FX talks: Monty Roberts the original horse whisperer
This year’s FX talks were all about radical thinking. Few people are more radical than Monty Roberts, the original horse whisperer.
This year’s FX talks were all about radical thinking. Few people are more radical than Monty Roberts, the original horse whisperer.
That’s why FX invited him to appear at their 2017 talks. Over a live stream from Brazil, Roberts discussed his career, how he changed the face of horse training and how radical thinking can be applied in any walk of life.
Roberts was born in America and has been around horses all his life; however he doesn’t go about training them in the usual way. At the age of seven he realised he could get a horse to obey him without using violence.
In his talk he describes how he developed a new way of training called ‘join up’ when a horse is given freedom of choice to obey its ‘master.’ He explained he did this by rewarding the horse when it did the right thing and making it ‘uncomfortable’ when it did the wrong thing.
“All of a sudden it decided to co-operate with me,” said Roberts.
However, like anything new and different, Roberts’ discovery was met with resistance from other trainers.
“They didn’t like it, because it said that everything that they did in their work was wrong. So they fought it,” said Roberts.
He explains how this only spurred him on to prove everyone wrong:
“It changed me it, it caused me to keep my goal of showing how this could be done, and the world is changing now, more than it’s ever changed in the horse industry for all those six thousand years.”
Roberts describes how he is able to tame a horse in less than thirty minutes without using violence. He discusses how his radical technique has led him all over the world, including meeting the queen.
This is the message Roberts wants his audience to take away with them, whether it’s horses or another project, Roberts tells us that we should give radical thinking a try because we don’t know where it might take us, and don’t be afraid to take risks.
“Make the mistake and pay a price for it, then don’t make the same mistake again. That’s kind of radical thinking on its own.” Roberts said.
He rounds off his talk by telling us to draw motivation from our critics, set insurmountable goals and then work hard to meet those goals and don’t forget the ones who supported you from the beginning.
Robert’s attributes all his success to his radical way of thinking and urges his audience to embrace the things they love.
“Seek the thing you love, and if it’s radical, keep seeking it, you may even be right.”
Feeling inspired? We definitely are. Find out more about Monty Robert’s and radical thinking by watching his FX talk below.
