Access to untouched, wild horses with little domestic influence, is a unique experience since most equestrians work only with horses raised being handled by people.The Monty Roberts International Learning Center announced recently that they are adding a new course, Gentling Wild Horses, to their world renowned training center. Denise Heinlein, head instructor at the school, joined the team in July of 2014 and immediately began working to add this unique course to the line-up. This course, developed at the school, has attracted an international list of students taking it this summer, July 6-17.
Heinlein’s background with horses has created an important addition to the skills taught at the Learning Center. She discovered her passion for horses at a very early age and started to ride when she was five years old. She was given her own horse when she was 13 and still owns him. After completing a school for foreign languages and interpretation, she went traveling and spent time learning from different western trainers in Canada, Austria and Germany. Since 2006 Denise has followed Roberts’ methods and been working and learning from Roberts himself and different Certified Instructors at the MRILC and in Germany, Portugal, Netherlands and England.
Heinlein had been a member of Monty’s German Tour team since 2008. She is involved in the horse selection and Join-Up presentations. In November of 2009, Heinlein realized her goal of becoming an Instructor of Roberts’ methods and is now spreading the concepts of Roberts’ non-violent approach. After teaching classes and courses in Germany and getting a lot of experience in the Thoroughbred industry, she is now working and teaching at the Monty Roberts International Learning Center in California. She is one of the few Certified Instructors in the world qualified to teach at this level for Monty Roberts.
Gentling Wild Horses is open to everybody, but with limited hands-on participation, according to the student’s skills. This course will give students the opportunity to use Roberts’ non-violent methods with untouched horses. Students will observe and have ‘hands-on’ lessons according to their levels of skill. They will work in the unique facility named the IFA ‘Untouched Gentling Pen,’ which is not only safe for the students, but also for the humane treatment of the wild or untouched horse. Students will gain from their learning experience, but this course will allow them to be a part of the experience of the first touch on a horse, place its first halter on, and enable the horse to be led, groomed and have its feet picked up.
Heinlein added, “It is a fantastic way to learn more about the nature of the horse, and untouched horses will enable the student to learn about themselves as well.”
DATE: July 6—17, 2015 (two weeks)
Tuition: $3,000 for the two weeks
For More Information: http://www.join-up.org/gentling-wild-horses.html.
Monty Roberts first gained widespread fame with the release of his New York Times Best Selling book, The Man Who Listens To Horses, a chronicle of his life and development of his non-violent horse training methods called Join-Up. Roberts grew up on a working horse farm as a firsthand witness to traditional, often violent methods of horse training and breaking the spirit with an abusive hand. Rejecting that, he went on to win nine world championships in the show ring. Today, Roberts’ goal is to share his message that “Violence is never the answer.” Roberts has been encouraged by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II with the award of the Membership in The Royal Victorian Order, as well as becoming Patron of Join-Up International. Other honors received were the ASPCA “Founders” award and the MSPCA George T. Angell Humanitarian Award. Roberts is credited with launching the first of its kind Equus Online University, an interactive online lesson site that is the definitive learning tool for violence-free training. Join-Up philosophies can be seen at work with both humans and horses across the world, from farms to major corporations. To learn more about Monty Roberts or the many applications of his Join-Up training methods, visit www.montyroberts.com. Horse Sense and Soldiers aired on Discovery Military highlighting the therapeutic effect that horses and Monty Roberts’ Join-Up have on PTSD. Roberts developed his Horse Sense and Healing program for military and first responder personnel with stress injuries detailed here http://www.join-up.org/veterans.html.
