Linda Parelli's horse dies

I know it's been awhile, but I did want to post that me and my daughters have been Parelli followers for some years and have attended several conferences and at NO TIME have I heard them say, "If you do this our way accidents won't happen". Even Pat isn't that cocky! Their philosophy is simply this - put the relationship first and one way you can accomplish this is by working through 7 games horses "play" out in the wild. The end goal? Getting your horse to perform for you because they want to as they would for the alpha mare out in the herd, out of respect, not out of fear because they see you as a predator. That's it in a nutshell. At no point during the teachings of this philosophy do they encourage you to believe a horse is not a horse, in fact, they teach the exact opposite. That West Point acted like a horse, Parelli gets it, big time. That his foundation training was so destructive, I'd give that more credit for his demise - once that damage is done, sure is hard to correct! We have an off-the-track thoroughbred and it took us over a year to get her to let us show her affection and show some tolerance for humans in her space. We've had her 5 years now and what a difference patience and persistence has made. My 14 yr. old can hug her, kiss her face, and hang on her. She was so much horse when we got her we almost gave her back, but we stuck it out, worked the program a little at a time, and I'm sure lovin' what I see between my kid and that mare. Good stuff. Is Parelli the only way to go? NO. Lots of natural horsemanship trainers out there and others that take the time to put that relationship first. Bravo to all who do! And aren't those horses grateful too :)
 
I must reply to this, any good horseperson will and should give a damaged(mentally) horse as much time as it takes,whether months or years, a horse like a dog or child that has been abused, don't give their trust to you, you have to earn it.
 
I let a person ride my mare up the farm fields, she didn't cope & fell off. My mare galloped backed to the stables & tried to hurdle a metal gate. Didn't make the height, she somersaulted over it leaving a bent gate & scratched/very sore horse but she was in one piece.

A friends horse managed to entwine its leg around the bars of the gate (put leg through, then back around next rung, no idea how). Firebrigade had to cut her out. Permanent damage, valuable show welsh d became worthless, had nerve damage in leg, months of box rest. Ended up someones hack.
 
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