Parelli Natural Horsemanship - Opinions please

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Kate260881

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I've just got a new 5 year old warmblood mare who is a real sweety. She is quite sensitive though and isn't too keen on being tied up prefering to feel a bit free-er. She hasn't got a nasty bone in her body but I feel could be a bit flightly if given half a chance. I've been really looking into both Monty Roberts and Parelli horsemanship styles to try with her as when we tried join up in the round pen (a first for both of us) it worked fantastically and she really likes to stick to my shoulder now when loose.

But with the Parelli horsemanship I've heard very mixed reviews. Some of the concepts I really think are very interesting and certainly seem to make sense but others I think are maybe a bit of a stretch for someone who has been so classically trained, certainly with the riding. I'm interested enough to see about getting hold of the videos and training materials but wondered if anybody had any good/bad experiences with this before I shelled out the cash.
 
Here we go again! This thread will grow and grow and grow!!!

I personally wouldn't waste my time with it..... but there are others out there who use it...... I prefer riding my horses tho instead of playing games!
 
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I personally wouldn't waste my time with it..... but there are others out there who use it...... I prefer riding my horses tho instead of playing games!

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Ditto.
Plus a good dose of common sense serves the same purpose
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But with the Parelli horsemanship I've heard very mixed reviews. Some of the concepts I really think are very interesting and certainly seem to make sense but others I think are maybe a bit of a stretch for someone who has been so classically trained, certainly with the riding.

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There's the rub - there's a lot of inverted bending going on in Parelli - one of my more classically trained teachers reckons that all Parelli-d horses are functionally lame by the time they reach level 3

For someone who combines sane, useful NH with classical riding, try CHARLIE WILSON - he's English (which has to be good
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), and is based in Yorkshire. If you do a web search, you'll find his site...

NH is fine, it's just that we don't necessarily need cowboys to do it - and are often better without

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Hehe, yeah I thought this may have been discussed before. I'm not so keen on the 'circus tricks' that Parelli does but I really think this is a mare that I'm going to have to get her 100% on my side in order to get the best out of her. And as its still early days want to give her the best (and calmest) start I can.
 
Ok, I'm not an expert on Parelli but from what I know it sounds like a rip-off. I do have one piece of first-hand experience though; my tb mare came from a Parelli owner and I am 99% sure that Parelli and that damned carrot stick turned her loading-shy; it took us an hour and a half to get her into our box. I was able to speak to her previous owner to that, and apparently she loaded perfectly before. I'd stick with Monty Roberts/Kelly Marks.
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Yeah, reading that other thread it appears a lot of people agree with me. I'm going to read up on Parelli a bit because I'm a bit 'horse rusty' as its been about 3 years since my last one, but I do think it is essentially expensive common sense. But maybe my common sense is rusty and needs a jump start.
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And I really don't agree with the way they ride.. the fluidity concept seems to be the opposite of that to me.

I do think Monty Roberts seems to be the better way to go and as I said we've already managed join-up and follow-up (and I've only had her 4 days)
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I think a huge problem with these kind of things is that people do seem to think that their way is the only 'correct' way of doing things when each trainer/rider/instructor has different aspects of good horse sense that we can all use at home.
 
No doubt at all that Parelli helps people to understand their horses and work through their problems but it does seem like a lot of waffle...with all the books, dvds, etc...and its so expensive.
Anybody taking on a horse should have a decent understanding of the horses mind and instincts so if you have a problem, a good book and some guidance from a trainer should help.

Im not sure about Ovidius saying ' I prefer riding my horses tho instead of playing games!'. Groundwork certainly does help ridden work and anything that you do on the ground can be done in the saddle. I think anybody who take the time to be a good horseman is much better than most modern methods. And I dont know why they call it 'natural' horsemanship, they are domesticated animals and nothing we do with them is 'natural'.
 
I have just started doing a few bits of Natural Horsemanship with Baron. I take bits from different sources and use it to my advantage with Baron. He lacks a lot of confidence when I try and hack him alone and he naps, I am finding it is so far working well. Before doing this I had tried everything, and I mean everything, even having proffesionals down to help me. He is not naughty, he just lack confidence, he will go if I have a big battle with him but he is scared stiff and very tense. My battle usually consists of walking backwards, spinning circles and a few buck and a very scared horse. This is not what I want, I want my horse to feel happy and confident and enjoy a hack.

I dont play games with him, or mess around with carrot sticks. I basically just use the halter and get him to move where I ask him to to enable him to trust me and trust that where I ask him to move is safe.

I do think a lot of it is pretty useless stuff and a waste of time, but taking bits and using it to sort problems out is good. After all there is no harm in giving it a go.
 
I think that if you want to do Parelli and make it work then you need to do a bit more than just dabble. I have seen several friends try it - only two have taken it to heart and had their whole lifestyle change that seems to go with parelli. Parelli does seem to have set itself up so that you have to have all their principles - and if you don't then they will tell you that you are failing your horse

However - I think that if you are talking general natural horsemanship (not necessarily monty roberts) then you can pick out the sections that are applicable and take them out of context to use as approriate for you in your situation. This is because a lot of natural horsemanship is common Sense - nothing more, nothing less.

I think with the huge number of people that own horses in this country, and a lot of them need a lot of help with their horses. This is not to say that these people do not have common sense, but they do not necessarily have common sense with their horses (I am, by the way, including myself in this!!!!) A lot of people will allow a perfectly good horse to be ruined by not laying ground rules, and so the horse becomes bad mannered. With a lot of horses, if they think that they can get away with being rude in the stable they will start to try it on when being ridden.
I have been to see richard maxwell and monty roberts demos, and although they are very interesting, and very thought provoking and inspiring to me to over come my challenges with my horses, I won't even use every single practice that either of these two. I have used techniques from Monty roberts for loading, which meant that I could load my mare single handed in 2 seconds flat - but i didn't like richard maxwells loading techniques.
I liked richard maxwells techniques that allowed you to work without a round pen. I would love a round pen - but realistically its not going to happen.
These demos and the like are great for giving pointers to people who maybe lack common sense with their horse. But I think you need to know what is best for your horse ultimately. I think these techniques are a bit like saddles - not every technique will suit every horse.

Just my 2p worth!
 
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...And I dont know why they call it 'natural' horsemanship, they are domesticated animals and nothing we do with them is 'natural'.

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True, except natural horsemanship is a term used to refer to trying to keep as well as interact with our horses as closely to how they would chose to live in the wild as is reasonably possible

We are always going to have a certain amount of dilemma, because in a natural situation herds would roam free, never see a vet and never be ridden. It really depends how far you take it, doesn't it... If I had my own and limitless money, I'd have them barefoot in a herd out 24/7 with a wide mixture of herbage (nothing poisonous) and try whenever possible to avoid using chemicals on them. I'd ride in a treeless saddle and ride out without a bit with no danger of roads or dogs/people/hazards (because with my lots of money I'd have a private estate!!!) *off into dream world*

What I have (with my share horse) is being lucky enough to have them out 24/7 in a herd but wearing rugs (or else would never ride), suplement whatever grass that will grow, shod in front as neither I nor the owner want to spend £100+ on those boots that might or might not get lost in the boggy woods, and I do a mixture of NH playing and riding and dressage/hacking etc. Don't get me started on insecticides and chemicals in fly sprays, we have a horendous problem with flies and we use whatever works. I think its a perfect happy medium, everything complements everything else.

... true natural horsemanship with the way you handle & ride them is just one piece of the natural horsemanship jigsaw.

nb in case you missed my comments on the last thread, I am not a parelli fan.
 
I did quite a lot of Parelli (up to level 3) a few years back but got sick of it. It was costing so much money and its an all or nothing thing - you can't do 'normal' things with your horse if you follow the programme fully. For example, any lesson etc you have just contradicts what Parelli says and it all ends up being a waste of time.
I like the idea of thinking a bit more about your body language etc (but thats common sense really anyway) and it helped me at the time with a young horse but has no place once you get confident riding.
 
QR someone recently posted some very interesting stuff about join up etc and the opposing POV that it isnt actually very natural and can cause learned helplessness and other problems in some horses. not a technique I would use on something thats already at a certain level or one thats very sensitive. Just MO though!
 
I have dabbled a bit and found Kelly marks book very very good, and so easy to read and follow. I loved MR's demos, havent been to a Richard Maxwell so cant comment.

I have a work collegue who does Parelli, she has given me a demo, and whilst it is good for her because she cannot always ride due to health problems. To me it seems a bit restrictive, I just want to have a 'normal' riding relationship with my horse.

The woman is totaly obsessed with Parelli to the point where at work, no other horse owners will not mention their horse in front of her. She critisises averything anyone does and god forbid anyone mention a problem, for example I got a comment at my last dressage comp that my mare was on the forhand in downwards transitions, well apparently if I dont ride her for a year and do x y and z it will cure that totaly.....

She has a lovely pony that I have always known. It was perfecty well mannered when she got it despite being broken and schooled using conventianl methods!

I may be painting all parelli folk with the same brush, sorry if you are a Parelli bod who is not phsyco - perhaps its just this lady who is rude.
 
I went to a Parelli Demo once and only once so I am baseing this observation on a once only experience but the biggest impression that leapt out at me was that her horses (she had two) looked totally programmed, trance like, robot like, defeated and I was left with the feeling that Parelli is not my cup of tea at all. Don't get me wrong some of the 'tricks' she did were quite impressive but the horses just stood there zombie like.

I like horses to be alive, the sort that say 'you want me to do WHAT' but then I am into arabs!!
 
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I went to a Parelli Demo once and only once so I am baseing this observation on a once only experience but the biggest impression that leapt out at me was that her horses (she had two) looked totally programmed, trance like, robot like, defeated

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That's the 'parelli look' perfectly described. Very sad - not that other people can't dull their horses down to a flattened pancake, just that nobody else seems to set out to do it...

do try Charlie Wilson - he's very good, really... http://www.sinningtonmanor.co.uk/

he's had a book out recently - very sweet and quite readable.

also read Tom Widdicombe - his book's excellent

you really don't have to be a cowboy to treat horses decently
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Any one of the named 'natural' proefessionals will be able to help you understand the horse better, work with the behaviour you find when you enter the yard/field and in some cases give you a different way of riding. In my experience all the horses that I have seen at demo's of the various natural types have all been very happy looking, relaxed and willing (by the end anyway) They tend not to have very high spirits because they are relaxed, and a therefore well behaved.

The ground skills are essential - whichever route you take - these support what goes on in the horses head when you are on his back and you dont have to ride 'differently' if you dont want to go there.

Just as a matter of interest, on eof the horses and riders at the next Paralympics is a Parelli horse with a Parelli rider - on the US Olympic Dressage team - so you can compete at a high level and do Parelli, but it takes a long while to get there!
 
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