Queen Elizabeth II bet big on horse trainer Monty Roberts when she invited him to Windsor Castle in 1989 to unload 23 of the royal family’s young horses.
The odds are against it.
Critics have dismissed Salinas, a California native’s gentle horse training method, which uses excessive body language.
They have also accused him of whipping horses into submission.
Roberts almost trembled in his cowboy boots at the sight of the first two big unbroken horses.
“You can train a horse without using any force at all,” Roberts, now 89, told the Post.
In 22 minutes, the first horse was saddled and ridden.
The second, in just 19 minutes.
“Queen Elizabeth’s mother came to me in tears. He said it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen in my life,” Roberts said.
Monty Roberts (left) first met Queen Elizabeth III in 1989 when she invited him to Windsor Castle to train 23 royal horses with his gentle training methods. He succeeded, riding the first horse in 22 minutes. Monty Roberts
“It’s the greatest opportunity a horseman could wish for.”
That moment sparked Roberts’ unlikely friendship with the late Queen Elizabeth II, chronicled in a new documentary, “The Cowboy and The Queen,” which premiered Thursday as part of NYC’s Doc festival.
In it, Roberts details her life story, beginning with her physically abusive upbringing that inspired her to find ways to use body language, rather than violent discipline, to relax and build trust with horses.
“The Cowboy and The Queen,” directed by Andrea Nevins, tells the life story of Monty Roberts, a famous horseman who suffered physical abuse and channeled his trauma into humane horse training that surged into the mainstream with the help of Queen Elizabeth II. Film Blue Ground Today, Roberts uses concepts from her gentle horse training to treat veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.Getty Images
“People who have been traumatized themselves are often unable to avoid it and perpetuate that trauma and Monty was really capable of being a disruptor not only in his own life but in the world. I think that’s an amazing story that deserves to be told,” director Andrea Nevins told The Post.
Roberts became a Hollywood horse trainer in the 1950s working with the likes of James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor.
He also began using humane horse training techniques for people suffering from post-traumatic stress, something Queen Elizabeth II was keen to champion, he said.
Roberts gave the queen the name of British trainer Terry Pendry (left) when Queen Elizabeth II called, asking who he would recommend for her stable. He was hired soon after, the New York Times reported. Getty Images
“I helped him [Queen Elizabeth II] learn how to read a horse’s personality and do things that make them friendly with you and not flight animals,” Roberts told The Post.
“You can’t trick a horse. He trusts me and my God, I’ll take a bullet before I trick him in any way.”
Roberts was invited to the stables at Windsor in 1989, where he demonstrated cutting, the rodeo sport of riders separating cattle from the herd, to Queen Elizabeth II.
“I wear my cowboy hat to ride the cows back and forth, and every time I talk to the queen I take the cowboy hat off,” he said.
Roberts became a Hollywood horse trainer in the 1950s working with the likes of James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor.Sygma via Getty Images
“On the third or fourth time he said, ‘Monty, not all men have to take their hats off when they speak to the queen. I don’t want you to take it off – do you see all these military men around to protect me? They don’t take off their hats when they’re in uniform.’
“Queen Elizabeth II patted me on the shoulder and said, ‘I call this your uniform.’ I wore Wrangler jeans, a cowboy hat and cowboy shirt, and a scarf. Those are my royal clothes.”
A few weeks later, Roberts gave the queen the name of British trainer Terry Pendry when he called to ask who he recommended for her stable, and he was hired soon after, the New York Times reported.
He became her long-term riding companion.
Queen Elizabeth II continued to ride into her 90s around the grounds of Windsor Castle and her Balmoral estate in Scotland. Getty Images
He also encouraged Roberts to write his book, “The Man Who Listens to Horses,” and connected him with a publisher.
By 1996, he sent her teaching her methods on a tour across England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, where she worked with 98 horses in 30 days.
“He said, ‘I want you to go to every country possible. I want the world to know what you are doing.”
Queen Elizabeth II encouraged Roberts to write a book in 1989 and helped him find a publisher. A few weeks later, he sent her on a world tour to deliver her gentle horse training.ZUMAPRESS.com Roberts (left) exchanged hundreds of calls with Queen Elizabeth over the years and was in the room when she made calls with world leaders. @Monty Roberts/Facebook
The Queen discovered her love of horses as a young princess when she learned to ride a Shetland pony, called Peggy, when she was 4 years old.
Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, who died last September at the age of 96, had her own livestock and racing herd inherited from her father, King George VI, and throughout her life, owned hundreds of horses.
In 1983 he went horseback riding with President Ronald Reagan at Rancho Del Cielo during his 10-day tour of the West Coast.
Before meeting Queen Elizabeth II, Roberts worked with actors in Hollywood Westerns. Roberts recalled Queen Elizabeth II insisting she wear her cowboy hat when she called, calling it her “royal uniform.” Sygma via Getty Images
And until 1986, he rode a horse during the annual Trooping the Color ceremony in London.
He continued to ride into his 90s around the grounds of Windsor Castle and the Balmoral estate in Scotland.
The late king even included horses in his 96th birthday celebrations posing among his Fell horses.
Roberts shared hundreds of phone calls with Queen Elizabeth II over the years — recalling the time he left a meeting to answer one of her calls.
In the film, Roberts trains a wild Mustang named Shyboy, pictured here. Blue Ground Films Today, Roberts provides a free workshop using horse-assisted techniques to treat veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) at Flag Is Up Farms in Santa Barbara. .Getty Images
“About 16 or so years ago I called and said, ‘This is Monty Roberts. I want to talk to the queen. They said, ‘Hold on – the queen is stuck in a meeting with a Northern Irish politician.’
“I said I’d call back tomorrow afternoon and about that time I heard, ‘Monty how are you?’ I said, ‘Your Honor, they told me you were in a meeting – and he said, ‘I’m in a meeting in Northern Ireland and hoping to get out of that meeting so now I’m in another room talking to you,'” he told The Post.
“That’s as close as I’ve ever missed a call from him in 33 years.”
The Queen discovered her love for horses as a young princess. He developed into self-breeding and racing stock inherited from his father, King George VI, and over the course of his life, owned hundreds of horses. Getty Images Queen Elizabeth II relied on Roberts to train her disobedient royal corgi – ironically named Monty. He appeared in a “James Bond” movie skit with Daniel Craig. Getty Images
Queen Elizabeth II also relied on Roberts to train the disobedient royal corgi – ironically whom she named Monty.
“He is one of the toughest. I trained him with the same method. They force him to do things and he has a mind of his own. When we finally managed to get him, he appeared with him in the ‘James Bond’ movie,” Roberts said.
The Queen and her corgis appeared alongside Bond, played by Daniel Craig, in a short film for the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics.
Until 1986, Queen Elizabeth II rode a horse during the annual Trooping the Color ceremony in London.Getty Images
Roberts also recalled being in the room when Queen Elizabeth was about to make a call with world leaders.
“He does most of his work in the backroom with England’s politicians and we think he doesn’t really give them much direction but he gets a lot of praise.
“I am here to tell you that he is responsible for the good things that happened. I sat next to him when he told the politicians that they were wrong in what they were doing and they changed it. Often it has to do with education and relationships with other countries around them,” said Roberts.
“It’s the greatest opportunity a horseman could wish for,” Roberts said of meeting Queen Elizabeth II and working with her royal horses. Monty Roberts
Roberts recalled telling a friend how she used her techniques to help veterans and people with post-traumatic stress using methods similar to how she trained horses, telling her: “I believe my concept can go from horses to helping people as well.”
Today, he provides free workshops using horse-assisted techniques to treat veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) at Flag Is Up Farms in Santa Barbara.
A few weeks before his death, the friends had a touching last conversation.
Roberts with his wife, Pat Roberts. Monty said he got a call from Queen Elizabeth II a few weeks before she passed to say goodbye. Both attended his funeral last year. Monty Roberts “It broke my heart to hear that. One of the things he said to me was, ‘If there’s a meeting of everybody and I’m not there and I’m not there, I don’t want you to cry’ – and I said I wouldn’t. And then she died,” Roberts recalled of his last conversation with Queen Elizabeth II before attending her funeral. Dominic Lipinski/PA Pictures/Alamy
“He was on the phone and he was talking about a terrible problem he was having that the doctors were dealing with at the time. It is to say goodbye. He thought he was going to go and he went,” Roberts said.
“It breaks my heart to hear that. One of the things he said to me was, ‘If there’s a meeting of everybody and I’m not there and I’m not there, I don’t want you to cry’ – and I said I wouldn’t. And then he died.”
Roberts and his wife Pat Roberts were invited to the funeral at Westminster Abbey.
Roberts couldn’t hold back tears as he watched Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin pass him. “I kept remembering that the queen said ‘Don’t cry.’ So I won’t cry. We stood up and I looked straight ahead in a brand new black suit and they stopped the casket in front of me,” he said.Getty Images
“I kept remembering that the queen said ‘Don’t cry.’ So I won’t cry. We stood up and I looked straight ahead in a brand new black suit and they stopped the coffin in front of me,” he said.
“I could reach out and touch it – water started pouring into my eyes as if I had two taps. I had to sit down and I felt like I heard the queen say, ‘it’s okay, keep sitting down.'”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
