’s early life with wild mustangs shape his “Join‑Up” philosophy?
He became a champion rider and was a stunt rider in about a hundred movies, including as a young boy, the Elizabeth Taylor film National Velvet. He's trained thousands of horses, including wild horses, race horses, and problem horses. Roberts became internationally known after Queen Elizabeth II brought him to work with her horses in nineteen eighty nine. She supported his controversial general approach to horse training and urged him to write his memoir The Man Who Listens to Horses, which became a bestseller in nineteen ninety six. Their thirty year friendship was the subject of the twenty twenty three Andrea Nevins documentary The Cowboy and the Queen. From his California ranch, Monnie Roberts introduced his techniques to horse owners, trainers, and students from around the world.
He also traveled widely giving demonstrations. Terry Gross spoke to Monnie Roberts in nineteen ninety seven shortly after his memoir was published. Roberts first learned about horses from his father, who ran a riding school at the massive Salinas Rodeo. But Robert's father used pain and punishment to break horses.
Well, I suppose you'd say my father was a very traditional horse trainer, m working in the conventional manner. And um
What is the “Join‑Up” method and how does it differ from traditional horse breaking?
The main concept is you do what I tell you to Or I'll hurt you. What it is is that um whether I hurt you a lot or a little It's dealing with with negative reinforcement. The use of pain or corporal punishment or acting out um
Mm.
To train the animal not to do that thing. That you're um you you're against or you're uh Working to avoid.
How does Monty read and use horse body language to gain trust?
So what approach to uh discipline and negative reinforcement did your father use? Well, he would tie legs up on horses and tie them down on the ground, he would tie them to posts and Work in such a way so as to frighten them and cause them to test those tethers to the maximum degree which would bash them very violently. Uh oftentimes they were on the ground, oftentimes there was there was blood and there was uh injury. Um It was all done in the vein that that's necessary to do to break down. This horse. And break is a very good word. It's been used for about six thousand years now to Describe the procedures used to cause a horse to accept uh saddle, bridle and rider and training, if you will.
What do you call your approach?
Starting Um the approach itself is Title Join Up But um the procedure I say starting the horse rather than breaking the horse. Because I don't use any pain or restraint. And I request that the horse be Do the things I want, I'm don't demand it. I asked the horse to do them. So as to cause a state of mind whereby he wants to do them not because he's forced to do them. Your basic principle in training horses is to try to use horse language to communicate with the horses, to use Horse horse behavior and horse language, which you learn from being with horses in the wild, which we'll get to in a few minutes. Describe your your join up method of asking basically asking the horse first to go away and to then join up with you.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:26
2
Who was Monty Roberts and why is he remembered in this episode?
0:26–1:12
3
How did Monty’s early life with wild mustangs shape his “Join‑Up” philosophy?
1:12–2:32
4
What is the “Join‑Up” method and how does it differ from traditional horse breaking?
2:32–3:05
5
How does Monty read and use horse body language to gain trust?
3:05–6:24
6
How does Monty apply his techniques to horses with serious behavioral problems?
6:24–12:52
7
How did a serious back injury change Monty’s riding style and teaching?
12:52–14:33
8
What are the highlights of Jason Moran’s new Duke Ellington recordings?
14:33–50:20
Speakers
8 identifiedMore from Fresh Air
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