Little ones and practising Monty’s techniques

When we left the Monty Robert Learning Centre we had been warned that many people in the horse world do not believe or like his techniques and that therefore we needed to be very diplomatic and careful about how we went about telling people about our training. This is all the more so if we are going to be working with other people’s horses - which was our case. 

With this in mind, we were discreet when we told Nick and Dan that we had some ‘homework’ to do for a natural horsemanship course. Since they didn’t really know us, they sounded pretty careful too and just left the issue hanging. After a few days, they asked us what training exactly we had undergone and they were fascinated to hear we had been to the Monty Robert Learning Centre. I can’t tell you how happy we felt that they reacted that way. Interestingly, a lot of what they do with young horses already reflects this natural way of thinking so in a way it goes very well hand in hand. Both brothers are being incredibly flexible by letting us work with their horses, even the younger ones. 

I am currently working with a young 2 year old grey filly (female foal) and a 3 year old gelding (castrated male) both were born on the farm. The gelding has already been ridden once or twice but the filly never even had a saddle or bridle on her. 

It was an amazing experience to gain her trust so she would let me first put the head collar on her. I did a few exercises with her and finished with a Join Up. Two weeks later and I am able to ride her. It was quite a humbling feeling when I got on her back for the first time but she didn’t budge. It took me a few minutes to get her going forward. This is when I realised that horses have initially no idea what you want them to do when you’re on their back and it’s up to you be as clear as you can in your instructions. It’s a tremendous learning curve for both rider and mount.