Monty & Pat Roberts Inc., Solvang CA

I was on a company incentive trip and this was listed as one of the options for an excursion. I always like to pick things that I normally wouldn't pay for if I was on vacation and this was a place I would have put in that category.

The bus ride was about an hour from Santa Barbara which was a beautiful ride. When you pull into the facility you're pulling right into wash the barns and the horses and the round pens. Basically what you would consider a large but typical kind of horse farm.

This farm is owned by Monty Roberts who has been training horses for a long long time. What he does is train unbroke horses to be able to have a rider get on within a very short amount of time by using techniques that make the horse trust what you're doing. Today we were there the owner of a horse was there at the facility videotaping the process. Within 22 minutes he had one of his writers on that horse without a single buck. The owner of the horse was nearly in tears. This visit wasn't about him training a horse, it was about life in general and how getting people to perform at their highest level without forcing anything out of them. This really was a life lesson not a horse lesson.

After this was over he allowed us up to his house where they had cooked an unbelievable lunch for us and set in his backyard overlooking the entire valley and his ranch. The entire experience was unbelievable and something I will never forget and I would encourage anyone to see what it's like.

What a heavenly place. I love his books and his positive training approach.

Anyone owning a horse should read his methods.

There is nothing better than having a trusting relationship with your horse. And Monty explains in scientific detail why these fight or flight predatees as opposed to predator horses act as they do. They are not dogs.

Montys wife also has beautiful art at his farm in Santa Barbara CA