http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEJT9vwqwvY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dldiyjjZsSk
Sorry - This is going to be long. I guess Monty doesnt know about paragraphs. :eek: Remember a few years ago when Monty Robers did a private clinic for TWHs, including the horse JFK. Here is his response after receiving a lot of negative comments.
From Monty Roberts: Thank you for asking about this clip that occurred about six years ago. I am extremely happy to have another opportunity to enlighten people as to my position regarding the human beings connected to the world of high level competition involving Tennessee Walking Horses. It is my pleasure to chime in once again where the “big lick” Tennessee Walking Horses are concerned. There are comments that are so disappointing to me that it is difficult to find words to clearly describe it. The one that hurts me the deepest is that which states, “how could you have condoned this???” What in that clip would ever lead anyone to believe that I condoned stacks or soring? Can you scrape up a little respect for me and what I know, what I don’t know and my ability to observe? The fact is that I was in Tennessee at the request of a large organization involving the Tennessee Walking Horse. It was my belief at the time and is still my belief that there is absolutely nothing wrong with a Tennessee Walking Horse. It is the people who would do atrocious things to the Tennessee Walking Horse that I take issue with. Only these people are the criminals; they should be prosecuted and receive lifetime bans from competition. This is my position; it was six years ago, it is today and it will be for the rest of my life. My entire career has been based on the fact that no one has the right to cause pain to another individual for the purpose of changing behavior. Please, once again, listen to the facts surrounding the clip in question. I was in Tennessee working only with three and four year old, untrained Tennessee Walking Horses for the purpose of demonstrating that they were more effectively trained without violence than ever with the use of violence. This was a private event, not a ticketed event. I had no control over the horses coming to me. Late in the proceedings, the gate opened and they brought in a horse they introduced as a world champion stallion. He was on stacks. It was clear later that all they were looking for was a photo op, including Monty Roberts and their world champion stallion. If indeed that was the case, they paid a price for the decision. You did not hear my conversation with the owner after that. Let me bring clarity to the facts surrounding this episode. I told the owner that I believed the artificial foot growth and the stacks were unnatural and harmful. The following two days were spent by me working as hard as I possibly could to get these people to see the error of those ways. I went through the stallion barn, explained what I saw wrong with the stacks and the artificial foot growth. Each of you should know that within three weeks I was told that each and every stallion would be on natural feet within three to four months, and that has been the policy of that operation since my visit. The recent exposure of the TWH trainer uncovered a criminal. He should be prosecuted and never allowed to train or compete with a horse for the balance of his life on this earth. An example must be set. These are words that I said six years ago regarding several trainers that were under suspension at that time. Suspension is a good thing so long as suspension means a life time suspension for anyone who would deliberately cause pain or set a horse up for pain in an attempt to improve performance. This is not my way and never will be my way. Some comments here are gratifying, as they left the door open for this explanation. Others were extremely disappointing because I would hope that each of you would have more faith in me than to think that I was ever in a position to encourage, comply with or condone activity of this sort. When explaining it years ago, I found myself saying over and over again, “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I should never go to another prison, youth detention center, youth in crisis center or domestic abuse center. Those are bad people in there. I should stay as far from them as I can and just simply wish them all dead.” This is ridiculous; this is where I am needed. I don’t get many calls to go to prayer meetings or Sunday schools for gifted children. Would you not be upset with me if I took the position that I should never go back to South America because they are extremely brutal to horses, wives, children and even people who work for them? It seems clear to me that you would praise me if I went to a youth detention center, worked with brutal parents and had a picture taken with a six year old boy who had two black eyes, a swollen lip and bruises over his entire body. Can’t you see that these wonderful TWH are simply those children and it is the adults in their lives that need help? Some of these adults including the trainer recently uncovered are beyond repair. They need a life sentence. Others have come to accept the brutal ways of a given environment, but can, in fact, be rehabilitated if we will spend the time, energy and effort to reach out in an attempt to show them a better way. In my courses I often ask, “If one sees a 90 year old lady knocked down by a man in his twenties in the street, who then grabs her purse and runs away, how many victims did you see?” The answer, virtually every time, is, ONE. I correct my students to say, “I bet you saw two. If we could follow the perpetrator and find him, he too would be a victim of violence at some point in his past. It doesn’t make him right, and he needs to be disciplined, but no one could do something like that unless he was mentally deranged or victimized to the extent that he became behaviorally dysfunctional.” These TWH trainers are behaviorally dysfunctional. Recently I was asked to come to Tennessee to further work with people who are desirous of change within that industry. Subsequent to the Night Line television report, I will not go unless I am accompanied by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Night Line organization themselves. This is a sad state of affairs because it discloses the fact that I am worried about people who will blame me for going anywhere near the TWH industry. I feel that these people are blaming the horses and not the criminals. If one sits back and clearly views all of the circumstances involved, they will realize that this is a mistake. Six years ago, I received reams of hate mail for the fact that I tried to help these wonderful animals by dealing with their human counterparts. I view this as a huge disservice to these animals that mean no harm to anyone and desperately need those of us who can influence in a positive way, their future. I ask each of you to muster faith in me and come at the world in such a way so as to encourage me to help with this problem, not to blame me for wanting to help with this problem. It is my opinion that each of you is trying to do the right thing and, while I am not blaming my detractors, I would ask for a more complete observation. Thank you for the opportunity to state my case. I am passionate about my life’s goal which is to leave the world a better place than I found it for horses, and people, too. What I have done in the world of the TWH is exactly in line with that goal. I will continue to help those in need for the balance of my days. Where you see fit, help me and younger generation that I am working hard with so that I can pass the baton in the sure and certain knowledge that this work will go on long after I am gone. The horses have earned this kind of dedication through thousands of years of honorable service. It is my belief that each of you has actively supported the non-violent training of horses. With that in mind, I caution you to be careful because people can perceive the darndest things. Six years ago I must have received four or five hundred extremely negative comments. It tends make one wonder if it’s all worthwhile and then I look into the eyes of these horses and I know I don’t have to wait for human beings to express appreciation for my work.
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