[film reel clicking]
[horse neighing]
MAN:
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Now he's happy.
The traditional way
of dealing with a horse
- is to "break" a horse.
- [horse neighing]
It is a...
You break their spirit down
until they don't
fight back anymore.
...easy, easy.
[horse neighs]
[galloping]
Easy...
I believe that violence
isn't the answer.
Whoa... whoa.
All right.
Let's try that again.
Let's get it
a little bit better.
If you'd have asked me,
"Do you think this world
could really change,
in your lifetime?"
...easy.
...I would've said,
"Absolutely not."
I could never have
done it on my own.
They would've buried me.
But when the
Queen of England called,
she completely
changed my life.
[birds chirping]
[birds and insects chirping]
NEWSCASTER 1: Monty Roberts
revolutionized horse training,
taming horses using a silent
language of kindness.
NEWSCASTER 2:
You would think that
if Roberts made good
on his method,
people would flock to him
like a modern day
Doctor Doolittle.
But Roberts has his critics.
For years, horse trainers
either ignored Roberts,
or were openly hostile.
[horse neighing]
But all that changed
when his work
came to the attention
of a lady who lived overseas
and owned a few horses.
NEWSCASTER: Queen Elizabeth's
lifelong love of horses
was well known.
And though she lived
in a palace,
she felt at home
in the stables.
That passion led to
an unlikely friendship
with a California cowboy.
WOMAN: The American West
had long held a fascination
for the Queen.
And one of her most
intriguing American friends
has been the Horse Whisperer,
Monty Roberts.
He had a really
deep understanding of her
that many other people
didn't see.
NEWSCASTER: An emotional day
as the world says good-bye
to Queen Elizabeth II,
Britain's longest reigning
monarch.
Thousands of guests gathered
for the state funeral,
including world leaders,
and a renowned horse trainer
from Solvang, California,
Monty Roberts.
[birds and insects chirping]
[leaves rustling]
[Monty whistling]
[whistling continues]
MONTY:
There's some more coming in.
This is the Princess.
She's a diva.
Every day,
I visit these deer.
Deer are ten times flightier
than any horse.
And if they're that flighty,
when you do something wrong,
you pay a big price for it.
These deer show me what
behavioral traits there are
in the flight animal,
and it's very helpful
for my horse training.
[ignition starts,
engine revving]
This, uh, road right here,
50 years ago, an arborist
was teaching us how to
plant eggcorns
in little cups.
And I said, "Well, one day
I'd like to have a canopy
over this road,"
and he looked at me and said,
"You will never live
long enough to see
a canopy over this road."
[whispering]
And I have a canopy
over this road,
all the way down.
[birds chirping,
horses neighing]
[birds and insects chirping]
These days, we're taking in
these abused horses
and training them so that
they can be adopted
rather than going to
the dog food factory.
[neighing]
WOMAN: So today, we're
working this horse named
Starlight.
She's been used for tripping,
and for those of you that
don't know what tripping is,
it's this sport where
they make a horse run
as fast they can, and then
lasso their front legs,
and they just...
[vocalizing horse falling]
Even in this
first world country,
these things are
still happening.
MONTY: The horses
that have been beaten,
some of them are just
too far gone.
WOMAN: It's all about setting
the horse up for success.
What can we introduce
the horse to?
How can we
expand their world
so that the horse feels
comfortable and also,
"this is a safe place
that I can be."
Just a gentle act.
He's allowing her
to make the choice.
And we're going to come around
here and these pool noodles--
we've set them up
like this--
on the trail, sometimes
there are high grasses.
MAN: I think this is going
to be an interesting one.
WOMAN: Yeah.
And we can remember, right?
Because of her history
of being used for tripping...
MONTY:
Horses have a language.
MAN: ...mmm.
So I don't think she's going
to go through this one,
but let's at least
get her up close to it.
MONTY: When you're
working with a horse,
you allow
your body to speak.
Your hands speak, your arms
speak, your eyes speak.
And the horses
want you to listen to them,
and their bodies speak.
Trust is everything.
Humans are the same way.
[Monty clicking his tongue]
This tripping--
those horses
generally die very young.
[clicking tongue]
[clapping]
[clicking tongue]
You see, she's trying
to come back to me now,
and she wants me
to be nice.
She's getting a lot better.
Yeah.
She's a lucky one,
to live through it.
MAN: Look how beautiful
the mare looks--
isn't she a beauty?
MONTY: I believe
the Queen accepted me
because we saw what
violence did--
not just to horses,
but in the world.
And these horses taught me
that there's
a better way.
I was born
May the 14th, 1935.
Salinas, California.
Salinas is on the coast.
A hundred miles south
of San Francisco.
In '35, I didn't know what
was going on in the world.
Her Majesty,
Queen Elizabeth II,
well, she was about
10 years old...
NEWSREEL ANNOUNCER:
Their Majesties,
Queen Elizabeth
and King George,
with their daughters,
Princess Elizabeth
and Princess Margaret.
[marching band
playing in film]
MONTY: And Hitler was
getting the world ready
for World w*r II.
NEWSREEL ANNOUNCER:
Europe, it seems, isn't all
new crowned Kings.
[British patriotic music]
Only force rules.
The dictator Hitler
is telling the German people.
"Force is the first law."
All of that
played into my life
without my knowing that
there was a life for it
to play into.
I was raised on
the competition grounds
of the Salinas,
California "Ro-day-oh".
Out here, they say
"ro-day-oh," not rodeo.
[Newsreel music]
NEWSREEL ANNOUNCER:
Salinas, California.
Four days of
rip-snorting excitement
in the finest tradition
of the old west.
[indistinct voice on PA]
MONTY: A thousand
box stalls for horses,
an arena.
One of the largest
"ro-day-oh"s in the world.
At the age of two,
I rode with my mother,
tied to her.
'38 I was riding by myself.
In '39 I was in competition,
at the age of four.
Ginger became
my first horse.
He was the first horse
that I rode in competition,
and I won the competition.
And the day after that,
I was put on a truck
with Ginger,
and driving to
Burbank, California--
Pickwick Saddlery,
to go into another
competition,
which I also won.
And then down
the street, they took me
to a practice ground for
the stunt riders.
At that time,
three out of five films
had a horse
and a child in it.
One night, my father knocked
on my door and said,
"You're going to Mendocino
County tomorrow,
and you're gonna
jump over some gates."
I was a stunt rider for Liz
Taylor in "National Velvet."
And I guess
my father got paid.
He always said,
"I'll keep your money
for you, don't worry,"
and he did, he kept it--
I never saw a penny of it.
There were suggestions made
that I take more
acting courses,
because I could be
another John Wayne.
I didn't
want to be an actor.
I knew too much about the
background of movie making.
There was
a lot of violence.
[g*nshots in film]
You'll see films where
guys are running
across the desert,
sh**ting over their
shoulder.
And the horse is running along
and he just goes "foom"--
his head goes down,
and he just does a somersault.
[g*nsh*t]
The "running W"
was a cable
attached to his front legs,
shoulder, ankle, chest,
ankle, shoulder,
so it made a "W".
[g*nsh*t]
And you ran that
last hundred yards
as fast as you could go,
pulling the cable
along with you.
And when he hit
the end of that,
it pulled both of
his front legs
straight up
under his chest,
and the first thing
to hit the ground
was the bottom
of his jaw.
And then his neck broke
when his body
went over the top of him,
and you got cast out
far enough
so that the horse didn't go
over and land on top of you.
They were k*lling horses
en masse,
stacking them up.
And you can imagine,
if you're a kid and you have
your first horse, Ginger,
and you love him...
It was very tough.
My horses were my life.
And that was my escape.
And I believe the Queen
had the same thing.
[klaxon whirring]
NEWSCASTER: Only 25 minutes
after w*r has been declared,
comes the first
air raid warning.
MONTY:
In 1939, Hitler's airplanes
were flying over London.
QUEEN MOTHER:
Many of you have had to see
your family life broken up.
The King and I know
what it means
to be parted
from our children.
MONTY:
They took Princess Elizabeth
and her sister, Margaret,
to Windsor Castle...
...the dungeons underneath.
Suddenly we were asked
to pack and move to Windsor
when the Nazis invaded
Belgium and Holland.
We packed for the weekend
and stayed for five years.
NEWSCASTER:
This is the BBC Home Service.
Today, Princess Elizabeth
is herself to speak
to the children of the empire
at home, and overseas.
PRINCESS ELIZABETH:
Thousands of you
in this country
have had to leave your homes
and be separated from your
fathers and mothers.
My sister,
Margaret Rose, and I,
feel so much for you,
as we know from experience
what it means to be away from
those we love most of all.
MONTY: Every time
the skies were clear,
Her Majesty was with
her dogs and her horses.
Her life without animals
would've been totally
different.
She learned
how to breathe.
She learned how
to take their challenges
and work them through.
PRINCESS ELIZABETH:
I want to send you our love
and best wishes,
and when peace comes,
remember, it will be for us,
the children of today,
to make the world of tomorrow
a better and happier place.
[newsreel clicking]
NEWSREEL ANNOUNCER:
We interrupt this program
to bring you a special
news bulletin--
the Japanese have attacked
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii,
by air, President Roosevelt
has just announced.
[somber music]
When the Japanese attacked
Pearl Harbor,
our west coast became
a potential combat zone.
Living in that zone
were more than
a hundred thousand
persons of Japanese ancestry.
Military authorities
therefore determined
that all of them--
citizens and aliens alike--
would have to move.
MONTY: We lived
on the rodeo grounds
with our horses
and everything.
And the government of
the United States of America
took over the property.
Within a week, a Japanese
friend of mine,
he was suddenly
on the inside of a fence
and I was on the outside.
I was sent to an old house
in the middle of
Salinas Town.
And we had a groom
that worked for us,
and he moved the horses.
[horse neighing]
And there was no Ginger.
And I kept asking,
"Where is Ginger?"
And finally, he just
squared up on me and said,
"He went to Crow's Landing."
And I had been hauled to
Crow's Landing by my father
to watch the horses
go up the chute and be shot
and processed for dog food.
"Ginger is dead?"
"Yeah, they k*lled him
two weeks ago."
I recall wanting
to k*ll my father.
I mean, my father was
so violent with me
and the horses.
I wanted a way not to like him
in the first place.
But after that,
I really took on a hate.
It was at the age of nine
that I first met
Sister Agnes Patricia.
She noticed some bruises near
the collar of my shirt.
That day before,
my father had beaten me
with a big chain.
And I had chain links
all over my upper body.
I was ashamed,
I was hiding from that.
And she said,
"I know your father,
and I want to change things
in your life."
That's when she
explained to me that
he had a father that beat him,
and his family had a trail
of violence
with every generation.
And she said, "You're
getting ready to act out
"the same way he does,
and I want to change that,
and I want you to stop
blaming him for anything."
She had my best
interest at heart.
From nine to 15 or so,
she led me through
a wonderful era in my life
where I learned
to love horses
and to try to navigate
around my father,
as opposed to dealing
with him, head-on.
In 1945, there was
an end to the w*r.
The German w*r
is at an end.
[cheering]
We may allow ourselves
a brief period of rejoicing.
[cheering continues]
We went out with
a party of friends.
Of course, they're all
in uniform then,
including my sister,
who was in the ATS.
And we--
we went everywhere.
It was most exciting.
NEWSCASTER: The President
announced at seven p.m. today
the unconditional,
and unqualified surrender
of the Japanese.
Everybody is enjoying
themselves
to their fullest extent.
MONTY: Dr. Leach, the
President of the California
Rodeo Association.
He said, "We're going
to have a rodeo again."
We need 150 mustangs from
out there, in the wild,
in Nevada,
for the wild horse race,
which was their big event.
And I immediately
wanted to go.
Going to catch
these mustangs,
it was a dream for me.
[horses neighing]
[galloping]
Fall of '45, we went
and gathered them.
And I didn't know
where Nevada was.
When we got there,
to this little town
outside of Elk,
to the north.
They had a thing called
"The Green Corrals".
[horses neighing]
And the Green Corrals were
just big storage corrals
for these mustangs.
Dr. Leach put me
in charge of feeding them.
I doctored them
if they needed it.
And there was a young male,
and I moved him into
one of the oval pens
that go into the chute area.
And then I started
sending him around.
I didn't know
what I was doing.
I was just playing with him.
And all of a sudden,
he started talking to me.
[horse snorting]
The gestures
that they make, you know?
He seemed to be
locking onto me.
[horse snorting]
And I remember turning
and walking away from him.
And he came walking to me.
And I rubbed him
between the eyes.
And I started rubbing
on his body.
And then I realized
that my father
was off at a distance,
watching.
And he said, "He's no longer
a wild horse,
he can't be in
the wild horse race."
And he beat the living
bejesus out of me.
And shot the horse,
the mustang.
He just shot him and they
pulled him with a pickup,
they pulled him out
and buried him
in the manure pile.
That mustang joined up with me
in those Green Corrals.
And I remembered
every move that he made.
And then I began to watch
these herds of mustangs,
and I saw the
same things happening,
horse to horse.
One mare intrigued me.
She was watching
a young colt
terrorizing another baby,
about his age.
And she let them go
for a while.
And finally,
she just broke,
and she ran with her
ears back
and drove him
out of the herd.
He didn't want to go
out of the herd--
there's predators
out there.
And she would let him get
a hundred yards closer.
And then she would
run at him again
and put him
back out there.
Then finally,
she let him come back in,
and I watched closely
as he became a good boy.
I was very inspired,
completely in awe of knowing
that there was a language.
[horses neighing]
They k*lled all the mustangs
after the race.
Just sent them
to the slaughterhouse.
Must've been '47,
I went to Dr. Leach
and said,
"This is not right,
that we k*ll
all these horses."
And he said,
"What are you gonna do
with 150 head
of mustangs?"
And I said, "Well, I'd like
to take 20 of them
and train them
and put them up for sale."
And they'll bring more than
20 cents a pound.
You get eight or nine cents
a pound at the time
for butchering them.
And he said,
"Let's do it."
By 1949, I was doing
70 or 80 a year.
Using all my techniques,
from the mustangs in Nevada,
and they had these auctions
and some of them
would bring in $400.
I would ride them in--
14-year-old kid, and they see
a horse that they could use.
And then at age 15,
that's when I won
my first championship.
And then my life
really started.
ANNOUNCER: We have a little
action over here.
This is one of two events
in which the national title
is still on the line,
going down to the final night
of competition...
[indistinct announcer
on radio]
...championship that has never
been our pleasure to see.
MONTY: I won two world
championships in the NRHA.
ANNOUNCER 1: A tough cowboy
who gets a score of 52.
ANNOUNCER 2: Here's a fellow
that's won this event
of National Finals twice...
The saddles are up here,
on the ceiling.
ANNOUNCER: [indistinct]
...national...
[indistinct announcers]
MONTY: At the time, the Queen
was establishing herself
as a thoroughbred
racehorse owner.
ANNOUNCER 1: Monaveen is
already many people's fancy
for the Grand National,
as he went on
to increase his lead
and bring off a clear-cut
victory by six lengths.
The Princess' delight
was no longer in doubt.
ANNOUNCER 2: [indistinct]
...and they're off
with more than seven
and a half furlongs to go.
ANNOUNCER 3: [indistinct]
...hopes faded right away,
and Oleo,
followed by Big Horse,
now in to take
second and third places.
QUEEN ELIZABETH:
My philosophy about racing
is simple--
I enjoy breeding a horse
that is faster
than other peoples'.
But I suppose
basically I love horses,
and the thoroughbred
epitomizes
a really good horse to me.
MONTY: When the Queen
said that she wanted
to breed horses that were
faster than other peoples',
I think she understood
that it wasn't just about
their athletic ability.
ANNOUNCER: Into the straight
with a devastating run
that could only
spell victory.
MONTY: Her love for horses
was so strong.
She had a riding instructor,
and his name was Noel.
He used the traditional
methods, but...
for his time
and background,
he was a very
non-violent trainer.
And he convinced the Queen
that she should be
looking at better ways
to deal with horses.
[neighing]
MONTY: I was in college then,
I was at Cal Poly.
I strictly had in my mind,
being the best I could be
with my horses...
...because it's their behavior
and the modification
of that behavior to be
what you want them to be,
that's so important.
AMBASSADOR [on TV]: ...looking
for ways to punch back.
They don't like
the sanctions,
they don't like the fact that
they're losing in the w*r,
and they're trying to search
for ways that may
appear to be some
kind of punch-back
to get people to do...
REPORTER [on TV]: Ambassador
Volker, thank you so much,
good to see you again.
- Pleasure to see you, too.
- Coming up, I'll talk
with a man who raced
to the scene
after the Russian attack on
that Ukrainian train station
k*lled innocent people,
and now he's carrying out...
MONTY: Why does
the human race continue to
want to dominate
one another like this?
This is just
another Hitler.
We have a man who's saying,
"I'm going to break
everybody
"that says 'no' to me.
Did you break them yet?"
DONALD TRUMP [on TV]:
There has never been,
in the history
of this world,
an economy that was moving
along like that economy,
our economy...
MONTY:
The Queen didn't like him.
WOMAN: Monty and I met
at a very young age.
I think I was in
the third grade,
Monty was in the fourth,
and we went to the same
grammar school.
I knew of Monty.
I didn't see him a lot,
but I remember, when I was in
the seventh grade,
I suddenly discovered boys.
And I had
a huge crush on Monty.
And, in fact, I named
a dog Monty Blue.
[chuckles]
Of course, I admired him
from afar because
I admired cowboys and people
that worked with horses.
I was the little girl that
fell in love with horses
when I was about
two years old,
and I never got over it.
MONTY: When I got to
high school, I said,
you know,
I'm gonna ask her to
just come to a movie
with me, or something.
And she said, "I...
I have a boyfriend,
and no."
And then, in senior year,
that's about the time
that we started dating.
MONTY:
Six or eight months later,
I said, Pat, I want you
to be my wife.
Would you say yes to me?
And she said, "Yes.
Yes."
That was it--
there was a date set...
...and on April 10th, 1957,
our first child, Debbie,
was born.
Two years later,
we had Laurel,
two years after that,
we had Marty.
[church bells ringing]
NEWSCASTER: Once only, in 1100
years of British kingship
has there been such a day--
an heiress presumptive
to the throne
marries the man
of her choice.
[symphonic music]
The royal family spend most of
their time in public duty,
and the British people respect
their few private hours
and leave them
to enjoy their relaxation
like any other family.
Now, where did
those ponies get to?
So that's where you are.
Meet William,
the smaller one,
the other is Greensleeves.
[horse snorts]
Let's get inside and make
friends properly.
MONTY: Pat and I had
a little training operation
in Edna, California about
ten miles from Cal Poly.
I was a trainer, you know.
I had a whole new method
outside tradition.
Exactly the opposite
of what we do to horses in the
conventional breaking methods.
There's a traditional
horsemanship globally,
and every single one
that I've ever seen,
the horses were violated
until they gave up.
MAN: The rule is the first
thing to go around them,
next step after that is,
of course, the saddle,
and then the next step
is the rider.
[clicking tongue]
Go on, hup!
Hup!
[whip cracks]
This'll go on for a few days,
and then the saddle
will be introduced,
and then, finally,
finally the rider.
- Hey, up!
- Come on!
WOMAN:
This is hobbling Storm,
- try number three... four.
- Or was it four?
...for troubled horses
that have too much pride.
Move pretty good
with three feet.
[whip snaps]
MONTY: There are so many
traditional ways.
The toughest
is the South American.
They're tied to a post...
and you just
keep beating them.
[whip cracks,
horse whinnies]
And you beat
and beat and beat
until they just take
a breath and give up.
[men whooping]
[horse whinnying]
MONTY:
And that horse is broken.
It was always considered
four to six weeks
to break a horse.
I could have a saddle
and rider on the horse
in 30 minutes,
without any violence
whatsoever.
MAN: Monty wants
this horse to see him
as a surrogate herd leader.
And his round pen techniques
takes a line,
by throwing it out as a
frightening visual stimulus,
the horse moves, and he keeps
the horse moving until
the horse has gone its
biological flight distance--
roughly a quarter of a mile.
Basically, it's just a little
bit farther than the line
is capable of charging.
MONTY:
Eyes on eyes.
All my motions square.
DR. MILLER:
He runs that distance,
and then turns around,
to see what it was
that frightened him.
And then the horse
will start to signal,
"I'm in big trouble,
"I need help,
I need a leader,
"and the only game in town
is the man
in the center of the pen."
MONTY: If he drops his head
down near the soil,
it means that
if we could have a meeting,
I'd let you be the chairman
of the meeting.
There's the head down.
When the horse signals
a sufficient level
of submissiveness,
Monty suddenly becomes
passive and non-threatening.
MONTY:
Attempt to draw in.
He turns away,
lowers his gaze--
he immediately
becomes passive.
MONTY:
To cause him to understand
that I've moved from
aggressive to passive.
Good licking and chewing.
DR. MILLER:
This horse then comes to him,
and in effect, asks,
"Would you help me?
Are you my leader?
I need help."
Then he has
what he calls "join up."
MONTY: In an effort
to accomplish follow-up.
Follow-up. Perfect.
DR. MILLER: Then the horse
does the horse thing--
he follows the leader.
Horses seek comfort.
MONTY:
In the early '60s,
I wanted someone who had
the financial means
to bring the best
horses in the world,
and make champions.
Well, along comes
Hastings Harcourt,
who was a millionaire from
Harcourt, Brace and World
Publishing in New York.
He went to a sale
near Los Angeles and bought
a bunch of horses
and a veterinarian told him
to send them to me.
[indistinct announcers
in film]
He said, "I own property
in the Santa Ynez Valley."
"I'd like to support you
and put you in
the training
business, for real."
He wanted to own a major
thoroughbred racing center.
But I didn't know about
horse racing in that huge,
professional way.
And he says,
"Well, I'm convinced
"that you can do anything
where horses are concerned.
"I want to put you with
the best people
"and you go all over
the world and you study
"other horse farms
and then I want you
to design a horse farm
here, for me."
[jet engine whooshing]
I was 31,
and it was an opportunity
that I just
never could imagine.
I met the highest rated people
on the face of the earth
in the thoroughbred industry.
I studied every horse farm--
good, bad,
and indifferent.
[horses neighing]
[galloping]
NEWSCASTER: A day
at the races is a past-time
which Her Majesty derives
as much pleasure
as many of her subjects.
Derby Day 1969
was cold and windy,
but the weather couldn't
cool the enthusiasm
of the big crowd
as the runners and riders
made their way out
onto the track.
MONTY: As I met bloodstock
agents and farm managers,
I met people who were
short of the mark
in so many ways
about behavior.
[horses neighing]
No one believed
what Noel believed,
that violence
wasn't the answer.
And I said, no,
I'm not going there,
I'm not going to accept
traditional horsemanship.
MONTY: You could take
any horse, in any discipline,
and if they have the talent,
they will just keep
trying to get better.
The instant
that you whip them,
- that you spur them hard...
- [horse neighing]
You shut down
the learning process.
I was looking to produce
more fast horses,
race horses...
happier horses,
and go global with
high-performing horses
that won championship
after championship,
that was my goal.
In four and a half years,
we produced
six champions...
...which was just
unheard of at that time.
[cheering]
[birds chirping]
But then the problems
with Harcourt
started to take place.
He was bi-polar,
and it drove him
into a thing
where he was
horrible to me.
Harcourt wanted out,
out of the business.
It didn't make any sense.
And he broke the law,
setting things up
to make it look like I
had done something wrong.
He had me arrested and charged
with stealing $2 million.
It was the worst thing that
happened to me in my life.
He was taking a whip to me,
is what he was doing.
Like my father,
he wanted to break me.
But what Sister Agnes Patricia
taught me was
just keep doing the things
you know are right.
And there was a decision
made by the courts
which allowed me
to own the farm.
So it wasn't
the worst day of my life,
it was the best day
of my life.
We never could've
owned this farm
if it wasn't for that.
[horses neighing]
[birds chirping]
Immediately after,
Pat and I got
this farm going again.
Our first horse went on
to win a stake,
which is the highest level
of racing.
- [gate creaks]
- Come on, kid.
Another one became
Horse of the World, twice.
[indistinct conversations]
You wanted a diaphragmatic
breathing with an easier horse
and then a more
difficult horse.
That's it.
Okay, so I'm going to give you
one of the geldings,
and I'm going to
give you one mare.
Right.
MONTY: So we're
going to talk about
diaphragmatic breathing,
because diaphragmatic
breathing
is absolutely essential.
When we're frightened and we
want to hold our breath
for some reason...
[holding breath]
You could breathe high
and take your
diaphragm up in a dome.
And your
pulse rate goes up.
When we need to relax,
take you diaphragm
way down,
fill the lungs with air.
[exhales sharply]
Send your buckle
toward the saddlehorn.
[exhales deeply]
And when you are relaxed,
the horse knows
exactly what your intention
is and what you're doing.
Learn how to
diaphragmatically breathe,
it's extremely important.
And we can bring
that horse in now.
[gate opening]
I have never seen
this horse before.
[neighing loudly]
You can see that she's--
she's quite agitated.
[horse snorting]
Let's see
what we can do about that.
Yeah.
Let's see
what we can do about that.
Two o'clock, on the clip,
and away she goes.
We'll get a couple more
rounds here.
[horse panting]
And then we'll see if she
wants to communicate with me.
[clicking tongue]
- [horse snorts]
- MONTY: All of that is
a simple attempt
to get in control.
So we'll take
a little time here,
just to show her that
I mean her no harm.
[clicking tongue]
I'm gonna let her
turn this time.
And there's the
dropping of the nose
like the mustangs do.
A really breathe down.
[blowing softly]
Oh, he's kind of
calling the shots now.
But he hasn't tried
to hurt me yet.
This seems like a different
sort of a guy to me
than I've been used to.
[breathes deeply]
Watch for that decision
to step toward me.
- Oh, that was good.
- [crowd reacts]
Just a good rub.
[horse exhaling deeply]
This is nice...
This is nice.
[jet engine whooshing]
NEWSCASTER:
March first, 1983.
Queen Elizabeth II
and the Duke of Edinburgh
visit Santa Barbara.
The historic day,
some suggested,
were the worst rains
of the winter
would dampen the plans
but not the spirit
of England's
reigning monarch.
The Reagans invited the royal
couple to California--
fulfilling the Queen's
long-held dream
of seeing the West Coast
of the United States.
Reagan promised a Western
style ride on horseback
at his Rancho del Cielo.
The relentless downpour
forced the hosts
to arrange
four-wheel-drive vehicles
to climb up the mountain.
The ride on horseback
had to be cancelled,
but the two couples
had a lunch of tacos,
enchiladas,
and refried beans.
The Queen said to Reagan's
Deputy Chief of Staff,
"That was so enjoyable,
especially the used beans."
QUEEN ELIZABETH:
I knew before we came
that we had exported
many of our traditions
to the United States.
But I had not
realized before
that weather
was one of them.
[laughter and applause]
The past few days
have been a vivid
and sometimes
poignant reminder
of the human drama
and achievement
which account for the
greatness of America today.
The miracle
of the space shuttle,
or of the silicone chip,
lies not in the wizardry
of electronics,
but in the genius and sheer
dedicated determination
of men and women.
That is what speaks
loudest in California.
[galloping]
MONTY:
It was 1983 or '84,
when my mother decided
that my father had to be
brought down here
and see me
starting babies
in the round pen.
I'm not sure just how long
after that he died,
but I think it was
less than a year.
Pat helped my mother
and they got him down there
and put him on a chair,
and everything
went well.
My mother said, "What did you
think of Monty's work?"
My father
sat back and said,
"A horse has to know
"who's boss--
and the way he does it,
"those horses don't know
who's boss.
It's suicide."
And he wasn't alone.
All the time I'd been trying
to hide my process,
because every time anybody
saw it, I lost business.
[indistinct conversation]
MONTY:
But then, Farrell Jones,
a Hall of Fame
thoroughbred trainer
that had horses
in training with me,
said, "I want you
to have open houses
and demonstrate your work."
He said,
"When they see this,
they just won't even
believe it."
Well,
they didn't believe it.
[somber music]
Six thousand years we've been
domesticating horses.
There was a lot of anger
in one guy saying,
"You've been
doing it wrong."
Every single person
that watched my work
felt that they were being
pulled down and,
and chastised because of
what they did.
I'm stealing
their livelihood from them
by saying you don't have to
punish horses with violence.
I was looked upon
as a traitor.
And my business
went to hell in a handbasket.
I dropped from 180 horses
in training to 20.
We're gonna lose the farm.
It was '87 when I showed it,
and in '88 I got a call that
said Queen Elizabeth
has read two articles
written in magazines
from those open houses
that we had here.
One was from California
and one was from Florida.
And the articles were both
written with a little sting.
Like,
"This can't be for real."
And the Queen said,
"I don't believe
"that those journalists
got together
"from 3,000 miles apart.
"They wrote
the same damned article.
There's something to this."
And about ten days later,
we received an invitation
to come to Windsor Castle,
in April,
and demonstrate the work.
And so I flew to
Windsor Castle.
[jet engine whooshing]
And they put
23 horses in the paddocks
outside of her
bedroom window.
Horses that had never had
a saddle on before.
And I have to do
all 23 in five days.
That first morning,
we were on
the floor of the riding hall
at Windsor Castle.
And they had
a lot of military people
and horsemen.
And the Queen was with her
equerry, Sir John Miller.
We just did one
the first morning.
[horse neighing]
And it was 26 or 27 minutes
to accept its first saddle
and first rider.
But there was
these skeptics saying,
- "This guy is a fake."
- [horse neighing]
"And he's got something
in that pocket."
"And I think
he blows it up their nose,
and they just go tranquil."
They got really upset.
You don't fool
the Queen of England.
So the Queen sent a truck
and got two massive horses.
They had just arrived
from Ireland,
and they had never had
any training whatsoever.
They were huge,
and dangerous.
And I thought,
oh, my God.
This is it.
I'm gonna down in flames.
And I went in the round pen
and this horse
kind of took
a little run at me.
And I threw my line at him
and I just
put him to work.
[horse neighing]
-
- [no voices]
MONTY: And this horse
was saddled and ridden
in 22 minutes.
And they brought
the second one,
and it was 19 minutes
to receive
his first rider.
And the Queen
just swelled with pride.
Not for me so much,
but for her,
who had discovered
this thing.
Here he was, in the raw,
achieving all these goals
in such a short time,
from a horse
he'd never,
ever seen before.
Its first bridle,
its first saddle,
first everything.
And have a rider on his back
in half an hour,
just totally amazing,
absolutely amazing.
The Queen,
she'd always been looking for
a less violent way
to train horses.
And when she saw this,
she was so pleased.
And she said,
"You have to
take this to the world."
The Queen sent me for 30 days
all over England, Ireland,
Scotland, Wales--
21 stops, 98 horses.
[indistinct conversations]
Been a long time since
I've seen anything done
with a horse, and it's really
caught my imagination.
I watched the demonstration
given by the American,
Monty Roberts,
which did just that,
and a little bit more.
The Queen gave Monty advice
on how to present
his concepts.
She also encouraged him
to write his memoir,
critiqued his drafts,
and found him a publisher.
BRITISH REPORTER:
Even the word is violent,
we talk of
"breaking horses."
Usually that means bringing
them to the ground,
roping them, then
bending them to our will.
But one man says
there is a better way.
The book's called "The Man
Who Listens To Horses,"
written by Monty Roberts,
who counts the Queen
amongst his admirers.
MARIA SHRIVER:
A bestselling novel called
"The Man Who Listens
To Horses"
is number four on
the Times Bestseller list.
MONTY: If I can change
a few people...
A tiny, little segment.
But I had a long way to go.
In the early days,
when the book first came out,
a family member in Salinas
called me a liar.
That was tough
to deal with, believe me.
Everything I wrote,
it's true.
It happened.
They're wrong--
these people are wrong,
but what do I do?
The Queen asked the BBC
to do a documentary,
and I said,
"I did something that nobody
believes I did,"
and that was to saddle
a mustang in the wild.
And she gave me the
opportunity to prove it.
[neighing and galloping]
NARRATOR [in film]:
A wild mustang.
A man called Monty Roberts
plans to take
such a dangerous
and untamed horse
and persuade it
to be saddled and ridden
simply by talking to it.
Now, at the age of 62,
Monty still has
his critics,
so he set off to prove
that his gentle way
would work with even
the wildest of horses.
MONTY: That horse
was on 42,000 acres,
with a hundred head
of other horses.
They had veterinarians
watching over him.
They flew over him
with helicopters
with a Steadicam
on them to do the documentary.
The person who controlled
the pen to write the check
for those things said,
"You know, Monty,
this is gonna be a very
expensive documentary."
"What do you think
your chances are
with this one horse
that we've chosen?"
I-- I didn't know
if I could do it.
I had no idea.
- [majestic Western music]
- Hey! Hey, hey, hey!
Hey-ya!
[majestic music continues]
NARRATOR [in film]:
With a mustang free
to run over miles
of open territory,
taming this horse was going
to take a lot more
than 30 minutes--
days, in fact,
if he could do it all,
that is.
[galloping]
MONTY: The first nearly
a hundred miles
was fast, furious,
wild... difficult.
It's easy to lose one.
NARRATOR: For Monty's
technique to work,
he had to stay awake and ride
through the night.
By daybreak
the next morning,
Monty was very tired,
cold, and aching.
And then about
an hour after dawn,
the mustang stopped running
and began
to stay close to him.
We've got thousands
and thousands of acres
of open country here.
But this animal
is not fleeing,
it's responding to the round
pen technique,
not in a round pen,
not in a confined area,
but out in the open.
It can be very dangerous.
A mustang can k*ll you,
if you don't
handle him properly.
In 24 hours, he was right
there, like my brother.
...easy...
Easy, now.
You're a tough, little nut,
you know that?
Right down to the wire.
[blows through lips]
NARRATOR: By now,
it was late afternoon
and enough for one day.
MONTY:
This is nice.
NARRATOR: Next morning,
Monty and Caleb
led the mustang down
into a nearby canyon
sheltered from the wind.
They were going to try
to saddle the horse
for the first time.
MONTY:
If you rush it too much,
you could get a very violent
reaction on the part
of the horse.
MONTY: It's all right,
I'm in love with you.
NARRATOR: Now it was time
for the final challenge--
getting a rider
into the saddle.
[horse snorting]
You go ahead, you go ahead.
Make your move.
Get your halter,
do whatever you want.
Whoa, now, whoa, now.
Whoa, now.
Whoa... easy, now.
MONTY:
He's used to the people,
he's used to the saddle,
but he's not used to the
weight of a rider
on his back.
Do it, son, do it, son.
[singsong]
Be a nice boy.
Be a nice boy.
Easy, now.
Easy, now.
Then you make your move.
You go for it.
Hey, there you are!
All right!
NARRATOR:
Monty had done it.
In less than three days,
he'd achieved
what many thought
was impossible.
MONTY:
It's a tense time, isn't it?
It's wonderful.
Are you kidding me?
It's wonderful.
You know you can do it,
but until it happens,
you know?
Just walk him right on around,
right and left.
That's good.
That's good.
It's just the most
wonderful feeling
you could ever have.
[choking tears]
I'm really happy.
Shy Boy came in
from the wild.
Twenty four hours
after I met him,
he was locked on to me,
stayed with me.
Thirty-six hours,
I had a saddle on him
and I could put
a rider on him.
Forty eight hours,
we rode him
back to the ranch.
It worked.
They were on me--
cameras on me
the whole time,
I didn't have five minutes.
[people cheering]
Shy Boy is still here,
with me.
He talks to me every day.
Knickers to me
and I go and rub him.
He's in his 30th year.
Mustangs don't live 30 years.
A miracle!
An absolute miracle.
Oh, here, boy,
oh, some grass.
Some green grass
for a mustang.
You could see
his brand, there,
almost faded completely
away now.
But the white hairs,
they show, um,
where he was born,
the year he was born,
and it's all in hieroglyphics
for the Bureau
of Land Management.
And they generally last
a lifetime of a mustang
because mustangs don't live
more than 15 or 16 years,
on average,
and he's in his 30th year.
They still, as a mustang,
they get longer hair
in the wintertime
than the domestic horses do.
And as they age,
they'll keep it on longer
because I guess they need
to stay warmer
when they're older.
I know the feeling, yeah.
And, uh, Shy Boy,
he's just, um,
an amazing character.
Come on,
let's go over here.
He's alive.
There's no reason
for him to be alive
except to pass on
the information
that this works.
The Queen and I,
we stayed in touch
by telephone and my visits
each year.
Because I was riding
the training of her
young thoroughbreds.
She was not a Zoom fan,
and uh, nor am I.
[birds chirping]
[Monty whistling]
This is Loppy, here.
And she's gonna have babies
in a few days.
[Monty whistling]
[birds chirping]
MONTY:
The Queen was the greatest
at naming animals.
[barking]
And there's Emma...
...and give it to Monty.
MONTY:
I was so proud
that she named
a puppy after me.
Monty was a bit of
a troublemaker.
Here, come on. Come on.
Come on.
[clicking tongue]
No, Monty.
MONTY: I met with the Queen
and Prince Philip both
because Monty
was causing problems,
and they were
scolding him heavily.
Her Majesty asked me,
"What would you do
about this?"
And I said,
"You're giving him
"too much attention
when he's wrong.
And not enough attention
when he gets it right."
And Monty became
the kind of dog
that would come
and lie right at my feet
when I went to visit
with her.
Parents can be looking
for a way to praise
every time they can.
- [barking]
- You make sure that you
spend time on the positives,
and that you don't spend
too much time on discipline.
And that's exactly what I do
with the horses.
[birds chirping]
I believe that
my concepts could go
from horses
to help people, too.
Which is why
I started clinics
for post traumatic stress.
How are you guys?
It's good to see you.
- Hi, how are you?
- WOMAN: Good, how are you?
All right.
I don't need to tell you,
as first responders,
about what we do as human
beings to one another.
You've seen it
in so many instances.
MAN: I was in the Marine Corps
for 22 years.
I was diagnosed with PTSD
after my first combat tour
in 2004.
My transition
was extremely difficult.
I was a violent person.
Everybody deserves
a second chance.
I needed about 30 chances.
Monty took me under his wing
and didn't pass judgement,
which was
what everybody did.
But this man
has changed my life
and he's changed
my kids' lives.
He's changed the people
that I've brought
to the clinics.
And I just want
to thank you, Monty.
We're inside the wire here
and we're safe.
MONTY: With join-up,
if the horse
doesn't trust you,
they won't come to you.
And you've been trained
not to trust anybody.
You see a little girl
coming up the road,
blood running down her head,
you don't go out there
and try to help
or somebody'll push a button
and both of you die.
You don't trust
anybody in w*r.
Horses, they either trust
or they don't trust.
And I started working on how
do you think about that horse
as being a friend and not
an enemy.
Just relax,
breathe down
diaphragmatically.
And the horses
would sneak toward them,
and I watched one man crash
to his hands and knees
and sob his eyes out,
that somebody trusted him.
There's different
levels of anxiety
that goes on in all of us.
If any horse
wanted to train humans,
they would teach them
how to be good listeners.
Compassion, compromise,
and respect.
Like that.
And we'll just set that up
as a kind of
a reward system for her.
She'll step to me...
and get a rub.
Come on, sweetheart.
And there is
your completion.
She's accepted
her first rider,
and walked.
[applause]
Thank you very much.
Yeah, um...
It's between 55
and 60 right now, yeah.
And, um,
at rest they're 48 or so,
so she's very happy.
MONTY: I'm sorry?
Yes? Yes.
I didn't know
Your Majesty knew about it.
And I'm having some results
you can't believe.
Oh, I know.
MAN [on PA]:
Her Majesty has agreed
to become a patron of
Join-Up International,
the global non-profit
foundation, Monty Roberts.
[pencil scratching]
Her Majesty now takes...
[indistinct]
in front of the Royal Box
for a fantastic photograph
of all these award winners
for the founding principles
of Monty Roberts'
nonviolent methods.
[applause]
It was Her Majesty's
personal wish
to come here, today,
to make these presentations.
[birds chirping]
[engine revving]
REPORTER [on radio]:
Double rainbow
over Buckingham Palace today.
Tonight, here,
the Queen in her own words,
what she promised at
just 21 years old.
But first,
ABC's Maggie Ruehl,
leading us off tonight
from Edinburgh in Scotland.
MAGGIE RUEHL: Tonight, the
United Kingdom and the world
mourning the loss
of one of the most celebrated
and revered women
of our age--
Queen Elizabeth II,
passing away
peacefully today at 96.
[somber music]
MONTY:
I can't believe she's gone.
[somber music continues]
At the funeral...
I kept telling myself,
"Don't cry."
And the casket
gets right there.
I could feel
my knees starting to go,
and I'm gonna
hit the floor.
And I sat down.
I know it's silly,
to be this moved
by these 32 years.
But I am
that moved by them.
[birds chirping]
[soft footsteps]
Within five to seven years
after meeting the Queen,
one percent was moved
towards non-violence.
Ten, 15 years
after meeting the Queen,
eight percent.
And now, with 35 years
after meeting the Queen,
I think it's bumping on
to 20 percent.
And 20 percent
is critical mass.
And if you reach
critical mass
with an idea that is proven
to be better,
it can't go away.
QUEEN ELIZABETH:
I often draw strength
through meeting
ordinary people
doing extraordinary things.
When people face a challenge,
they sometimes talk about
taking a deep breath
to find courage or strength.
[Monty whistling]
QUEEN ELIZABETH: In fact,
the word "inspire"
literally means
"to breathe in."
But even with
the inspiration of others,
it's understandable
that we sometimes think
the world's problems
are so big that
we can do little to help.
On our own,
we cannot end wars
or wipe out injustice.
But the cumulative
impact of thousands
of small acts of goodness
can be bigger
than we imagine.
MONTY: When the Queen spoke
about ordinary people,
and working
for a common good,
it said so much about
her willingness
to take a risk
on someone like me.
The little things...
...create the big things.
[hooves clomping softly]
[gate closes]
[country music]
WILLIE NELSON:
I grew up dreaming
Of being a cowboy
And loving
the cowboy ways
Pursuing the life
Of my high-riding
heroes
I burned up
my childhood days
I've learned
all the rules
Of a modern day dr*fter
Don't you hold on
to nothing too long
Just take what you need
From the ladies,
then leave them
Were the words
of a sad country song
My heroes
have always been cowboys
And they still are,
it seems
Sadly, in search of,
and one step in back of
Themselves and their
slow-moving dreams
Sadly, in search of
And one step in back of
Themselves and their
slow-moving dreams
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Cowboy and the Queen, The (2023)
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