About natural horsemanship

I have been reading about natural horsemanship developed by author Monty Roberts, and I am aware that he has many critics. Some argue that the method is not truly “gentle,” but rather another form of conditioning. For me, however, this distinction does not change much, because the intention behind the method is to train horses in a way that avoids excessive aggression during the breaking and training process.

I have been riding for many years, although I have not yet purchased my own horse. When I do, the decision will be based on several criteria that I still intend to study more carefully.

At the moment, my question is whether anyone here has practical experience with natural horsemanship. Does it actually produce good results? And is the training process significantly longer compared to more traditional horse-breaking and training methods?

Note: I am Brazilian, from the southern region of the country, where there is a long-standing tradition of very harsh horse breaking