Monty Roberts, a Real Horse Whisperer

Many are familiar with the popular novel, The Horse Whisperer (1995) which was later made into The Horse Whisperer (1998), the movie directed by and starring Robert Redford. To write his incredible book that populated best seller lists, Nicholas Evans, author of The Horse Whisperer (1995), met Monty Roberts and heavily interviewed him among other knowledgeable horse trainers and owners before writing.

But while The Horse Whisperer is a work of fiction, what appeared on library shelves two years later, The Man Who Listens to Horses (1997), is the autobiography of Monty Roberts, a real-life horse whisperer. In his own book, Monty tells his remarkable journey with horses and how his horse training-methods have revolutionized horse training, from the violence and exercise of force and mastery previously used to the gentling methods of those today. Horses are not to be "broken" anymore but to be "gentled". 

Here is a postage-stamp version of the Monty Roberts story.

Source

Monty Roberts, born 14 May 1935, as a babe was held in the saddle in front of his mother as she trained neighborhood youngsters in the family riding school. By age 4 Monty was riding in shows and winning prizes. At age 7 he made a precocious and controversial discovery—the realization that horses have their own language, what he came to regard as “the language of Equus”, an extremely controversial thought at the time!

His father, a mean and violent horse trainer, also mean and violent with Monty, wouldn’t allow such a thought, and tried to beat (yes, physically) the thought out of Monty’s brain. Monty hated violence and despite the beatings, continued his observations on how horses communicate. By age 11 Monty was in the family rail car and riding across the country with typically 6 horses, a groom-trainer, and a school teacher. By this time he was known to be “professional” as his competitors were kids who actually attended school and merely rode on weekends, he swooped up the highest prizes rather consistently whenever and wherever he competed.

By age 13 he was taking summer trips to the Nevada desert to do mustang round-ups, and this was where he got the biggest epiphany on horse communication—from interactions at night between a young misbehaving stallion and the leading herd mare who was “punishing” the wayward youth! To be able to see these night interactions between the herd animals, Monty realized his rare achromatopic (complete colorblind) condition was actually a blessing, as it gave him ability to distinguish the textures of the night desert and not feel the loss of the colors!

On this earliest mustang roundup he observed a mare chasing a young rambunctious stallion 300 yards away from the herd and not allowing him to return. This ostracism is critical as it prevents group protection from the coyotes, wolves, mountain lions and other predators, and it is unnatural to be excluded as horses are herd animals and thrive in socializing family herds. The young stallion was chased out and the lead mare kept him ostracized by directly facing him, eyes riveted into him, with no letup on reprimanding stance or breaking of eye contact. After some minutes the young stallion started moving his mouth, and then sticking out his tongue a bit at times, actions that Monty later learned was his beginning to admit his submission to her authority. Following this, his head would drop to just inches off the ground while he continued with the mouth action. The mare was waiting for this submissive act and then would break eye contact and look a few inches in front of him. As he continued with his submissive movements and turning his body more and more laterally to her, an overt act of vulnerability and submission, her eyes would drift further in distance ahead of him, and she too would gradually turn laterally. The more she turned, the closer he approached. What was utterly astonishing to Monty, however, was how she showed her forgiveness to him after allowing him back into the herd, provided he continued expressing his submission and not misbehaving again. She would curry his mane, withers and around his tail gently with her lips and teeth and give him lots of attention as she welcomed him back, and forgave him. If he misbehaved, out he was chased again, and the process would be repeated.

For Monty, this was revolutionary! Horses had rules, meted out punishment, expressed forgiveness and caring love, and were in fact master trainers for raising “model” communities! Monty’s father used aggression, violent submission, force and cruelty in his horse-breaking methods, and Monty was quick to note the huge differences in both process and outcome. Monty developed training methods he gained from this mustang experience, and his horses were “broken” to saddle and bridle in an average of 30 minutes after meeting. His father’s violent method took 6 weeks, and the horse was forever damaged. Monty’s method was based on speaking the “language of Equus” with the horse and gaining its trust so that he could just quietly place the saddle on the horse, reassure the horse that it wasn’t a bad thing, and then slip the bridle on the horse with the same reassurance. Monty knew his father’s method of domination was inherently wrong, and Monty’s ultimate philosophy was that the horse is an honest soul and will tell you its story, if you but take the time to listen, as “the horse is always right”!

Monty’s Training Method

According to Monty, to break a horse in 30 minutes is not difficult if one speaks the “language of Equus”. The ideal method is to use a 50-foot arena, preferably without a lot of activity around it. The horse would be put in the arena for a time before Monty entered it in order for the horse to become familiar with the space rather than have too much unfamiliar stimuli at once during the initial gentling session. Then Monty would enter the arena with a rope, not to beat the horse at all, but to just flick the rope behind the horse to keep the horse circling at a nice pace. Monty, like the lead mare who was ostracizing the fractious youth, would squarely face the horse with eyes fixed on it and the horse would be running because he was realizing Monty spoke “Equus” and he, the horse, was being punished for something.

Once the horse started moving his mouth, and then lowering his head to just above ground level while moving his mouth and still making revolutions around Monty, Monty would adjust his eye focus to just in front of the horse. The horse would slow immediately, offer more submissive mouth movements with lowered head and the further Monty adjust his eye focus in front the horse, the slower the horse circled. Finally when Monty was no longer looking at the horse and his (Monty’s body) was turned laterally in the position of little awareness and in trusting vulnerability, the horse would gaze at Monty. Monty would then turn his back on the horse, being careful to never cut his eyes in any way to see how the horse was reacting, and just slowly walk away. The horse, the herd animal, would naturally approach Monty and with its muzzle over Monty’s shoulder, follow Monty trustingly around the arena.

After a couple minutes of “round-up”, Monty would turn and touch the spots of vulnerability—the spots where for example a mountain lion would grab if it attacked, many of the same spots that the mare had curried when she welcomed the fractious stallion back into the herd. Monty was saying with these touches, “You can trust me. I would never hurt you.” Monty would touch the vulnerability points, along the muzzle, the top of the head, along the mane, the throat, the flank, and as he developed his methods, he would even lift one hoof after another, an act that demanded ultimate trust as it denied the horse the ability to run when one of its hooves was lifted. With these acts allowed, the horse was acquiescent for allowing more acts of vulnerability, the adding of the saddle, and then the bridle. After each each piece of equipment was added, Monty would reassure the horse with appropriate touches, conveying his high regard and respect to the horse for the horse putting such trust in him. And so Monty could walk into an arena, and about 30 minutes later have a “green” horse introduced to a saddle and bridle and have a rider on his back for a few spins around the arena. Of course this was just the beginning of the training, but Monty did the initial horse “breaking”, a term that is actually a misnomer. The term in regard to Monty’s method should be more like “horse gentling”.

KNYSNA-PLETT HERALD

This book is the amazing journey of Monty from a small boy who never had a childhood or owned a toy to a grown man who, living and breathing with horses all of his life, learned a method of “horse breaking” that gained the horses trust and didn’t destroy its spirit. When Monty was into his 40s, Queen Elizabeth, quite the horsewoman herself, heard about Monty and invited him to Buckingham to see for herself his methods. She was amazed and she and Monty struck up quite the friendship which lasted for years, and developed further during many more visits. Until meeting Queen Elizabeth, Monty had learned to remain silent about his controversial gentling methods of training horses. After meeting such a renowned horse advocate, Monty started giving public demonstrations and instructions on his methods, and because of Queen Elizabeth’s keen passion for humanitarian treatment of horses and her passionate approval of Monty’s gentling methods, Monty’s ways became widely known … and even was the catalyst for this book!

Monty, beaten from ages 7 to 15, and often with a chain, refused to continue with the violence that he underwent growing up. His methods gentled the training methods of horses, and he and his wife with their big hearts and passion to help even youths at risk, over the years took in 47 foster kids (typically aged 12-14) who had a lot of baggage. They used the same methods of “herd mentality”, stern looks and welcoming touches as the mare had used. None of their kids were ever beaten, communication and love were the ingredients for a strong “family” tie. And Monty says that despite the heavy baggage that his 47 foster kids had, 40 of them were “successfully taught to fly”!

Definitely this book is a high recommend!

Easter Island Orongo Birdman Culture

Rapa Nui National Park was created by means of the Supreme Decrees Number 103 on January 16th of 1935, of the Ministry of Lands and Colonization and it is under CONAF administration. All the island territory was declared Historic Monument which means that it is protected by the Law 17.288 of National Monuments. The park was declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1995. There is always a park guard in the following places : Orongo, Tahi, Rano Raruku volcano and Anakena beach.

What is Orongo?

It is a ceremonial center built for religious practices related to the cult of the Manutara and bird-man (tangata manu) competition. This village was seasonably used, that is, people stayed here for some weeks at the beginning of the spring every year. The one room dwellings built here were not present in other parts of the island. Although the architecture clearly reflects that of boat-houses (hare-paenga), the building system is similar to control towers (tupa). It is believed that this site began to be used by the end of the 16th century; however, the bird-man cult seems to have become more relevant later.

What is the importance of the site?

The cult of the ancestors, represented in the great quantity of carvings of megalithic statues or moai, was one of the most important characteristics of the prehistoric Rapa Nui culture and its manifestations are spread all over the island. However, from the 16th century Rapa Nui began to create megaliths as a religious and political expression and that is how a new religious cult emerged - with the god Make-Make and beliefs closely related to fertilization, spring and the arrival of migratory sea birds. Thus, Orongo became an essential part in the life of Rapa Nui people, representing a new era in the history and culture of this society and where a different religion and political system gradually prevailed over the former one, and marked what happened until the end of the 19th century.

What was the Tangata-Manu ritual about?

It was an annual ceremony in which the chiefs from different tribes or lineages, or their representatives (hopu) came to obtain the first egg of the sooty term or Manutara. This migratory bird nests on the islet Motu Nui, the biggest of the three islands, in front of the Orongo site. Actually, the bird has become protected as is Rapa Nui itself, for its number have been decimated by human exploitation, the elements and its fragile breeding ground and breeding habits.

In spring, different groups from all over the island travelled to Orongo and prepared for the bird-man activities. When competition started, competitors climbed down the cliff of Rano Kau and swam up to Motu Nui. There they stayed days or weeks waiting for the arrival of manutara, until one of them managed to find one egg, which he wrapped in a hand-woven basket attached to his head and then swam against the mighty current back to the foot of the Orongo cliff, which he climbed. The first man back (not the first to find the Manutara egg, but the first one to bring a Manutara egg back safely, was proclaimed the next bird-man was for the next year he became like a diety. When the competitor arrived back with a perfect egg and presented it (to whom?), the Tangata Manu title was conferred on him, or the chief to whom the competitor represented. The new bird-man or Tangata Manu was considered sacred or tapu and he remained in seclusion for one year. During that year, he would remain in one of the elliptical cliff dwellings, be fed by his family and villages, could not cut his hair or nails, and must be regarded and act like a holy man. The last ceremony was celebrated in 1867.

In this ceremonial village, not only archaeological vestiges related to the bird-man (Tangata Manu) cult are preserved, even more, a great number of Rapa Nui art and culture is presented here. Orongo is one of the main Polynesian rock art places. It is also one of the most stunning views in the Rapa Nui National Park.

[1] From here a general view of the village can be obtained, as well as the offshore rocky islets (motu) which are closely related to the Orongo ritual activities. The orientation of the houses face the motu. Motu Nui is the largest and it is where Manutara or the sooty tern nests.

[2] Two unrestored houses give an idea of how these dwellings used to be before they were rebuilt between 1974 and 1976.

[3] In this partially restored house of stone masonry, the way of building can be observed - a unique long and narrow room of elliptical shape, with thick double walls made of stone laja [sic] filled with earth. The roof was made of larger angular slabs which overlapped, and which finally consisted of a turf cover.

[4] Most social activities done in Orongo were done in front of these dwellings, in terraces clearly defined by a low stony wall. Groups from different tribes met here during many weeks dancing and singing songs related to the Tangata-Manu ritual. In spite of all the artifacts, little is known about the true origin and significance of this ancient ceremony.

[5] In one of these houses, there was a famous Moai Hoa Haka Nana La, statue of 2.5 meters high, made of basalt and adorned with petroglyphs related to the Tangata-Manu ritual. This moai was taken to England in 1968 and today is exhibited in the British Museum.

[6] The central area of the ceremonial culture has houses constructed that take advantage of the natural unevenness of the peak. Some dwellings had ornamental walls with paintings of the Orongo ritual such as sea birds, ceremonial oars called ao. Some painting have been removed and are on exhibit in various museums.

[7] This area, the Mata Ngarahu, is where the ceremonial activities were the focus of attention during the bird-man competition. Hundreds of petroglyphs of Tangata-Manu, Make-Make god and Komari were carved on the stones here in testimony of intense ritual activities related to the bird-man cult. According to the island tradition, priests in charge of the ceremony stayed in these houses waiting for the results of the competition. At present, for security reasons a maximum of five people at one time can stand on this cliff lip which has no guard rails or other barriers from the sea below. The rather preposterous film Rapa Nui, which tries to explain some of the unknown myths of the island as well as weave in a sappy romance, shows Kevin Costner as the bird-man jumping off of this cliff to the ocean fa-ar below. If someone jumped from such a height, they would almost certainly be injured or killed, but from this site, the jump would absolutely be suicidal as the cliff is not as sheer as it looks but flairs out slightly, making it possible for the returning competitors to scale the near-sheer but very craggy cliff. People on Rapa Nui enjoy showing the movie to visitors, who flock in to see it, but they deride most of the movie ... and use it as a come-on to the sites, explaining what was wrong in the movie.

[8] Keho, or basalt stone for building a house, is located on the eastern side of the Orongo area, and it is here that basalt slabs were quarried to build the village huts (hare) which also employed straw (totora) in the construction. The basalt created strong structures and were resistant to the strong winds always blowing here.

[9] Although this site is in ruins, a central platform with a ramp to a small ceremonial altar (ahu) are still distinguishable. Pieces of rock from the Rano Raraku volcano belonging to a moai once erected here still remain in pieces around it.

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Throughout the Orongo site are Make-Make or rock carvings of the cult's god.