cover image The Man Who Listens to Horses

The Man Who Listens to Horses

Monty Roberts. Random House (NY), $23 (304pp) ISBN 978-0-679-45658-2

This book is important reading for those interested in communication, particularly interspecies communication and linguistics. Growing up in the late 1940s on his father's horse farm, which also had a rodeo area, Roberts began to develop his revolutionary view of horse behavior in his early teens by observing the wild mustangs in the Nevada high desert. He came to know what a horse was thinking, he claims, by noting the position of its body, head, tongue, ears, legs and tail, as well as the focus of its eyes. He held firm to his insight despite the violent opposition of his father, who felt his son's notion threatened everything he had built his business on, namely that a horse had to be ""broken."" On one occasion, Roberts's father beat him so badly that he had to be hospitalized. But in time, the son scored many successes with horses he had ""started"" (trained) rather than ""broken,"" and he began to acquire followers. Among them was Queen Elizabeth II, an ardent horsewoman, who witnessed Roberts's demonstrations, became a convert and instituted his system for royal mounts. Roberts, who has worked as a movie stuntman since he was two and performed in rodeos, has ""reformed"" many problem animals. How he learned to listen to horses, to communicate nonverbally, is the central feature of his convincing book, which will certainly elicit controversy. (Aug.)