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STARTING HORSES IN 30 MINUTES

By Monty Roberts

I'm delighted to join Texas Horse Talk as a regular columnist at Texas Horse Talk Online. There has always been a special place in my heart for the state's 1 million horses and almost 300,000 horse owners. Such a great group of people and animals deserve the best equine publication in the nation. For my part, I'll try to give them just that.

It is not important to start a horse in 30 minutes. I start a horse in 30 minutes in my demonstrations because I believe that it will allow the audience to see the full process without having to wait hours and hours to complete it. I often say that if the process is effective enough to complete in 30 minutes, then it is a good demonstration for public audiences. I tell the people that if they choose to take a week to do what I do in 30 minutes, that's fine. I go on to say that I much prefer to start the horse after a few days of preliminary preparation.

In the course of starting horses at home, I go through the mouthing and long lining process that I describe in From My Hands to Yours for a week or so before we actually put a rider on. It is an easier transition for the horse and safer for the people as well.

When I do a demonstration, the only way I could duplicate this process is to ask the owners to execute these procedures at home before bringing their horse. As you might imagine, this would be impossibility. I wouldn't know if they did it at all, let alone whether it was done properly. Furthermore, I have no contact with the owners before the demonstration, and I believe that's the way it should be done. I certainly could not send people around to do these procedures, as this would create an immense amount of criticism that the horse was already trained.

As it is now, people will say it looks too easy. Some critics will state that the horse was already trained, even when we work hard to maintain a separation between my organization and the owners. If I somehow could complete these early procedures before each of the demonstrations, most of the people would hold the opinion that the horse had been ridden before. It is my hope that horsemen will read From My Hands to Yours and complete mouthing and long lining before they start their horse. If they learn and use Join-Up® properly, they too will come to know how easy it can be.

Using my Join~Up method, I school the horse to want to be with me rather than away from me. I offer the horse a choice through the use of the language Equus. A horseman choosing to address this task is invited to visit our website (montyroberts.com) for resources and clinics that will assist you in becoming more fluent in this language of gestures.

There are some individuals who think that it is a trick and so they investigate this work in a negative way. Some will even say that I use medications to help in the starting process. This is absolutely untrue and every owner knows that this doesn't happen. Anyone who understands horses will quickly realize that no medication is used. I am strongly opposed to the use of medications in attempting to train horses in any field. I do not believe that it is effective and, if I did this without revealing it, it would be totally dishonest.

It is my hope that the information here more clearly defines the time required to start horses and that people everywhere will be able to learn more about the techniques of working with horses in the absence of violence and force. I believe they will have more fun with their horses if they accomplish this, and the horses will be happier and more successful.

Monty Roberts shows you how to benefit from his 65 years of training in his free weekly Ask Monty. This question and answer format allows readers to get inside the mind of the master trainer to problem solve. Sign up at www.montyroberts.com or call 888-U2-MONTY