10 © Cambridge University Press 2010Unit 3 The gentle touch

Monty’s method

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On a cold Tuesday night in September, 1000 people are

gathering in a barn the size of an aircraft hangar. In the queue, there’s a man covered in blue denim from Stetson to cowboy boots whose spurs rattle as he walks. He looks the part. They are all here to see Monty Roberts. Outside, one of the volunteers who is putting up signs says ‘In the horse world, he’s a bit of a god.’

Monty Roberts is also gaining something of a reputation in the world of education as schools start to apply his techniques in the classroom. His theories on non-confrontational human relationships have been credited with turning round failing schools.

Back in the barn, the warm-up music of classic western themes fades and the night’s star attraction appears. A big bear of a man with a gentle smile, he acknowledges the applause and walks into the fenced pen at

the centre of the arena. ‘Practically everybody here has read or heard something about me,’ he begins. ‘That’s just the way it is today. But there won’t be one horse who comes through that gate tonight that has read or heard anything about me.’

The !rst horse to enter the arena is a handsome animal called Socks. Like a

magician about to perform a trick, Monty asks Socks’s owner if they have ever met. He needs to rule out any collusion because what follows is so magical as to beggar belief. But it is not a trick. Socks is a ‘starter’, meaning he has never been ridden. In fact, he has never had anything on his back. He is wild – in the top 5 per cent of untrained horses. Socks

Monty is the real-life Californian Horse Whisperer who can train a mustang to accept a saddle and rider in 10 minutes.

11© Cambridge University Press 2010

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Unit 3 The gentle touch

Monty’s method starts to run round the pen, !rst one way then the other, as Monty throws a line softly on to his back and kicks up sawdust and dirt, imitating a predator. After a couple of minutes, Socks realises he is not in danger and starts to chew and lick his lips, just as Monty said he would. Then he stops, and drops his head to the ground.

And then the magic begins. Monty stands sideways on and walks slowly towards Socks, avoiding eye contact. Then Socks turns towards him, and Monty scurries away. This is not the action of a predator, the horse thinks. The third time he does this, something incredible happens. Socks begins to follow Monty across the ring, his head almost resting on his shoulder. In eight minutes, wild horse and civilised man have made friends, achieving what Monty calls ‘join-up’. He signals for his rider to bring a saddle, and within 10 minutes Socks is carrying a man on his back around the ring. ‘Horses are stupid – that’s what they said for 2000 years. Look at this young horse. Look at him learn. Horses are 50 million years old, and humans have been around for a much shorter period of time. Horses have been

my teachers as much as I have been theirs.’

Monty Roberts has done this routine thousands of times. It’s second nature to him. It’s the reason he’s famous. But it’s not his raison d’être. During the evening he will ‘join up’ with !ve horses, gently curing them of habits of biting and bucking and refusing to go into boxes or through gates, without laying a !nger on them except to pat their noses. But incredible though this is, it is only a sideshow.

Monty’s main concern these days is to apply his non-violent methods to human relationships, to revolutionise the way we communicate. ‘These are the most precious relationships,’ he says. ‘Every human being is more precious than all the horses I have worked with.’ Like horses, children are "ight animals, meaning that when threatened they "ee, except that our predatory ancestry means we put up with a lot more abuse before we run. ‘Each of the animals that comes in that pen is just like a child,’ says Monty. ‘They have the same needs. They want trust, they want to be able to trust, they want safety and some love. They don’t want to be hurt.’

His philosophy is simple: positive actions reap positive consequences; negative actions incur negative consequences. He encourages parents and children to draw up a series of contracts, verbal or written, and this gives even children as young as two a sense of responsibility. Children should never be rewarded for good behaviour with food or money, but allowed to go on an outing or do a favourite pastime instead. Breaking the contract means a task, but this should be something useful. It is important that the child decides on both the reward and the task and that both parties stick to the deal. ‘There’s not a bad kid born,’ says Monty. ‘There’s not a bad horse born. Circumstances and life’s environment are what make us either bad or good. And teachers have been the most important part of our sociological order since the beginning of time, because they represent what our future will be.’

Monty is a charismatic, articulate but modest man. He describes his work as a mission to leave the world a better place than he found it. In some places, in prisons and schools, thanks to him, it already is.

Adapted from Harvey McGavin, Times Educational Supplement, 21st September 2001.