Natural Horsemanship

Usarider I notice you are new welcome to the forum.
Hopefully if there are some Parelli and CA followers who are members of this forum they will reply.
 
Welcome to the boards - I'm an ex-American :p who moved to Ireland not quite ten years ago. Parelli's reputation is shaky here, and the term 'natural horsemanship' is seen as being a bit loaded, IME. Lots of people are familiar with western disciplines, and are interested in people like Brannaman and Rashid, who do clinics here, but even they don't use that term. Some people use Parelli methods, but most people I know are not impressed by him or his approach, and find him macho, dominating and intolerant, despite his rhetoric. Many people here would find 'classical' (also loaded I know) methods a sound way of working, and also a 'natural' way, in that they emphasise slow, progressive, sympathetic development of the horse's body and mind, no matter the discipline you aspire to. I've been working with a dressage coach and his attitude is very similar to some of the things I've heard Mark Rashid say when I went to his clinics. Horsemanship, by definition, is not 'natural' in the strict sense - the point is, how do we do the best by the partners we take into our care and work with as half a team no matter what we do with them. You might have a look at Kelly Marks, who makes an interesting bridge between 'natural horsemanship' and more traditional approaches.
 
I have a lot of time for Kelly Marks' very commonsense approach to horsemanship. Also like Buck Brannaman, Mark Rashid. NH as a buzzword is a bit of a 'red rag to a bull' on here! :D
I personally do not like the way Parelli works and his wife really gets my back up. That said, one of my liveries does Parelli and her little horse has really benefitted by it. Of course she would probably have benefitted by any appropriate method used kindly and sensibly.
Lots of food for thought on here, usarider, if you do a thread search.
 
I studied Parelli starting about 15 years ago. His original programme for humans to learn horsemanship is excellent. Unfortunately Parrelli Inc has destroyed all the good that Pat did when he was starting out. And of course both Pat and Linda are human and make mistakes as we all do......so I have moved on. But the 7 games and his principles and responsibilites are still the basis of my beliefs. And I think they are probably the beliefs you all would go along with if you think about it .....when I first started what I was being told was what I was told as a child. But it was all put into a logical sequence and we started to understand things that, as a child, we took for granted. Such as advance and retreat. Reward every try. Start soft and increase the pressure in phases. The trouble is that people who haven't looked at the programme, look at people who are learning and judge the programme from the beginner students!! You wouldn't look at me riding and evaluate Grand Prix dressage studies!!! So, as with the barefoot/shod debates, everyone needs to keep an open mind!!!
 
I do, but I tend to pick and mix what I feel is most useful from a wide range of sources - some more classical, some more traditional and some 'NH' - to suit my horses and I needs.

I am having a whale of a time continuing to learn and my horse has certainly improved massively.

I like to think I don't blindly subscribe to any one person - I am a huge fan of Monty Roberts, but not all his ideas are quite relevant for me. Equally, some of what Parelli or Perry Wood. teaches isn't quite for me but I have taken much positives from both of them - and many more teachers besides!
 
Thank you for the replies. I was just curious if people were into the whole Parelli/Clinton thing over on the other side of the pond. Here in the U.S. we have some people that are really obsessed with one or the other.
 
I have an interest in Natural Horsemanship and I've used some of the techniques with great success. The more I do though the more I side with Monty Roberts / Kelly Marks
As Debsg says
I have a lot of time for Kelly Marks' very commonsense approach to horsemanship.
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I feel they are keen to genuinely help horse owners.

The issue I've started to have with Parelli is the cost of their DVDs and literature - it suggests you need to spend c.£1000 on hours of this stuff to progress anywhere. Also having watched on horse and country tv the series on the Parelli World Tour, I don't think they are particularly gentle and the horses they are starting don't look that calm and happy!!!

I could watch Monty and Kelly Marks all day though!!!
 
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