# Monty Roberts



## SouthernTrails (Dec 19, 2008)

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paintedpastures said:


> Not as wonderful as betrayed


Do you mean your post???

The original Lawsuit was in 1999 

The two alleged victims dropped the lawsuit back in 2000

Any reason to bring up hearsay from a re-print of an article from 2009?

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## DancingArabian (Jul 15, 2011)

You mean as portrayed, not betrayed, yes?

Why don't you see if his daughter will address the topic on her radio show. 
Horsemanship Radio


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## usandpets (Jan 1, 2011)

Betrayed or portrayed?

Anyone can be sued. Doesn't mean he did anything wrong if the case gets dropped. Settling out of court doesn't mean it either. 

Honestly, I hadn't heard of him being sued or why. I didn't check your link either because it doesn't really matter to me. I'm not a big fan of his anyway. 

The big name trainers do get more publicity if or when things go bad. I am a fan of Clinton Anderson but I hadn't heard anything until recently about the client's horse that died in his care. He tried to give her one of his horses but she still bad mouthed him.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## 4horses (Nov 26, 2012)

If you notice it was a family "spat" and it was family members that were attempting to sue him. Monty has said some bad things about his father and has pictures in his book to prove it. Of course that will make the family angry. 

It is not unusual for family members to turn a blind eye to abuse within the family. There could be anger and jealousy as well that Monty has been so successful (and rich). If his family is horrible, I doubt he will give much of that money to them.

It is also not unusual for an abuser to target just one child. Maybe his dad was "nice" towards others. I had a friend at school who's step- mom was absolutely 2 faced. She could be so nice towards strangers and other adults, but the way she cursed and belittled my friend was just horrible. My friend ended up running away twice and finally moved in with her cousin's family. :-(

I don't think any trainer is perfect, and accidents happen. People can get hurt even with a well trained horse. Lawsuits happen especially when you are rich!


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## paintedpastures (Jun 21, 2011)

Portrayed ( dang auto correct ) . Ok guilty of not checking article for date.:shock: had just seen it posted today,didn't think it would be old news:-( I have never thought bad of him or heard much negative about him before, so was surprised by what was reported :-(. Other higher profile trainers like parelli have a lot opinions voiced about them,wondered if others had thoughts on Roberts, cause after reading that article admit yes didn't really know much about him beyond his book & movie:? Wondered Did I miss something? Just having been drawn in by the marketing/media about him:-|


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## amigoboy (Feb 14, 2014)

paintedpastures said:


> Not as wonderful as betrayed:shock::-(
> Monty Roberts: Celebrity Horse Trainer Sued | USA Views: The Voice of Reason


Thank you for the link.
New news for an old man who does not keep up on the equastrian gossip.
This does not surprise me as eventualy the gods will be defaced. 
People are in such need of Gurus and Heros and forget they are only human.
They may be good at what they do but that does not mean their talent can be passed on to others:
One is either good with animals or one is not.
I met Monty Roberts and his family many years ago in Salem Oregon where he was doing his thing and from what I saw he had a good understanding of horses.
I also saw the trail he was riding down where there would be wanna-bees who never could-bee waiting to take him down.

So very sad.


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## Roux (Aug 23, 2013)

I was given a Monte Roberts training book once and I found it very useful. I have had good results with his methods and his framework of thinking about the horse. 

I won't echo too much regarding the lawsuits but in reality any one can sue any one pretty much at will. Second, horses kill themselves - its pretty much the only reliable thing they do. Even in the safest environments etc. 

Regardless a persons behavior or personality in business or family doesn't necessarily take away from their ability as a trainer. I can think of a few brilliant horse people that I know that are down right [email protected][email protected]$. lol


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## Filou (Jan 16, 2014)

I went to a clinic he had down here. It was okay but I was unimpressed. 
I've been to a number of horse clinics and I learned nothing from his clinic except that he was selling a horse named shark, and that he was selling all the other horses he toted along with him, boring, I actually have pictures but most of them were selfies I was so bored, and I never take pictures of myself lol. 
The barn I was at had tons of his horses trained for trail riding, they all seemed like nice guys to me though.

It seems like if you are working on a film it can be easier for things to go wrong with horses. And if you are around long enough there will be something to pick at no matter who you are.


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## Kyla815 (Jan 30, 2013)

I don't have much of an opinion on him--I read and enjoyed one of his books, but that is the extent of my experience with Monty Roberts. However, I do know (and have a lot of respect for) a trainer who worked with him years ago at one of his training facilities. Her opinion is that he does falsify a lot of the information he presents to the public.


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

I heard him recall his backstory on a recent show. He says that his father beat him and he has many healed bones that had been broken. According to Monty, he dedicates his life to healing horses and their owners. You can believe this or not, but if you've had animals for many years, you KNOW that you cannot fake it.
I admire him.


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## danny67 (Nov 27, 2012)

I didn't even know 'ol Monty was still alive.


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## amigoboy (Feb 14, 2014)

Yep, he´s still around.


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## rookie (May 14, 2012)

I had heard he was embroiled in a lawsuit a few years ago. I saw him at an equine event probably four or so years ago. He spent a lot of time talking about how great he was and how he had fostered a lot of kids. Fostering kids is great but I am not sitting in an arena to be sold on the American foster system. That said, an equine event is not the time nor place to discuss how many kids you have fostered. He also talked a lot about God, I don't care about your faith or lack of it. I was not there for a sermon and he spent so much time talking about the other two topics that the horse and what he was doing with the horse got lost. It was more a show to see how great he was than to learn how to work with a horse. I left after about 1/2 an hour. 

I think he gets credit for being the "first" to publicly work in what is commonly called "natural horsemanship" and he gets credit as a blow hard. Lots of people have been using "natural horsemanship" for years but only in the last 15 years have people started to coin a term and sell that methodology. Lots of good hands are "natural horsemanship" people but they don't kick up a fuss they are just good with a horse.


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## Roux (Aug 23, 2013)

danny67 - that cracked me up


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## imagaitin (Apr 27, 2012)

I was first suspicious of Monty Roberts when I read his book. It didn't set right with me; he claimed to have done just too many things, from "inventing" the slant nose trailer, to working with James Dean, to "training the Queens horses", to all his film experience; LOTS of bravado. On top of that his childhood, the experiences with his father, and most of all, his sitting in the desert for days watching wild horses at 15 years of age. At the very least, his claims seemed greatly exaggerated.

I did attend one of his clinics, and he did seem to have a way with horses, so that was good.

THEN, I read the book "Horse Whispers and Lies" written by his family members. That book made total sense to me. For me, it only confirmed what I already suspected; more than exaggeration, but out and out lies.

Even his family says he can work with horses, and much of what he learned came from his Father. But one thing I don't like is a liar; on ANY level. Therefore, for me, I have NO USE for Monty Roberts.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

I first met MR when he came to the UK and worked with some army remounts for the Queen. 
I wasn't that impressed because although these horses had not been ridden they were very well handled. 
MR returned and I provided two horses for him. One was a three year old (coming 4) that had never been handled. All I did with her was to teach her to lead. The other was a remedial. I knew how I would deal with her but, wanted to see what MR would handle it.

It all went well though the remedial buried his rider! What did impress me was another remedial he dealt with and the way the horse turned around was very impressive. 
At this time there were no tall stories.

I bought his biography and like many, was extremely suspicious of what was written. Most puzzling was how he returned home with these horses! 
I them read his Aunts book and was not surprised. At the same time I met a woman who rode with the Roberts and she told me that his father was a kind and gentle man who took no nonsense but was always fair. She could not believe him using chains top beat his son. 

The more often MR returned to the UK the wilder his stories got. The last demonstration I went to was mostly for problem sorting. There was a big warm blood that was very nappy (barn sour) he worked the horse doing join up and then his owner, a slip of a girl got on and the horse gave a wonderful demonstration of rearing. 
A blinder was put on the horse so it could only see a few feet in front of it and it proceeded to go around the pen. 

Now, having seen the horse close up prior to him going into the round pen, first thing I noticed was his tiny boxy feet. Loose in the pen the horse was lame on both fronts - no wonder it didn't want to jump which was when it started to nap. 
I pointed out the fact it was unsound and was soundly told it wasn't but, there were two equine vets present and both backed me up. 

My parting words were "Instead of talking to horses, perhaps you should listen to them!"
The owners had the horse X-rayed and it was quite advanced with navicular and pedal osteitis so was put down.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

Altho I have great distaste for those who "tell-all" to the public. Abuse all to often goes on behind closed doors, yet the public personae remains pristine. Kids and teens seem to forget that they can make life very difficult for parents and seem to think rules don't apply to them. If MR's father was abusive, which I'm not condoning, it was part of an era and a kid wasn't going to rule the household. Kids, later as adults, have forgotten has to how much grief and aggravation they've caused, they are the innocents.


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