Her Majesty, the Queen of England, has invited Mr. and Mrs. Monty Roberts to attend the Royal Windsor Horse Show http://www.rwhs.co.uk/ to participate in the celebration of Her Majestyâs 90 birthday.
Queen Elizabeth and Monty Roberts discussing horses
She (Queen Elizabeth) was the only reason I was able to go global,â he says. âIf it wasnât for her, Iâd still be ploughing around in central California, trying to get cowboys to agree that being rough with horses doesnât make sense.
© 2016 by Monty and Pat Roberts
The Royal Windsor Horse Show, host to International Jumping, Driving and Endurance, and National Showing and Dressage will be held May 11-16, 2016 and will host no fewer than five Olympic gold medallists, competing in the international show jumping classes.
Jeroen Dubbeldam, reigning World and European Champion, from Nederland, heads the list of competitors, while fellow Olympic individual gold medallist Rodrigo Pessoa (Brazil) will challenge Peter Charles (Great Britain), Beezie Madden (USA) and Laura Kraut (USA), all part of Olympic teams. Kent Farrington (USA) is currently ranked number six in the world and will be representing a strong USA presence, including three of the top 30 riders in the world.
Roberts was asked to be in the pageant at the Royal Windsor Horse Show to celebrate Her Majestyâs 90 birthday. Roberts and his wife Pat will stay at Windsor as guests of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. Monty Roberts advises Her Majesty with phone calls and frequent trips to Polhampton and Sandringham where he works with Her Majesty's Thoroughbred horses. Montyâs success, he states, is from the Queenâs endorsement.
âShe was the only reason I was able to go global,â he says. âIf it wasnât for her, Iâd still be ploughing around in central California, trying to get cowboys toagree that being rough with horses doesnât make sense.â
Years before The Horse Whisperer movie was made, the Queen had read about him in horse magazines, and sent the Crown Equerry, Sir John Miller, to investigate.
âHe came utterly skeptical, but in the end, he said, 'Her Majesty is going to want to see thisââ Roberts recalls. âI was invited to Windsor in April 1989. The Queen provided me with several young horses of her own and a training pen was set up at Windsor. I had saddles and bridles on them all in five days,â says Roberts.
âShe put me on the road in her car and away I went to 21 cities. I did 98 horses on the trip, all the while reporting back to her. She gave me another life. She wouldnât agree with it, but itâs true â sheâs so understated,â he says.
It was the Queen who encouraged Roberts to write a best-selling autobiography in the early 1990s.
âI never depart from calling her 'Your Majestyâ, but I see this real side to her that is just overwhelming. Once when called in on short notice I mentioned I was in work clothes. She said to me, 'I donât give two hoots what you wear.â How many people know that the Queen would say that?â
âI canât emphasize enough the Queenâs ability as a student,â says Roberts. âShe doesnât forget anything and she is intensely interested. She has given me the opportunity to teach my concepts all over the world and opened many doors for improving the lives of animals. For this I call her an âInfluence for Goodâ and I believe she is the leading monarch in the world for advocating a better life for animals.â
This story, while remarkable, is merely representative of an ever increasing body of work as Monty Roberts continues to be an agent of change throughout the world. This mission was very much influenced by Her Majesty as she encouraged Monty on to bring this ever important message of nonviolence to the global community.
MONTY ROBERTS first gained widespread fame with the release of his New York Times Best Selling book, The Man Who Listens To Horses; a chronicle of his life and development of his non-violent horse training methods called Join-Up®.
Monty grew up on a working horse farm as a firsthand witness to traditional, often violent methods of horse training and breaking the spirit with an abusive hand. Rejecting that, he went on to win nine world's championships in the show ring.
Today, Monty's goal is to share his message that "Violence is never the answer." Roberts has been encouraged by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II with the award of the Membership in The Royal Victorian Order, as well as becoming Patron of Join-Up International.
Other honors received were the ASPCA "Founders" award and the MSPCA George T. Angell Humanitarian Award. Monty is credited with launching the first of its kind Equus Online University; an interactive online lesson site that is the definitive learning tool for violence-free training.
Join-Up philosophies can be seen at work with both humans and horses across the world, from farms to major corporations. To learn more about Monty Roberts or the many applications of his Join-Up training methods, visit www.montyroberts.com . Horse Sense and Soldiers aired on Discovery Military highlighting the therapeutic effect that horses and Monty Roberts' Join-Up® have on PTSD.
Monty developed his Horse Sense and Healing program for military and first responder personnel with stress injuries detailed here http://www.join-up.org/veterans.html