For those of you who follow me on social media, you'll probably know that this weekend I got to see a Monty Roberts demonstration (you can follow me by clicking on any of the icons over on the right hand side of the screen) and oh my goodness, it was amazing.
Monty Roberts is one of the leading trainers in what has been dubbed Natural Horsemanship. I based my entire EPQ on the effects of natural horsemanship, and to see a live demonstration having completed that project only helped to reaffirm what I had learnt, and made me wonder what the future of the equine industry has in store. Roberts has many positive aspects, such as the basic principle of listening to the horses and letting them figure things out, rather than resorting to a whip and beating them into submission, which is kind of what happened in the past and still today in some places. Natural Horsemanship isn't for everyone in terms of practice, and indeed it is not perfect, but I think it is an improvement on what has been considered the norm for so many generations.
There were five horses involved in the demonstration. The first two were ponies, one of which was being started. This was the 'opening' horse for non-members of Intelligent Horsemanship (the event for members started at two hours earlier), and it was a great start. The little filly just did not care one bit, and was cool as a cucumber about both the saddle and the rider. Her only wobbly moment was when the rider, Jake Harris (and I do apologise if I got that name wrong - someone feel free to correct me if I have), asked her to rein back. She took a few steps back, but she was a bit all over the place. Nevertheless, it was incredible to see her started and I wish Penny and her owners all the best for the future.
The next pony was a very typical cheeky chappy. She'd clearly had some negative experiences being handled, because she had a whole long list of issues. If you were leading her and pulled in any way, shape, or form, she would rear up or pull back. Frog did not want to be caught in the field - the moment you tried to attach the lead rope she was off like a racehorse. She didn't like her feet being touched, to the point where she had to be trotted on roads etc to give her hooves a 'natural' trim as the farrier was her arch nemesis, and I'm sure there were some other issues there too. It was really interesting to see her being worked in by Monty Roberts and the improvement by the end of the allotted amount of time was huge. Of course there were still instances where she would pull back, but theses were much fewer and far between. With correct handling her issues should fade almost completely. The fact that Jake was able to handle her legs as a farrier would, and that another member of the team (I'm really sorry, I forgot her name, I just know that she has helped Monty with wild mustangs. Again, if you know the correct name please let me know!) was able to run up to her while she was loose and make a fuss of her, was really great to see.
The next horse was a beautiful spotty horse who hated many things, but especially hated plastic. The intense reaction was awful to watch, because when Monty used a stick to touch the horse you could see him shaking. This was the horse that I struggled to watch, because this element I did disagree with. The horse was being restrained with the dually halter, and so I wouldn't say the horse had a free choice in learning to accept this element. It had a choice later to jump the tarpaulin 'stream' next to the 'lake', but I would have rather seen more time dedicated to the horse and have the build up be incremental. Maybe that's just me, but all the same I think both the horse and I were glad when the plastic was gone. He was then loaded, which he had issues with, and he was quite quick to adapt to that although he wasn't very sure-footed on the ramp!
The next two horses were both problem loaders, and given the time restriction Kelly worked with a very handsome cob whilst Monty worked with a bay called Chantelle. Both were worked over a wooden panel that was laid flat on the floor, and Monty also used fencing to create a narrow space to walk Chan through, so that she could get accustomed to the smaller space. I don't think the cob had as much time to be worked with, especially as he was being loaded first, so he took a bit more convincing to go in the trailer, but in the end both did. I'm sure their owners are all very happy about the success here, as they reported having to spend 5+ hours at home to attempt to get their horses loaded! Here's hoping the problem is now gone.
A great bit of advice for problem loaders is to use a fence behind them and have them face the stables if possible - heading home is a lot more comforting to a horse than leaving it, and having no exits out back limits their options.
Overall it was a brilliant and thought provoking evening. I wish I had better pictures for you guys, but the whole demonstration was filmed by a cameraman from Horse & Country, so you'll probably see a great deal of the demonstration on TV at some point anyway. If you can get a chance to go see a demonstration in person, please do. You don't have to agree with all of his methods, but it is interesting from a behavioural stand point. For more information about the UK tour and to buy tickets, visit intelligenthorsemanship.co.uk
Until next time...
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