Monty Roberts is perhaps best known through the book and movie "The Horse Whisperer." I've never owned a horse, but I have certainly been around horses and enjoyed establishing a bond with them. I saw Monty Roberts take four "unruly" horses, gain their trust and help them overcome their fear of people at a show in the Cow Palace on February 20, 1999. He could in under 20 minutes take a horse that hadn't been bridled or saddled and get it to trust him to the point where it would calmly accept a rider. He did this by communicating with the horse through a language he calls "Equis." It was truly amazing to see. He had made a science of what I had always seen as sub-conscious / non-verbal communication. By observing behavioral patterns in wild horses, he learned to gain their trust in a very predictable manner. He has had a tremendous impact on the equestrian community world wide and has shown how through love, compassion and respect you can make incredible progress with animals and people alike. His demonstration of how repeatable and predictable this was did seem to take away a little something of the mystery, magic and romance of bonding with animals I had experienced, but it sure made it a lot easier to explain to others who are more skeptical of what is possible in that area.
I've since been more active riding and been around horses myself and have discovered to my joy and yet dissapointment how easy and yet often predictably one can form a bond with a horse.
