“I was born in the saddle,” the American horse trainer Monty Roberts says of his upbringing in an equestrian family. From a young age, Roberts was disturbed by the harsh “breaking” methods traditionally used to discipline horses, and he pledged to find a different, gentler approach. He developed a method that relies on silent body language, mirroring the horses’ natural, predictable movements. His innovative technique caught the attention of an unlikely ally: in 1989, Queen Elizabeth II sought to witness his work firsthand. Their friendship, which blossomed from this encounter, helped spread Roberts’s approach worldwide. In a new documentary directed and produced by Academy Award nominee Andrea Blaugrund Nevins, Roberts, now 89, reflects on his poignant journey and the friendship that changed his life. —Jeanne Malle