Horse Sense for People: Using the Gentle Wisdom of the Join-Up Technique to Enrich Our Relationships at Home and at Work

Monty Roberts' "Horse Sense for People" is a good book about an extraordinary person. Rising above his own abusive childhood where he suffered 71 broken bones by age 12 from his father's beatings he has shown that his Join-Up method with horses can be used to "tame" unruly children. He and his wife Pat raised 47 foster children plus three of their own. Roberts said, "I had show there is a better life if you get rid of violence." Roberts turned the horse world on its head and gained international fame when he developed a technique called Join-Up based on communicating with horses using their natural body language. He says communication among humans and horses enables Join-Up and has identified 187 signs with which he can communicate with a horse. He says, "The language of the horse is the language of gestures. It is a gift we all have." Roberts has trained over 70,000 wild horses and usually gets and out-of-control horse to accept saddle, bridle and rider in 30 minutes. He learned to "listen" to horses by paying attention to the way they communicate with each other with their ears, eyes and body postures. An essential part of Join-Up is the breakthrough moment when a horse bonds and nudges him. Now 70, Roberts rode his first horse at age three, won his first riding trophy at age 4 and spent most of his life working as a competitive rider trainer, winning four world championships and training hundreds of stakes-wining racehorses. Roberts is the author of three best sellers including the book "The Man Who Listens to Horses" that sold 4.5 million copies. He wrote the book at the urging of Queen Elizabeth II who invited Roberts to train her equestrian staff. His work inspired "The Horse Whisperer" a best selling novel by Nicholas Evans that was made into the movie starring Robert Redford. Roberts travels the world giving lectures and demonstrating his techniques. Much of the money from his non-profit organization goes to local charities and communities he visits. He also holds dozens of workshops at his "Flag is Up" farm in California for corporate executives (representatives from over 200 corporations attended the past decade), businesses, educators, social workers and other leaders who want to create conditions that foster trust, cooperation and partnership to improve efficiency, motivation and satisfaction. For years the educational authorities were skeptical about Roberts' discipline methods until a failing British School adopted his practices in a last-ditch attempt to evade closure. The results were spectacular. In less than four years the Kingshurst Junior School in Solihule was transformed into a center of excellence. The 290 pupils with 40% special needs children love going to school now. Roberts, a grandfather with a cowboy hat, is now inundated with requests for help from schools all over the world. For discipline he uses signed contracts titled "A Road Map to Excellence" that outline the effects of children's positive and negative be

Horse Sense for People is a wonderful book for everyone! If you don't read another book this year, you should read this one.The philosophy applies to every relationship, whether animals or people. If only we all used this "horse sense", our lives would be so much more meaningful, and the world a better place. 'Join-Up' is a way of establishing positive relationships. Monty uses the idea of 'contracts' with children to make them accountable for their choices. Even though Monty's ideas are just 'common sense', his gentle ways of handling animals and people open your mind to new possibilities in your own life.

This book will appeal to people who love animals and children. It has a genuinely sincere voice that engages the reader despite the ghostwriter's slightly offputting imprint. I was charmed, moved, and inspired by Monty Roberts' common sense advice. If this book lacks literary eloquence, it is more than made up for in the meaning of the stories it tells. "Gentle Wisdom" may be redundant, but this book is not. If you have children, or animals, or you know someone who does, this book deserves to be placed in your library right next to Dr. Spock.

Monty Roberts finally crosses from the realm of horses to that of people. It's about time. His non-violent approach to horses and his lessons well learned and described in "The Man Who Listens to Horses" are finally extended to the world of human interactions, from family dynamics to the corporate sky scraper. How will we survive and flourish together? Monty goes to the heart of these issues and brings a philosphy necessary for Millennial Man. We can live by Monty Robert's philosophy or wallow in the muck of the disintegrating status quo. If everyone who reads this book comes away with one new idea then it is a resounding success.Monty maintains his easy style and voice and uses the anecdotal approach to teaching. It is extremely readable. Some people may not be comfortable with Monty outside of the horse world, but in fact he never leaves it, using analogies whenever appropriate.I hope that this book is one of many where experts in empathy, understanding and non-violence leaves the niches and comes to the forefront so we can all learn to make the world a better place for all living things.

Monty Roberts has crossed the line from horses to the realm of people. It is about time. Monty reaches down to take out everything the horse have taught him and gives a straight-forward and pragmatic description of how people can better interact without physical violence or emotional domination. How easily his ideas move to families and the work place!This book is long overdue. While other books try their best to unearth their way into an aspect of human behavior, Monty uses his gentle style to sketch the framework for an entirely new way for human to relate with as little friction as possible.Books like this don't come often and are rarely couched in a way that is easy to understand and intuitive. It is truly a backbone work for Millennial Man.