Solvang horse expert to attend British monarch’s funeral
Monty Roberts of Solvang developed a friendship with Queen Elizabeth II, who appreciated his nonviolent approach to training horses and made him an honorary Member of the Royal Victorian Order in 2011.
“I can’t let her go. I understand I have to let her go, but I CANNOT let her go,” said an emotionally devastated Monty Roberts as he and his wife, Pat, prepared to leave their home in Solvang to attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II — his best friend since 1989.
They left Friday to attend the ceremony Monday in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle after the rituals in Westminster Abbey, where 500 VIP guests are expected, including major world leaders and fellow royals.
The queen’s body is currently lying in state in Westminster Hall, the oldest building in the Houses of Parliament. On Monday, her coffin will travel across Parliament Square to Westminster Abbey.
Afterward, there will be a walking procession from Westminster Abbey past Buckingham Palace to Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner. From there, the queen’s coffin will travel by hearse to Windsor Castle, the queen’s chief residence just outside of London.
Following the ceremony in St. George’s Chapel, the queen will be interred next to her husband, Prince Philip, whose funeral was held there last year.
“How are we preparing? Badly because we are mourning the loss of a lady who meant so much to me,” said Mr. Roberts during a phone interview with the News-Press last Wednesday. “What she has done for horses and people all over the world is a massive amount, especially for those with post traumatic stress injury — it’s not a disorder — through Join-Up, which is is now in 41 countries.”
He was referring to Join-Up International, the nonprofit dedicated to the humane training of horses founded by Mr. Roberts. The queen became a patron because of their friendship, which began through their love of horses.
How Monty Roberts, now 87, and the Queen of England became BFFs was detailed in a News-Press article that was written by this reporter. The story was published July 13, 2016.
Headlined “The cowboy and the queen,” the story was written after a lengthy interview with him and wife in their home at Flag Is Up Farms. Mr. Roberts, then 81, detailed an eventful life that strains credulity.
“If you tried to submit it for a movie script, no one would believe it,” he said, recalling a traumatic childhood with a father who owned a riding school and believed in “breaking” horses using traditional methods involving pain, control, fear and coercion.
“I showed my first horse when I was 4 years old. I had to win every competition. My father was a violent man. If I didn’t win, I was beaten. So were the horses.
“Years later, MRIs and CAT scans showed I had 72 prepubescent fractures. I loved competing, and I loved horses, but I knew there had to be a better way to treat humans and horses,” said Mr. Roberts.
After graduating from Salinas High School in 1953, he studied animal sciences and farm management at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo but never graduated.
Since then, he has been awarded several honorary degrees for his humane and innovative horse training methods.
With Salinas as his home base, Mr. Roberts traveled around the United States, Canada and Mexico competing in horse shows and rodeos. He also married Pat, who grew up in Salinas.
In 1966, the couple moved to the Santa Ynez Valley, where he managed Flag Is Up Farms, “which is named for the announcement that is made at all horse races, the magical moment when managers and owners no longer have a say in what will happen in the race,” explained Mr. Roberts. “The flag is up means that the horses will be ready to go in 20 seconds, and all betting stops.”
While working for Hastings Harcourt, the owner, Mr. Roberts spent his time working with 650 to 700 Thoroughbred horses on the 1,256-acre farm — breeding, training, buying, selling and racing globally.
He was also secretly using nonviolent techniques to train them.
“I did it in hiding because everyone else believed in punishment, that horses needed to be beaten so they fear you,” said Mr. Roberts.
In 1979, the couple managed to buy the farm after the owner died.
“We got the farm, but we owed a lot of money,” said Mr. Roberts. “We asked ourselves, ‘What do we do now? How do we make a living?’ What we had going for us, I know horses.”
For the next 20 years, they bought and sold horses.
“We still owed money, but life was good,” said Mr. Roberts, who continued to use gentle techniques to train his horses, still in secret, until a friend persuaded him to do a demonstration in 1986.
“There were about 350 people here — trainers, owners, celebrities and two horse magazine writers, one from Florida and the other from California. The event was totally successful. I worked with 180 horses,” Mr. Roberts said.
But the next year, he had only 20 horses to train because “the technique was too controversial. They thought I was crazy. They didn’t want to change their ways. We began to lose money. We went out of business.”
The couple had no idea how dramatically their lives would change in 1988 when they got a call from their longtime friend, John Bowles, who lived six miles away in the Santa Ynez Valley.
“John said Sir John Miller, equerry to the Queen of England, wanted to come and see me about my training idea,” Mr. Roberts recalled. “I thought it was a prank until John Bowles explained that the queen had read the articles by the journalists at my demonstration. She was skeptical but showed them to John Miller, who is in charge of all things equine for her, and asked what he thought. Like everyone else, he said the idea was hogwash.”
Instead of dismissing the idea, the queen asked Mr. Bowles, “Don’t you have a friend in California who can find out more about this?”
Shaking their heads in disbelief, the Roberts told about the day in October 1988 when the “two Johns” drove up to their home in a black Mercedes 600 limousine.
“Sir John Miller was right out of central casting — short with white hair, clipped mustache, wearing a tweed suit. I spent the day showing him my technique,” he said, hearing nothing more until he received an invitation from Her Majesty at Buckingham Palace asking him to join her at Windsor Castle in April 1989.
When Mr. Roberts arrived there after being picked up at Heathrow Airport in London by John Miller, he found a number of important-looking cars.
“I was wide-eyed and confused until I was told that Gorbachev and his wife were visiting,” he said.
His first glimpse of the queen caused more confusion.
“I didn’t recognize her. She was in her riding outfit and chatting with Miller. Prince Philip and the Queen Mum were there, too. Suddenly, I realized who it was and blurted out, ‘Your Majesty.’
“She stuck her hand out and began talking about preparations for the five days I would spend with 21 of her horses, who had never been ridden before,” Mr. Roberts said.
She said she would watch him for an hour and then tend to other business. Instead, the queen was so fascinated she canceled her appointments to observe him for the rest of his stay.
“Then, she insisted I remain for a 21-day tour to train horses in the U.K., Ireland and Scotland. She provided me with a car. She was my tour manager. I trained 98 horses,” said Mr. Roberts.
Before he left, the queen also urged him to write his autobiography, which became “The Man Who Listens to Horses: The Story of a Real-Life Horse Whisperer.” He has since written five other books about horses.
Now known as The Horse Whisperer —which he considers a “lot of gibberish” — Mr. Roberts travels three or four times a year to England to work with the queen’s horses and to attend historic events like her Diamond Jubilee and recent birthday celebration.
In the 2016 News-Press article, Mr. Roberts told this reporter about being “elegantly clad in top hat and tails, riding in a landau carriage drawn by four white horses” at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, which was part of the queen’s 90th birthday celebration.
The couple, who stayed in the Margaret Thatcher suite at Windsor Castle, were also guests of the queen at a luncheon before the show and a dinner that evening.
“I wanted to ride a horse in the show, but the queen wouldn’t allow it because of my recent knee replacement. She was afraid I might injure it. But I did ride at her Diamond Jubilee,” said Mr. Roberts. “She is an awesome woman. She is the No. 1 leader who influences the world for good and doesn’t receive the credit she deserves. Everything I do with her, she pushes me in front.”
Although the longtime friend continued to address her as Your Majesty, Mr. Roberts saw “a real side to her that was just overwhelming. Once when she called me on short notice and I mentioned I was in work clothes, she said to me, ‘I don’t give two hoots what you wear.’ I can’t emphasize enough the queen’s ability as a student. She doesn’t forget anything, and she is intensely interested.”
To show her appreciation and fondness for the cowboy from Salinas, the queen made him an honorary Member of the Royal Victorian Order in 2011.
“The Royal Victorian Order is given by the queen to people who have served Her Majesty or the monarchy in a personal way,” said Mr. Roberts, adding, “I have never been happier than I am now. I am completely content. Every single thing I have wanted to do in life I have completed and so much more.
“The queen gave me another life. She wouldn’t agree with it, but it’s true — she is so understated.
“If it wasn’t for her, I’d still be plowing around in Central California, trying to get cowboys to agree that being rough with horses doesn’t make sense,” Mr. Roberts said in the 2016 article.
During the interview this past Wednesday, Mr. Roberts told the News-Press that he and the queen continued to communicate during the pandemic via Zoom, email and telephone.
“It was very difficult, but we made it work. She also said that she had made arrangements with Camilla, Charles’s wife, to carry on with the horse training after their death. There are quite a few students who have been trained in my techniques.”
Asked if he had contacted Prince Harry and Meghan since they moved to Montecito, not that far from Santa Ynez Valley, Mr. Roberts told about an email he sent to the queen.
“I wrote about a young deer who came to our property frequently. I became quite attached to her and named her Princess. One day she disappeared for three days, and when she returned, my first reaction was anger, and then I felt great joy that she was back, just like a typical parent — first anger, then joy.’ ”
“The queen responded, ‘Thank you for the lesson. It has changed my mind a lot.’ She knew who I was referring to.”
email: mmcmahon@newspress.com
