October. 2, 2019 – Ask Monty Newsletter

Question: Have horse training methods improved?

About your methods of training horses, you question some traditional methods, for e.g. the use of the whip, but still it’s the main item in horse shops. You’ve been a part of a horse market in the world for long, how is it changing?

Monty’s Answer:

It’s changing, but certainly not enough to suit me. I am 84 and I would like it to speed up a lot. The production of pain administered by a human being to a flight animal is one of the least intelligent actions the human race has ever utilized. Horses seek a safe place. When we cause them pain, the flight animal sees it as an unsafe place. The word ‘break’ comes clearly into this picture because if you produce enough pain, you can cause the flight animal to give up, to be broken, to follow instructions not because they want to but because they are afraid not to. This to me is a pathetic action caused by people who simply haven’t thought this process through.

Read the full newsletter: October. 2 Have horse training methods improved?