DON'T call Miss Sarah Kreutzer a horse whisperer, because her language is a silent one which anyone can learn.

In fact it was only when she learned to listen to what horses were trying to tell her, that she experienced real communication.

Miss Kreutzer spent 3 years, both in this country and America, as a student of Monty Roberts, the author of the The Man Who Listens to Horses. His knowledge has helped him rehabilitate horses and bridge the gap between them and their owners.

She is now back at the family farm outside Masham, where she is devoting herself to spreading the word, after becoming a complete convert.

It was a taste of tragedy that acted as a catalyst in her own attitude to life.

In April, 1996, she and her friend, Miss Alex Nixon, were riding on a remote dales road when two Chinook helicopters spooked their horses. Miss Nixon, who was 27, was thrown and hit her head. She died later in hospital.

"When I got over the initial horror of the whole thing I had to deal with a lot of guilt," said Miss Kreutzer, aged 28. "I was holding the horses and I couldn't stop it.

"I needed all the help of my family to get over it and when I did, I decided to make it a positive thing. I put all I can into every day. That is why I love this work so much.

"It was pure coincidence I got in touch with Monty. My mum went to a demonstration in Harrogate and bought me the book for Christmas."

She admits it was only the third book she had read in her life. The other two were Jilly Cooper's Riders and Polo.

"I never had time to read and I still don't. All I knew about Monty before that was that he could get a horse to do anything he wanted in half an hour. I thought 'Don't be ridiculous.'

"In fact it is so easy. It is all about learning to listen. The fabulous thing about Monty is that he is so keen to share what he knows with anyone. That is why he trained me. It changes your whole attitude to life.

"Anyhow, I read the book and couldn't wait to go out and try it. I have a video of 'starting' my first horse. Other trainers call it breaking - as in spirit - but we don't believe in that."

She got in touch with Kelly Marks, who ran Monty Roberts' courses, and went down for ten weeks in 1997. She was one of a few chosen to go out to the author's Californian farm for two months.

"I went there with the attitude that I knew all there was to know. I could ride any horse there was to ride. I could hardly get my head through the door, it was so big," she admitted.

"But I arrived about the same time as El Nino. We had big thunderstorms, no hot water or electricity. I worked and rode ten hours a day.

"I discovered muscles in my body I didn't know existed. I got kicked in the leg and thrown off by horses that reared and bucked. It was a fantastic learning experience for me."

She came home to practise on any horses she could get her hands on and went back to the States a few months later, first of all into the desert to learn from another trainer.

"I had worked with Monty on the ground and I wanted to learn more on top of the horse. I did some work starting colts who were to become polo and race- horses. Some of it was quite scary."

When she went back to visit the Roberts' farm, she was told they were desperate for instructors and people to write courses.

"We set up the Monty Roberts international learning centre. He gave us a licence to get it all started. He opened the gates and said 'It's all yours'."

It was learning on the hoof and the courses were refined and improved as they went on.

Since she came back to North Yorkshire last June, she has held some small clinics to help individuals with problem horses.

"It is all about reading body language and establishing a two-way trust. We give other people the confidence to come and try it out.

"I tell them I am not going to take away what you know. We are going to build on it. We are going to make it better."

Where riders use whips as an equestrian aid, she uses a plastic bag. "It doesn't cause any pain and it can do the same thing. It is just education.

"I don't want to be called a whisperer. I want to be an educator and communicator. I am very lucky in getting to do exactly what I want to do. It is my dream and I get to do it every day."

This summer there will be two Monty Roberts introductory courses and throughout the year there are clinics and an open day on April 1.

She has set up her own business with the e-mail address learningtoliste