Michael Wakefield, Carriage Association of America Master Driver, contributes his knowledge and talents to a new series of video lessons beginning October 4. Monty Roberts’ Equus Online University will introduce and feature the lessons of Wakefield who has been driving carriages nearly his entire life. Living near Klamath Falls, Oregon, Wakefield has been contracted by Wells Fargo for the last 15 years to drive a replica stagecoach.
“Safety is always the main concern and selecting and training to achieve that has been my challenge and my success. I have 18 years without an incident, driving through crowds of as many as 250,000 and along routes as narrow as ten feet in the middle of a throng of people.” said Wakefield.
Roberts added, “There is a new level of gentle when you train a horse to drive. All my Willing Partner™ program horses learn to drive a carriage before they are ready to go to a new owner.”
Monty Roberts and his team developed the first of its kind Equus Online University; an interactive online lesson site that is already being considered the most effective educational tool for horsemen on the web. Launching in 2009 and adding one new video lesson per week has now firmly established the learning system as the most comprehensive globally. It was important to Roberts to not only quantify the language of the horses he calls Equus, but also to share its interpretation with lessons from world renowned horse persons such as Stefan Peters and Jan Ebeling from dressage, Will Simpson from Olympic jumping and Phillip Ralls from Western Reining.
Since launching the online learning center, Monty Roberts, Richard Winters, Charlotte Bredahl-Baker, Martin Clunes (Doc Martin) and many more have contributed their knowledge of horsemanship. “Considered a rosetta stone for horse communication, one of gestures like signing for the deaf, online lessons are available 24/7 have contributed greatly to the encouragement and study of non-violent training of horses.” said Roberts. He wants the global impact to spread in his lifetime and encourages interested persons to log on at http://montyrobertsuniversity.com/library and have a free look around.
When Monty Roberts was invited by Queen Elizabeth II in 1989 to demonstrate his understanding of horsemanship, horse training’s 6000 year old tradition was forever changed. Roberts had cracked the code on the communication system horses used to survive for millions of years before humans had domesticated them. Roberts demonstrated concepts that drew a line at pain in training and his life’s goal is to leave the world a better place for horses and for people, too.
Debbie Roberts-Loucks, Monty’s daughter, spearheaded the development, “We are first and foremost advocates for keeping horses in people’s lives. The more than 475 video lessons are in categories of Ground Work, from foundational to Advanced, and Ridden Work, from foundational to problem solving. And there is a terrific forum plus a searchable data base of over 600 Questions and Answers from Monty with a handy search bar.”
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. Monty 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’s championships in the show ring. Today, Monty’s 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 and FEI’s Man of the Year. Monty was recently included as Horse and Hound Magazine’s Top 50 Horsemen of All Time. Monty 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-U 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 has teamed with The Corporate Learning Institute to help transfer the key learning’s from his work to the workplace.
Debbie Roberts-Loucks joined her parents, Monty and Pat Roberts, in 2002 to build Monty Roberts’ international training schedule and oversee their publishing, product development and licensing. Monty Roberts is the world renowned Horse Whisperer and New York Times Bestselling author of The Man Who Listens to Horses. Pat Roberts is an internationally acclaimed sculptress of horses. A graduate of UCLA, Debbie has extensive experience in marketing as well as new business development. Debbie’s life-long work with horses, as well as her commitment with Monty to advance his concepts, uniquely qualifies her to extend the MPRI brand into a global leadership organization which has impacted millions of individuals, companies, organizations, governments and industries. Debbie is host of HorsemanshipRadio.com, one of the most popular podcasts on the global Horse Radio Network. Learn more about Debbie at http://www.linkedin.com/in/debbieloucks.
