THE COWBOY AND THE QUEEN & QUEENS AND COWBOYS!

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Two very different films with very similar sounding titles demonstrate just how horses help kick down all sorts of barriers, from class to culture to sexual stereotypes.

THE COWBOY AND THE QUEEN (2023)
Directed, written and produced by Andrea Nevins
QUEENS & COWBOYS: A Straight Year on the Gay Rodeo (2014)
Directed and written by Matt Livadry

In The Cowboy and The Queen, there are two Montys — one was a corgi, the other a cowboy, and Queen Elizabeth was very fond of both of them. The cowboy was Monty Roberts, from Salinas, California, who had a long friendship with the Queen right up until her death in 2022.

She had heard about his training methods in the 1980s, which were described as “emphasising gentle communication between horses and handler”. In 1989 she approached him to train 23 of her young horses at Windsor Castle – she was impressed; the unlikely duo bonded immediately. For the next 33 years Monty would give advice over the phone, or in person at the Queen’s stables.

The film poster for 'The Cowboy and the Queen'. Image supplied.

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“Here was a story
of perseverance…”

This unique relationship and details of Monty Roberts’ early life, his training techniques and achievements, the detractors and supporters, are all chronicled in The Cowboy and the Queen, a recent 84-minute award-winning documentary directed by American filmmaker Andrea Nevins.

“I was interviewing him for another story but he kept referring to his life history, and as I drove from his ranch I realised that was the film I really wanted to make,” she recalled. “It was the middle of the pandemic and a month later I was diagnosed with breast cancer, but despite all the Covid restrictions and my chemotherapy, I convinced my old film crew to work with me, and I promised my family I’d drink lots of water and wear a hat on my balding head! Here was a story of perseverance against the strong winds of a negative prevailing culture.”

TRIVIA:
In his early years Roberts worked as a trainer and stuntman in the film industry where, among others, he doubled for Roddy McDowall in My Friend Flicka.

In the preliminary royal meeting, Roberts, who is now aged 89, had demonstrated the art of cutting. “I wore chaps and my hat to work the cattle and each time I spoke with the Queen I took off my hat. After the fourth time she said: ‘Monty, not all men must take them off when speaking with me. The military bodyguards here don’t do it as they’re in uniform’. She then tapped me on the shoulder and announced: ‘I dub this your royal uniform’.”

Monty Roberts provided training advice to Queen Elizabeth for 33 years. Image by Tim Rooke - REX Shutterstock.

In the beginning, while some in the royal household were sceptical of the American and his “join-up” method, the Queen immediately accepted him wholeheartedly. By 1996 she sent him on a tour of Great Britain where he worked with 98 horses in 30 days, and it was she who encouraged him to write The Man Who Listens to Horses and connected him to a publisher. (Since 1997 it has sold more than six million copies.) Like other trainers this horseman still has his disapproving critics, but the response to the documentary has been very positive with reviewers using words like “powerful”, “moving”, and “enlightening”.

“The response to the documentary
has been very positive…”

Filming 'The Cowboy and The Queen'. Image supplied.

TRIVIA:
In 2011 Roberts was made an honorary Member of the Royal Victorian Order, an honour bestowed on those who have served the Queen or the monarchy in a personal way.

The corgi named Monty was very disobedient. He was a Pembroke Welsh, as were the other royal dogs, but a difficult one. “He had a mind of his own,” said Roberts. “I trained him by the same method I use on the horses and he came right. He went on to appear in the London Olympics film.” Made in 2012 for the Opening Ceremony, the Queen appeared with James Bond (Daniel Craig) and her cluster of corgis. It was a great success.

(Most of Her Majesty’s deceased dogs are in the pet cemetery at Sandringham. Thirteen-year-old Monty, for some reason, was buried at Balmoral after he died some months after the filming).

The Queen appeared with James Bond (Daniel Craig) and her cluster of corgis in a film for the London Olympics. Image supplied.

‘BREAKING STEREOTYPES’

It is unlikely that over the years Monty Roberts had much to do with the International Gay Rodeo Association (IGRA). Founded in 1985 in Colorado, it endorses a policy of total non-discrimination. “Breaking stereotypes” is its motto and its circuit spreads from California to Oklahoma. Competitors don’t have to be gay they just need to be of legal age. It holds contests common throughout the conventional rodeo world but, unlike most traditional shows, women and men can participate in all IGRA events.

“I knew its rodeos had to
be far more interesting.”

The film poster for 'Queens & Cowboys'. Image supplied.

This world fascinated and inspired straight documentary maker Matt Livadry, who had initially started out to develop a story about regular professional rodeos. “I became immediately addicted to those but had to admit the traditional environment was fairly homogeneous,” Livadry recalls. “It would be very difficult to be ‘out’ or even in a minority at these shows and when I heard about the IGRA I knew its rodeos had to be far more interesting. There’s music, dancing, vendors and entertainment, as well as some creative fundraising,” he adds.

TRIVIA:
In 1982, the National Gay Rodeo finals attracted more than 10,000 spectators; Joan Rivers was the grand marshal.

Livadry describes how on one rainy weekend in Chicago a popular drag queen allowed a tractor to haul her through a muddy arena to raise $750 for the Trevor Project, a suicide prevention organisation for LGBTQ+ young people. “All the money the IGRA makes from its rodeos are donated to charity, so the purses which riders win are very small compared to the prize money on the professional circuits.”

His 93-minute film depicts one season of the rodeo concentrating on a handful of its participants as they struggle with both professional and personal issues. One of the riders featured is Wade Earp and, yes, he is distantly related to the Wild West’s gunfighting gambler. He travels around the country, often with his old horse Digit, competing in bareback bronc and bull-riding events. He is also a dance champion (the country two-step), and was inducted into the IGRA Hall of Fame in 2015.

Wade Earp in action. Image supplied.

“At first, I was really worried about how we’d be portrayed,” he says. “I was afraid it was just going to be a gay movie, but when I finally saw it, the film is about people’s everyday lives.”

Then there is single mother and rodeo clown, Char Duran, who has a regular job to support her bull-riding habit. “It’s the scariest rollercoaster you’ve ever been on,” she admits. “There are no seatbelts, and you have to hold on with one hand.” She is determined to win a buckle before she gets too old.

TRIVIA:
The composer of the doco’s music is credited as Joachim Cooder, son of the legendary musician, Ry Cooder.

Also prominent is Chris Sherman, who grew up in a small town in Oklahoma. He received a scholarship from a junior college to compete in roping. On the first day of practise no one would rope with him because he was gay. He lost the scholarship and transferred schools.

The documentary won many awards including Best Documentary at the 2014 Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Said the judges: “It was a difficult decision because this year’s documentary roster was so strong. Ultimately, we chose Queens and Cowboys because of its strong story, directing, editing, camerawork, use of music and its strong heart. It was an entertaining, courageous, moving, thought-provoking film that upends just about every gay prejudice and stereotype.”

“This whole film taught me that no matter how open-minded we might consider ourselves, it’s important to step outside our respective bubbles once in a while just as a reminder that we’re all the same,” says the director.

Queens & Cowboys: A Straight Year on the Gay Rodeo, can be streamed online on Tubi TV. The Cowboy and the Queen is available on Peacock, Prime Video & Tubi TV.

Next time in Horses & Movies, The Artful Dodger, Disney+ 2023 — made in Australia.

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