stuck on a Carrot Stick?

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mrsdoyal

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Watching the parelli people that i know working/playing with their horses, it strikes me that though the fundamental principle of parelli is good, people can go wrong with it. What i see is bored, switched off horses that barely progress, and owners who think that if its not working its because they arent doing it properly. This leads to them religiously repeating the exercises over and over (not wanting to deviate from the text book/video) which makes the horse even less receptive and the owner feel more inadequate.


Some of the parellis i know admit to being stuck but feel they cant progress until the next clinic (there's a fee even if you just want to sit in and watch) and they cant afford to go to usa to do the much coverted long courses. They spend a fortune as it is on the parelli stuff (someone's making a whole lotta dollars....). In the meantime they'd love someone to help, but i get the feeling that to them if its not a parelli or "natural horseman" its not going to go down as "good".

Anybody know why Charlotte Dennis left parelli to create a different method? And did parelli remake the original videos and why? Isn't that interesting...

ps Disclaimer : my comments apply only to what i have seen and in no way disrespects parelli or people practising parelli. Whew!



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I've always believed there's more than one way to skin a cat. And although I say I practice natural horsemanship - I don't follow, parelli, monty or anyone else, I just do what the horses have taught me to do if that makes sense????!!

I relate what you say to all those people who religiously follow BHS ways surely thats the same princaple but with different methods, views, ethos etc????

If those Parelli people (that you mention, I've never had contact with Parelli or its followers just what I've read in magazines) are stuck - is it because of their own lack of self confidence and belief in themselves and there abilities. AND surely its wrong that these instructors are teaching their pupils that they can't move forward with the horses without their instruction????

I've never understood how anyone gets so wrapped up in there's only one way. But hey-ho, maybe I'm one of those and too damn blind and set in my ways to see it???????????
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Apologies if caused any offence by my opinions. It is only my opinion from my own experiences.
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[ QUOTE ]
I've always believed there's more than one way to skin a cat. And although I say I practice natural horsemanship - I don't follow, parelli, monty or anyone else, I just do what the horses have taught me to do if that makes sense????!!

I relate what you say to all those people who religiously follow BHS ways surely thats the same princaple but with different methods, views, ethos etc????

If those Parelli people (that you mention, I've never had contact with Parelli or its followers just what I've read in magazines) are stuck - is it because of their own lack of self confidence and belief in themselves and there abilities. AND surely its wrong that these instructors are teaching their pupils that they can't move forward with the horses without their instruction????

I've never understood how anyone gets so wrapped up in there's only one way. But hey-ho, maybe I'm one of those and too damn blind and set in my ways to see it???????????
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Apologies if caused any offence by my opinions. It is only my opinion from my own experiences.
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Michelle, I think you've summed up perfectly what a lot of people feel.
I've never understood this 'my way or the highway' approach either.
 
All horses are individuals and need to be treated as such. What works for one does not work for another so I don't see how anyone can go down any route in particular without listening and watching for the horses response to make sure it is happy and working with your ideas.
I know someone that became totally obsessed by Parelli and started doing the stages and it destryoed her in the end and she ended up selling her horse because it went terribly wrong one day when riding in a rope halter thingy.
I have spent hours upon hours with my horse working from the ground on such things as desensitising, manners, movement and games. I just took my time and started at a basic level and only progressed when I knew my horse was comfortable with each stage...there was no name for this or method, it was just common sense and patience. It did him wonders but might not suit every horse!
 
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All horses are individuals and need to be treated as such.
I have spent hours upon hours with my horse working from the ground on such things as desensitising, manners, movement and games. I just took my time and started at a basic level and only progressed when I knew my horse was comfortable with each stage...there was no name for this or method, it was just common sense and patience. It did him wonders but might not suit every horse!

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Common sense and patience suits every horse
 
The issues you are raising have been answered several times in the recent discussions about Parelli here.
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Basically, any "system" or training approach needs a little bit of common sense from the students for it to work. Anyone drilling the Parelli "games" or waiting for the next lesson before doing anything else is neither using their common sense, or following the Parelli programme.
If you want to know why Charlotte Dennis, Richard Marriot and Dave Stewart changed from being a Parelli agency to Equine Ethology why not email Dave or Charlotte and ask them? I suspect they were just responding to what they thought the market wanted, which was a more flexible approach to natural horsemanship. Also - I doubt very much that they were making much of a living being a Parelli agency! The running costs tend to be far higher than the income.
 
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All horses are individuals and need to be treated as such

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Whilst I agree with that quote I disagree that they all need an indivdually tailored version of Parelli(or other 'horse language') or what have you. Say for example Shaun Ellis, every wolf is different but they all speak the same language...the same can be said for horses.
 
Severnmiles - I agree. Horses do speak the same language but different horses may interpret our actions very differently. This is why what works for one doesn't work for another. I've practiced IH/NH for some time now. Started with Parelli but I mix up different methods to get results. Its not always easy but the end result is there. Parelli is an excellent starting point but I admit I got stuck in places and needed to find other idea's to move the training onto the next level. I don't bother so much now as I have a nice, well behaved mare and I don't feel I need to keep achieving more and more- its Ok to stop when you've got what you want out of it.
Applying NH training to everyday ridden work is not always as easy as it looks and thats where Parelli falls down a bit.
 
I agree with you if you are talking about Parelli, but not if you are talking about the wider world of NH. I study mainly with Steve Halfpenny from Silversand and his instructors now, and the link to ridden work is very clear and happens right from the start. There really is no conflict with my everyday ridden work and I've had real breakthroughs with helping myself and my horses to lovely light ridden work. There's no "seven games" either... I would say the same for Mark Rashid, although he really hates to be labelled NH, his approach is pretty consistent and he helps people with their daily ridden work all the time.

I'm not a great Parelli fan, but I do know that "Parelli" works for Pat Parelli with every horse he encounters. So maybe when Parelli students need to take from elsewhere for their individual horse then that's more down to how they are using his programme? But personally for me Parelli is rather inflexible, it can be harsh, and I hate the ridden work that Linda teaches!
 
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