Monty Roberts is an intriguing character. He is an undoubted bestselling author, and a successful horse trainer and showman. His success is due to his winning ways in communicating with horses, enabling wild horses to be saddled and ridden in record times, usually half an hour or so, and taming or helping many troubled horses. He claims to have learned many of his communication skills by observing mustangs in the wild, and eventually learning to tame them. He has displayed his talents before royalty, both Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Princess Benedikte of Denmark, and claims to have performed as a stunt rider for many famous stars, to have trained many successful thoroughbred racehorses, and he was undoubtedly a successful rodeo rider. His relationship with his father can best be described as uneasy, and he claims he was beaten by the man. It is here where we start to question and read between the lines, however, for this portrayal of his father is not accepted by other family members, and his portrayal of his Hollywood career is also disputed. He claims to have been the inspiration behind "The Horse Whisperer" film, but this claim also seems to be false. He has also persuaded some schools in England to try his methods with children in the hope of improving behaviour. He is then, a controversial but talented individual, with definite powers of horsemanship, persuasion and showmanship.
Many of his demonstrations can be seen on YouTube for those who wish to see.
His books include:
The Man Who Listens to Horses
Horse Sense for People
Shy Boy: The Horse That Came in from the Wild
From My Hands to Yours: Lessons from a Lifetime of Training Championship Horses
Whispering Back
The Horses in My Life
Join-up: Horse Sense for People
Horse Sense for People: Using the Gentle Wisdom of the Join-Up Technique to Enrich Our Relationships at Home and at Work
Sources:
The Man Who Listens to Horses, Monty Roberts, Ballantine Books, 2009
The Horses in My Life, Monty Roberts, Ballantine Books, 2004
http://horsewhispersandlies.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Roberts