Hello,
Im new to this forum! But glad to have found it - its absolutely wonderful reading!
Is anyone here going to any of the Monty Roberts demonstrations this february?
I am, thought it mihgt be nice to meet some of you in person (allready know some of you from IH courses/demos before!)
Rosie

I'm not sure it depends on were they are (I'm in devon). I did however go to the grange back in october. I found it quite interesting and informative. I have seen join up and backing done like this before (kelly marks and others) and really liked the way he did it. I have seen some join up type stuff which involved alot of flooding and wasn't very nice for the horse but montey seemed to do it very calmly and cause minimal stress. I did have a few problems with some aspects of it and wonder if you can help me understand.

1, there was a dartmoor mare with a fear of having her ears clipped. Monty did the halter work and advance and retreat with the clippers then did something slightly unusual. He placed the mare in a round pen panel triangle (she couldn't move much) and turned on a leaf blower near by her. He then clipped her ears with the leaf blower on, turned it off and carried on clipping. After that he had he following the clippers (still on) around the round pen. My concerns with this are the confinmant and the flooding. Because the mares movement was restricted and she couldn't escape he was able to fully expose to the clippers. Surely there is a risk of causeing the horse lots of distress by doing this and possible causing her to shut down. I'd like your opinion on this.

2, One of the bad loaders had had an accident in the past were 3 big lads pushed her onto a lorry, she reared and impaled herself on a gate (we were told this by kelly marks). She will obviousely have a condistioned emotional response of fear to the load proccess after that.
kelly marks did the halter work and led the horse to the ramp then had grant and dan close the mare in with fence panels so she couldn't back off. The horse did load in the end and was cured but I couldn't help thinking it may have been better to not use the guys and panels as surely this would re trigger her fear of loading and make it unneccasarily stressfully.

Hi Adam

Details are on here

http://www.montyroberts.co.uk/index.html

Hi Rosie

No, I wasn't planning to go. Have seen a lot of Monty's stuff over the years and, errrrm, let's just say there are other trainers I prefer. That's not to say I didn't learn a lot from him and, even more so, the horses he was working with and would definitely agree that he is worth going to see if you've not seen him before.

Having said that, I guess if enough people from here were going to the Guildford one I could probably be persuaded....!

Catherine

Hi Rosie

Sorry, I'm not in the area but have been to many demos before. I also learnt a lot from Monty and the horses he worked with. He is definately worth watching if you have not seen him before.

A good quote to remember from Company of Horses is "listen with your eyes" - this is something I find invaluable on a day to day basis in any situation but expecially when watching anybody work with an animal. It's amazing how we often get so wrapped up with what people are saying to us that we become destracted from what our eyes are acutally telling us.

Marie

Hi Rosie

I also like the "listen with your eyes" quote and find it very useful. Something else you (and everyone else!) might find useful is Ben Hart's "SMART Training" article on his new website. It gives a very useful way of assessing what you are watching. See the other thread I put up today

Catherine

Hi Rosie, welcome it's a great site.

I will be at Merrist Wood as a helper, so will see you there!