Introduction
BY MONTY ROBERTS
I first met Nicole Golding and Adam Goodfellow in
1996, at a time when my life was changing rapidly. Having worked
with horses since I was a child, I was now embarking on a new
career, with the launch of my first book, The Man Who Listens to
Horses. For me, years of frustration and rejection were about
to be turned around to an extent that I could not have even dreamed
of. When I had first discovered join-up, as a young boy up in the
big country in Nevada, I knew I had found a way to train and
communicate with horses that could revolutionise the way horses are
treated. But the reaction of my father and others made me hide this
discovery for decades, and I did not even show my methods outside
my own operation for many years. I would never have guessed that it
was to be in England that my methods would be accepted and adopted
first, not so much by established trainers, but by ordinary people
such as Nicole, a talented amateur with an unbridled passion for
horses and an instinctive mistrust of the violence which she had
been told to use by her instructors.
It was in 1989 that I first came to England at the
invitation of the Queen to demonstrate my work to her. At that time
I was completely unknown in this country, and although I had spent
years in competitive horsemanship in the States, my methods were no
better known there. At the Queen’s behest I toured several venues
in the UK, appearing before audiences often numbering no more than
a few dozen. But the seeds had been sown, and it was not long
before I met Kelly Marks. Through her ceaseless hard work and
dedication, my dream of passing on what I had discovered and proved
in training many thousands of horses began to become a reality.
Kelly taught the first new generation of eager students, among whom
was Nicole. Like myself, they saw no place for violence in
horsemanship, nor in their lives.
When my first book was launched, it became clear
that we were not alone. At the time, autobiographies of horse
trainers/books about horses were considered a great success in
publishing terms if they sold more than 10,000 copies. The first
print run of The Man Who Listens to Horses was therefore
only a few thousand copies. Such was the outpouring of enthusiasm
by a world sick of violence, that to date my first book has sold
more than 4.5 million copies worldwide. No one could be more
astonished by this turn of events than myself. But what
particularly surprised me was how many of those readers were people
like Adam, animal lovers who rode horses as a hobby, if only to
spend some time with their girlfriends! It’s remarkable to me to
hear that it was discovering my work that caused Adam to want to
change a hobby into a whole way of life.
It takes more than good intentions to make a good
horse trainer. I often tell people who want to learn my methods
that before they try to run, they must learn to walk, and before
that, learn to crawl. This book tells the story of two young people
doing just that, finding their way through the challenges of
working with problem horses. Being among the first graduates of
Kelly’s courses, they have been thrown in at the deep end, being
asked to train horses that would test any horseman. Of course,
there are mistakes and misjudgements along the way, but at the
heart of their journey, as in mine, lies a burning desire to do
what’s right for the horse.
It was my goal from the beginning to make the world
a better place for horses and humans, and to apologise to Equus for
the thousands of years of mistreatment and misunderstanding, which
he has suffered at the hands of man. I hope that I have helped to
do so. But I also know that for my contribution to make a lasting
impact, I must rely on others taking my work on and bringing it to
those who share the same convictions as myself.
Therefore I wish all the best to Nicole and Adam,
for them to achieve continued success in their ventures with
horses, and with this, their first book.
Monty Roberts
December 2002