Monty Roberts on the State of Racing

by Erin Gilmore | PhelpsSports.com, May 2008

When Eight Belles broke down before millions of eyes at the Kentucky Derby, the collective bodies of horse racing knew to brace themselves for the wave of criticism that was sure to follow. With the sad memory of Barbaro still fresh in the minds of the American public, watching another horse meet its untimely death on racing’s biggest stage further fueled aversion towards a sport that is sorely in need of the opposite. Monty Roberts was flooded with requests to weigh in on the subject in the days after the Kentucky Derby. In an industry as specialized as ours, Monty has the unique distinction of wide name recognition among people outside the horse world. The real life “horse whisperer” now spends the majority of his time giving clinics on his training methods around the world.  

From his home farm in Solvang, California, Monty also heads a busy Thoroughbred breeding and training program. Throughout his career, Monty has retrained racehorses that were considered so dangerous they were banned from racing. Horses that wouldn’t enter starting gates before they met Monty have gone on to successful careers, including winning such prestigious races as the Santa Anita Derby and France’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. His philosophy of training through intrinsic learning, or creating situations which allow the horse to succeed through his own volition, is the foundation upon which he built his racehorse training program. While it goes without saying that Monty is not against horse racing itself, he hopes that when racing authorities examine the sport, they look deep.

“While there is much to the theory that inbreeding of the Thoroughbred racehorse contributes to breakdowns, the largest problem that I see in racing is use of the whip,” comments Monty. “A horse’s natural tendency is to push into pressure. The first couple of times a whip is used on a horse it might run away in fear, but subsequently, they come to resent the whip and will suck back towards it a little bit.
“It’s just plain ignorance which suggests that the flight animal would respond well to pain, when in fact they respond very erratically. It’s their very nature to do so.”

Striking a horse with a whip directly changes its weight distribution, as a horse will duck from a whip, potentially interfering with other horses in the race. This fact leads Monty to ask why the United States hasn’t followed the example of other countries, which place various restrictions on whip use. In Norway a whip can be carried but the jockey’s hands can’t leave the reins. In Sweden use of the whip is restricted to in front of the girth only, and jockeys in Great Britain are limited to five strikes. But in the United States, not only are there no restrictions on whips, a jockey will be blamed for not trying to win the race, and possibly fined, if he doesn’t make use of his whip. While Monty has helped change racing practices in other countries around the world, he has found that his appeals to US racing authorities fall on deaf ears.

“Last year in Australia, I got the stock whip banned from behind the starting gates. They were whipping the horses from behind, forcing them into the gates. Australia was very reasonable; when I approached the racing authorities with video of this happening, they voted to ban it forever,” says Monty. “I don’t want to be viewed as some kind of sneaky investigator, but I’m trying to reason with the governing bodies, look them in the eye and have a discussion on this. The problem is that in the United States, they just don’t want to listen.

“15 years ago I gave a talk on whips in racing at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in New York,” he continues. “While many jockeys supported me, the Jockey Club still voted to allow the whip. Chris McCarron has had me give talks at his North American Racing Academy in Kentucky, and he endures a lot of criticism from others in the industry for appearing to side with me. To them, I’m a threat because I challenge the status quo.”

While horse people knew that Eight Belles’ death was caused in no part by her jockey’s use of his whip, the casual viewer of the Kentucky Derby watched a horse running under the whip that then collapsed after the race. Groups such as PETA jumped on that perception and blew it out of proportion because they knew that people were paying attention. The extremist group is rightly disregarded by most in the equine industry, given their fanatical approach to any issue involving animals. But if the horse industry can learn one thing from such a group, it is to shout when the spotlight is bright. What racing doesn’t need is a PETA-fueled congressional hearing on the sport. However, if change is not initiated from within their organization and accidents similar to what we’ve seen over the last three years continue to play out before American eyes, that is exactly what they’ll get.

Racing officials have taken steps in the right direction by implementing changes in track surfaces around the country. However, if an overall boost in attendance and fans is what racing needs, it will take more than championing PolyTrak and expressing regret when an accident occurs. A public that is normally impassive towards the sport becomes altogether turned off by incidents such as the Eight Belles situation.

“Horse racing needs an image boost now more than ever,” says Monty. “In the area of public perception, we in racing need to be proactive. We need to realize that potential race fans abhor the use of the whip and are turned off by our sport.
 
“What if we had whipless racing?” Monty asks. “I believe the number of race fans would increase with a strong promotional program featuring whipless racing. As racehorse people, we often say that we are giving the horse a chance to do what he loves best, run. I believe this is a true statement, but if it is what he loves best, why do we have to whip him to do it? We do not.”

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