Horsemen learn how to 'whisper'

DILLON, Mont. (AP) — Famed horse trainer Ronnie Willis used to say a horse's basic motivation is a simple thing: All it truly wants is to be without fear.

"He'll do anything to be free of fear," Willis once said. "If he gets scared, he becomes a throttle-aholic. He's a gone unit. That's what kept him alive for 50 million years."

Willis died in his sleep last spring on the ranch just outside of Dillon that is quietly becoming the place where men and women from around the globe gather to learn from the masters of natural horsemanship.

Willis was one of the pioneers of the techniques made famous by Robert Redford's film "The Horse Whisperer." Willis worked alongside the likes of Ray Hunt and Pat Parelli, who continue to spread the word of a gentler way of training horses.

Guided by the dream of a Frenchman who'd made his millions building power plants around the world, Willis, Parelli and others helped build a program to train both horses and people about natural horsemanship at La Cense Montana ranch near Dillon.

In its fifth year, La Cense has teamed with the University of Montana-Western in Dillon to offer a four-year degree in natural horsemanship. The program already is attracting students from all over the country.

The ranch also draws students from a number of European countries who spend a year learning horse training techniques that date back centuries. The horses they help train are bought up quickly, to the tune of $16,000 to $18,000.

On this recent Saturday morning, a young Australian named Nathan Day is quietly giving tips to the European students gathered in the relative warmth of the sprawling ranch arena. Scattered about, the students are working through a variety of techniques with the young quarter horses under their charge.

Day wanders over to talk about La Cense Montana and the vision of its owner, William Kriegel of France. La Cense is the name of Kriegel's farm in France.

Day, 27, started riding horses when he was 14 in his native Australia. At the time, he couldn't have guessed where that first step up into the saddle would lead.

Since then, Day has trained Olympics-bound dressage horses in France, fought bulls as a rodeo clown in North America and worked side by side with the visionaries who started the program at La Cense.

"I was here with Ronnie Willis as part of the first crew in Montana," Day said. "Natural horsemanship has always made sense to me."