December 2006 E-Newsletter

Contents:

• Dear Friends: A Royal Lesson from King Alchemist
• Bonus Video Free on our Website: Click here and send it to a friend!
• Q&A: "Why does my horse only buck in September?"
• Monty's Principles for People: Teacher’s Christmas Miracle
• From Our Readers: Support for whipless racing
• Last Minute Gift Idea! Monty’s Gift Certificate: Purchase a gift certificate for the horse lovers on your gift list.
• Monty’s Challenge: NEW FEATURE to test your Join-Up “know how”
• Where in the world is Monty on tour next? Click here!
• Upcoming issues

Dear Friends

During the course of my October tour of England, I was in daily contact with the English office that is in charge of arranging my tour, selling tickets and attending to all of the details of the demonstrations. Shaun Whelehan is a member of the office staff and has been a great asset to the English team for about five years. Shaun happens to have a girlfriend by the name of Ashleigh Horton who rides young Thoroughbreds for a trainer in England, Mark Usher.

Shaun reported to me that Mr. Usher had purchased a yearling named King Alchemist. He said that the colt was the most expensive acquisition of the 2006 purchases and that Ashleigh was in charge of the starting process for all of the young horses that were nearing the range of twenty months of age. With a tone of anxiety, Shaun told me that while all of the others had gone well, King Alchemist was a very scary proposition.

The report went on that King Alchemist was very skeptical of humans and at any point he might strike with a front foot or lash out with a hind one. It was said that there was no chance to put a saddle on after the first saddling. I was told that he went straight over backwards with the saddle and then bucked and kicked, managing to get the saddle under him, tearing it to pieces.

When I arrived at the Usher Stable, I found a beautifully conformed youngster that was suicidal and psychopathic. I cannot remember ever seeing a young Thoroughbred that was more dangerous to handle than King Alchemist. I must say that Ashleigh was brave to even go into the stall and put a halter on this colt. What I saw was beyond belief, and I am sure would have resulted in grave harm to either Ashleigh or the colt had I not been called in.

Ex-jockey, Richard Quinn was there to assist and describe the colt as “afraid to even come out of his box”.

An interesting aspect to this story is that I had only Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday remaining in my English tour schedule. The only reason I had these days was that there was a meeting canceled by an unrelated party. My next stop was Holland where I had a sold out building, and it was imperative that I was there on time.

Adrien Maby is a young Frenchman who accompanied me as a potential rider. Adrien and Ashleigh managed to get King Alchemist to the round pen where I initiated my work. I accomplished Join-Up® in a relatively short period of time. This part of the procedure was relatively normal. Touching him anywhere but on the head, however, was met with utter disapproval. After Join-Up I chose to treat King Alchemist as a remedial, spooky horse, and I executed the procedures appropriate to that behavior.

The Tuesday session was approximately three hours long with two or three rest breaks and some water for each of us. I mentioned to Adrien and Ashleigh on the first break that I was hoping to achieve a score of ten on Thursday afternoon. I told them that ten would mean that I could saddle King Alchemist, drive him on the long lines and put either of them on him in the round pen. For the purpose of this report, I will state that on Tuesday I would estimate that I reached a two out of the targeted ten.

On Wednesday I was able to start at approximately the same level of accomplishment that I had reached on the Tuesday. With another three hours, I felt that we had reached a level of about a seven out of the targeted ten. I went to bed on Wednesday night far more optimistic than I had experienced on Tuesday night.

Thursday was a day delivered to me straight out of heaven. King Alchemist picked up right where we had left off and within one hour on Thursday I had saddled, long lined and allowed each of my riders a chance to ride King Alchemist in the round pen, walking, trotting and even a short canter. With my ten tucked away, I went off to Holland the happiest man you could imagine.

Richard Quinn told us we could quote him when he said, “Monty helped that horse see that he could be a friend of human beings. Monty made it possible that King Alchemist would have a nicer life. No question about it”.

Mr. Usher has reported to us since that week that King Alchemist is actually doing better than any other of the rising two-year-olds. He is executing his trips to the gallops as the leader of his group of freshman racing prospects. It is my hope that we will see his name on the international list of stakes winners when he is mature and ready for competition. King Alchemist was an extremely educational experience for me, calling on every nuance of my experience in order to achieve my ten.

-Monty

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December 20 , 2006 Question and Answer

Question: Why does my horse only buck in September? He is fine all year long, totally safe and a wonderful ride. In September, however, he bucks with me and has bucked me off two times now. I live near Munich, in Germany. Please help me.

Monty's Answer: When this question came through to me, I was on my signing stand at a Munich demonstration. I was immediately interested in what in the world could cause a horse to only buck in the month of September. I called for the owner to please come to the signing stand as I had questions I simply had to ask before I could answer this question with any degree of accuracy.

In about five minutes, a gentleman I would guess to be in his late forties approached my signing stand. He spoke no English, so we were communicating through my interpreter Ras Barthel. I inquired as to why my owner felt this horse bucked only in September. He said he had no idea. I asked him how often he rode his horse, and he said 2 to 3 times a week. I then restated his point that the horse was perfectly fine for 11 months out of the year but then bucked like heck in September.

It seemed valid for me to inquire as to what activity he engaged in with this horse. He told me that he was an ardent trail rider. He said that he loved to ride out in the woods. He told me that near his home in the Munich area there were many natural trails for he and his horse to enjoy along with 2 or 3 friends that he often rode with.

My mind headed in a direction so as to determine what equipment he used, and he explained that he rode in a typical English saddle of a show jumping design. With that I inquired as to whether he rode in exactly the same place in September as he did in the other 11 months. I could see a light go on in his head when I asked this question.

“No,” he told Ras, in September I take my horse into the mountains about 50 miles from my home. He said that he had a cabin there and that he loved to go stag hunting in the month of September. I’ve no idea why I thought he might use a different saddle, but I asked him about that and he said that when he went hunting he used an American-style Western saddle.

Now a light went on in my head. And I asked if it had two girths or just one. His response was that it had two, and I needed no more information. I told him that his horse had great issues with the rear cinch of the typical Western saddle. I advised him to saddle his horse with a Western saddle at least once a week while he was home. I told him to give him a good canter while loose schooling with his own two feet firmly on the ground.

Later reports from my owner suggested that his horse bucked like a professional rodeo horse with the Western saddle but only one time. He explained to me that he now rides once a week or so in the Western saddle, and his horse has been perfectly fine ever since. This was certainly one of the most memorable questions that have ever come my way, and I really had to pry the information out of my owner to get to the bottom of it.

-Monty

Monty's Principles for People

Teacher’s Christmas Miracle in her 4th grade class

Dear Monty:

Since you have been tracking our progress, I thought you'd like to know this! We just had a teacher/staff party. One of the after school teachers-- who works with “Ben” (name changed for anonymity) came over to me and said, "I don't know what's been happening with Ben this week but the last few days he has been doing his work!”

Wow! As you know the last two weeks have been a challenge, but I didn't know I'd get such a reward before break!!!!

Ben is two years behind in his reading but I am encouraged that he's aware that he can make progress! I've been telling him he needs to get to work because it would make the difference for the rest of his life! The principal wanted him to go to a class for students that are this far behind. I petitioned for him to stay with me, hoping we could create a miracle. His is at the first grade, eighth month reading level right now. I hope- and anticipate- by the end of this year, he is close to 118 words per minute which is the speed required at the fourth grade reading level. Studies show students past third grade rarely catch up.

I have also noticed Ben acquire self esteem in the "project" because he is resisting less, his project work is improving, and when he reads his project stories, he is proof-reading his work before I say anything! And kids don't like to edit their work! Gradually he has become faster to complete the work and do it more creatively. I consider this a big shift for this young man!

This is a student that has thought that anything said about him had to be bad news.

I can't say enough how valuable your support and attention has been here.

- Pamela Bening-Hale

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From Our Readers

I am SO very happy to see Monty Roberts on RFD TV!!! I am constantly amazed with what Join-Up® does with our rescued and abused horses. So are our volunteers. There are many people who mock me - and Join-Up -- but the proof is in what happens between horse and person. I am too old to ride most of these young ones, BUT I do all the ground work and they RESPOND!!!

I truly hope others will be able to find the value of Join-Up, I share the old videos with anyone who will watch, I have borrowed some DVDs and used the techniques and AGAIN they work!!!

Just wanted to say I am a supporter and wish I had $$$ to buy everything to share with my volunteers, but am SO THRILLED I can direct them to RFD TV if they have cable and look forward to refreshing the techniques and learning more!!!

Deb Hoyt, Director

Healing Hearts with Horses and Horse Heaven Rescue

NEW FEATURE!
Monty’s Challenge
I want all of my students to learn to be better trainers than me! Test yourself each week as I challenge you to answer the question from below by writing to newsletter@montyroberts.com. I mean this. Sit down and write an answer. Don't wait for my answer next week.

If you have been reading my Weekly Questions and Answers for the last six months, you should be in a position to do this.

Why should you bother? Because it will help you focus. There is probably a comparable question in your life that needs answering – or will be. If you can gain insight into how to go about answering a practical question that is loosely related to your problem, this exercise will help you answer your nagging question.

Then read my answer. Then read my other answers at this link: Ask Monty. The closest answer to mine each week will be awarded a DVD but more importantly you will learn! That's good for you! That's good for horses!

-Monty

Next Week’s Question to Answer:
I’ve accomplished “joining up” with all of my horses except one. I have a 5-year, 16 hand Thoroughbred mare that shows signs of aggression and alpha mare behavior. I’m assuming she is showing dominance and she has succeeded. I know this may sound strange, but can horses have an unnatural attraction to certain individuals?

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Look for these upcoming issues!

• More New Educational DVDs soon available!
• New Feature Coming! Join-Up® Moments
• Monty Awards trainers for Lifetime Achievements and Equitarian Award
• More Tour Dates will be announced for 2007

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