You must somehow understand that we as horsemen can do very little to teach the horse. What we can do is to create an environment in which he can learn.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of creating a conducive environment for effective learning rather than simply trying to impose knowledge.
Monty Roberts highlights that as horsemen, our role is not to directly teach horses, but to cultivate an environment that fosters their ability to learn. This reflects a broader principle applicable to education and training, where the focus should be on setting the stage for growth and understanding rather than solely directing the learner.
In practice
This quote can be used in a workshop on effective teaching methods.
I had been riding horses before my memory kicked in, so my life with horses had no beginning. It simply appeared from the fog of infancy. I survived a difficult childhood by traveling on the backs of horses, and in adulthood the pattern didn't change.
A good trainer can hear a horse speak to him. A great trainer can hear him whisper.
For centuries, humans have said to horses, 'You do what I tell you or I'll hurt you.' Humans still say that to each other -- still threaten, force and intimidate. I'm convinced that my discoveries with horses have value in the workplace, in the educational and penal systems, and in the raising of children. At heart, I'm saying that no one else has the right to say 'you must' to an animal -- or to another human.
Anyone who has a child today should train him to be either a physicist or a ballet dancer. Then he'll escape.
An awful lot of people come to college with this strange idea that there's no longer segregation in America's schools, that our schools are basically equal; neither of these things is true.
My resume showed membership on both the Harvard and Columbia Law Reviews, a credit impressive abroad where it was not generally known that Law Reviews were student-operated publications.
I cannot imagine myself fitting into the existing curriculum. I am too self-willed for that and have had my own very definite ideas for a long time, very different from the existing ways, as to how architecture is to be taught.
I want my kids to graduate from high school. But that's not enough. I also want them to go to college. Why? Because rich people's kids go to college. And if that's good enough for them, it's good enough for my kids. Because you know what? College graduates don't tend to go to jail as frequently as nongraduates.
I learned to write fiction the way I learned to read fiction - by skipping the parts that bored me.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.