The Cowboy and the Queen

"The Cowboy and the Queen" (2023) showed up at the Hamilton Public Library in DVD format bringing back a lot of memories.  Most of my life has been in cities (with one big important exception) and I really had no connection with horses.  A combination of working with newspapers and working with a cleaning product I got a chance to sell ads for a horse publication, "The Rider."

I was given an opportunity to watch a Monty Roberts demonstration near Newmarket.  I was barely conscious that most horse owners used traditional methods of "breaking" horses that did seem rough.  In my efforts to sell ads I realized that most of my horse prospects did in fact rely on traditional methods.

In "The Cowboy and the Queen" we get brief histories of both Monty Roberts and the Queen.  She lived a privileged and public life but when World War II came she was involved in the war effort.  One of the joys in her life was horses which she loved riding and later got involved with race horses.  Monty grew up with a father who was a traditional horse trainer and was also abusive. At about age 9 he substituted for Elizabeth Taylor for some horse jumping scenes in "National Velvet" (1944).  

He had been very successful at rodeo and other riding contests.  It was thought he could be groomed for movies, but he hated the idea.  He learned that horses were too often killed to create an exciting effect in a movie battle scene. 

While young he got a chance to observe wild Mustangs and it modified his thinking as he felt he understood they had their own language.  Over time he developed his own unique method of gentling horses.  Despite success he attracted strong criticism.  His father maintained that a horse has to know who is boss.  Then out of the blue he was contacted by the Queen of England.  She had read some articles about him and felt that he was likely right.  He got invited to England to demonstrate his methods.  He actually got a tough test with two big, unruly horses, but he was able to get a saddle on these horses in 22 minutes and 19 minutes.  

She was able to get him involved in a documentary.  In this case he was challenged by wild Mustangs in the wild.  This took three days to master a join-up and interestingly enough the chosen horse lived over 30 years which is well beyond normal.  He wrote a book about his experiences, "The Man Who Listens to Horses" (1996).  Talking with the Queen, Monty declared he thought his methods could be adapted for humans.  He was already helping victims of PTSD.

Near the beginning of the film Monty was shown criticizing how humans abused one another focusing on Vladimir Putin.  He found horses more amenable.

They carried on a relationship that involved Monty visiting at least once most years.  She named one of her corgi dogs, Monty that turned out to more unruly than the others.  Monty attended the Queen's funeral in 2022.

He is shown feeding some wild deer who lived near him.  Monty commented that they were more "flighty" than wild horses and you had to earn their trust which he obviously enjoyed doing.

This documentary captures how he changed training horses and how the Queen helped his efforts.  Here are some of the contributors to the film.

Andrea Blaugrund Nevins, was the director, writer and producer.  She had graduated from Harvard and went on to become a sports reporter.  She has 8 credits as a producer, 7 as a director and 5 for writing.  This was her last film before dying at age 63 in April 2025.

Graham Clark was a writer, editor and producer.  He has 4 credits for the additional crew, 3 for editor and 2 for the editorial department.  This was his first effort for producing.

Craig Richey was the composer.  He graduated from the Juilliard School of Music.  Craig has 50 composing credits,and 7 for the music department.

Watching Monty Roberts live demonstration was one of the highlights of my work.  I came to respect horses.  Unlike a dog, it would have been easy for a horse just to run away instead of being mankind's most effective transportation for centuries.  

There are a lot of little things in the documentary that helped develop the more famous things.  Very inspiring and worth watching.