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‘A good trainer can hear a horse speak to him,
A great trainer can hear his horse whisper’.
Monty Roberts
Who in the horse world hasn't heard of Monty Roberts, the original Horse Whisperer? World famous horse trainer and author of the best seller ‘The Man Who Listens To Horses’, Monty Roberts has been an inspiration to many thousands world wide. At 13 years of age Monty went in to the deserts of Nevada and watched the wild herds of mustangs. He was able to see how they communicated in their silent language, the language he called ‘Equus’. This led to him discovering ways of training horses without causing pain, unlike the traditional methods of ‘breaking-in’, the breaking of the horses’ spirit. This was believed to be the way to make the horse co-operate, but sadly the horse was only co-operating through fear of pain. Using equus, Monty discovered a method of human-horse communication he named ‘Join-Up’. This invites the horse to want to be with you by communicating through body language, gesture and eye contact, without pain or violence. Join up is, basically, the foundation on which a solid, trusting relationship is built between horse and human.
Kelly Marks, champion jockey and show jumper, met Monty in France. Kelly already knew of Monty and his methods and believed him to be a great trainer. Monty describes Kelly as having ‘an extraordinary gift’ and she is the only holder of the Monty Roberts Advanced Certificate. With Monty’s blessing, Kelly founded the Intelligent Horsemanship Association and is able to teach students Monty’s methods and how to develop their skills as good horsemen/women.
Our belief is that, with the knowledge and experience we already have, and along with our continual learning and training through Intelligent Horsemanship and elsewhere, we can help you and your horse to have a better relationship. We can introduce you to the methods we have learned and how to adapt to the needs of your horse as an individual as what works with one horse may not work with another! At the same time, we are gaining more valid experience to help more horses and their owners iron out some of the little trials and tribulations that comes with the territory.
