What exactly is parelli, and why does everyone seem to hate it?

[icyfreya]

Saw an add up in the tack shop for a woman who does natural horsemanship, and she came up to see my boy today, as she said she could do some despoooking. Anyway, when she arrived she told me some stuff about what she does, and she follows parelli, etc.

The session was really good, Micks seemed to really enjoy it (he loves learning to do new things and then showing off that he can do them haha), and at the end of the session we had him freely walking over and standing on tarps, going up to a bouncing yoga ball, and plastic bags being waved on sticks etc. So it seems to have made him a little more confident in himself. It was very free and laid back, no force involved, if he didn't want to go near something he didn't have to. So I thought it was quite good.

When I mentioned to some friends that this parelli woman had been out, they all laughed at me and said parelli was stupid and a waste of time. Ditto with one of the other liveries, when I mentioned it to her, she said she was not a fan. However they did not say why. I get from the general consensus on here that people aren't very fond of parelli/natural horsemanship either, and i don't know why? What exactly does 'parelli' involve and why don't people like it? Sorry if im opening a can of worms, just want to know why it's a bit taboo

 

[FoxTrotx]

I'm sure people here will give you a good idea of both sides of the coin so you can decide for yourself.

I, myself, am not a fan and think my mare would probably flatten Mr Parelli if he tried some of the things I've seen him and his so called wife do to horses.

But like I said some people really rate it

 

[team barney]

The way Pat and Linda treat horses, and the way a large percentage of their follows treat horses disgusts me

A few reasons...

The think it acceptable to rag a half blind horse around the head with a rope,

The hit every horse featured in their DVD's multiple times, using with a mixture of rope and stick weapons as well as their bare hands.

Backing and riding immature two year olds in the shortest time frame possible and in front of crowds just so the can sell tickets.

Teach their students how to "wiggle" the rope so the metal clip smacks their horse in the jaw with full power.

They way they treated Catwalk.

Jumping tiny foals over large solid obstacles.

I could go on.

 

[*hic*]

Parelli is an amazing marketing model.

Parelli is the modern day Emperor's New Clothes

 

[Spudlet]

Not so much a can of worms as a whole vat of them!

OP, best to have a good look into it and make your own mind up I think

 

[team barney]

Parelli is the modern day Emperor's New Clothes

Except the emperor's new clothes didn't cause anyone any harm...

 

[just-me]

I bought the old style level 1 pack when at my wits end with a very nervous reactive horse & It made a huge difference to him.

Its a good system in that it is easy to understand and in a building block format. Having said that i don't like the parelli's as people! and they are very much sell, sell, sell

I took the methods but tweaked them to my horse - if the horse didn't understand i would give it time & repeat rather than jumping up though phases. I was never going to hit him with the carrot stick or wack him round the face with a heavy snap!

The natural horsemen I really like Mark Rashid and Buck Brannaman

 

[Monkers]

I don't know enough about Parelli to like or dislike it or form much of an opinion on it, but......

I have had several of my liveries over the last 10 years or so that are fans and were into it to a greater or lesser degree. I have to say in my objective opinion that the horses didn't seem to have a clue what was happening and I even saw one lunge at his fairly experienced NH owner and bite her quite hard.

These same owners would also see me handling and riding horses using a fairly common sense "normal" approach. They would then ask me why I was using Parelli on them. I wasn't!
I do wonder if some normal, traditional methods have been dressed up, and re-labled as something new.

 

[QueenOfCadence]

Personally don't like Parelli as I've seen him hobble a horse and force it to the ground just so that he could touch his head - apparently this would cure the horse of it's head shyness (I think not).

In the end though it's not so much the method as it is who's using it. I'm a big fan on Monty Roberts but I've seen some of his fans do some pretty dogdy things too...

Just like bits - it depends who's hands it's in. If you know your horse well and you treat it with kindness and respect; then I see no reason to not try the Parelli methods, as long as you're aware of all the negatives that it's been having.

 

[Fellewell]

Parelli is an amazing marketing model.

Parelli is the modern day Emperor's New Clothes

Parelli would have been better off as a principal with The Bolshoi Ballet Co.
Am I on the wrong thread again?
Pass us that bottle

 

[JFTDWS]

him and his so called wife

Whilst I am no fan of them or their methods, I don't think we can dispute their marital status - unless you know something I don't about their relationship?

 

[Enfys]

I suggest you Google it and make up your own mind, there are loads of clips on You Tube.

I think Parelli it is like everything else, some of it works for some people, some of it doesn't and some is just a bit extreme.
Everyone can learn from it, even if that acquired knowledge is that it is something you wouldn't do, or want to have done to your horse.

 

[Shantara]

I have a friend who's in to Parelli. She doesn't stick to his exact rules though and this seems to work wonders for her horses (She doesn't hit them). Very pleased with what she's achieved, even if she does prattle on about him an awful lot XD

 

[JadeWisc]

The natural horsemen I really like Mark Rashid and Buck Brannaman

Did you happen to see the documentary about Buck Brannaman where the insane Stud took a chunk out of his partners head?

That was a serioulsy tragic story and the women who owned him was beyond deluded.

 

[leonh]

i have hired three trainers to come to my farm to help me with my andalusian, (i also have 9 polo ponies but spanish boy is my baby - however he is also most difficult - can get super sensitive and anxious) :

the professional dressage trainer: was very good but slow to get results as horse trained in a ''do it or i'll make you do it again and again and again ...." horse pushed hard and horses personality strengths and weaknesses not considered.

Parelli trainer: she had me confused so gawd knows how my boy felt, she was also quite dominant and although got quick results (through fear?), he ended up mute and 'frozen' ... he also became headshy and very submissive with her.

monty roberts Equus trainer: AMAZIN! simple instruction and horse totally got it, no pushing, no gimmicks and horse seemed to enjoy it, so much so the more i did the more he became like a blinkin dog!! even 'fetching'' his feed bucket from field when told too and jumping a 4ft ditch (which was totally out of character) just because i jumped it!! ....

in short, choose whichever is right for your horse. for me, im a secret equus fan!

 

[Queenbee]

The way Pat and Linda treat horses, and the way a large percentage of their follows treat horses disgusts me

A few reasons...

The think it acceptable to rag a half blind horse around the head with a rope,

The hit every horse featured in their DVD's multiple times, using with a mixture of rope and stick weapons as well as their bare hands.

Backing and riding immature two year olds in the shortest time frame possible and in front of crowds just so the can sell tickets.

Teach their students how to "wiggle" the rope so the metal clip smacks their horse in the jaw with full power.

They way they treated Catwalk.

Jumping tiny foals over large solid obstacles.

I could go on.

What she said, but paying particular attention to the words 'the way Pat and Linda' do it.

Parelli is an amazing marketing model.

Parelli is the modern day Emperor's New Clothes

Very true

Except the emperor's new clothes didn't cause anyone any harm...

tell that to the emperor

I have a friend who's in to Parelli. She doesn't stick to his exact rules though and this seems to work wonders for her horses (She doesn't hit them). Very pleased with what she's achieved, even if she does prattle on about him an awful lot XD

Annie, don't you know anything, P is 'natural' they NEVER hit them they just waggle the leadrope and they hit themselves by not backing up and respecting space but you have raised a fairly good point, its all about using the bits that fit your own model, Parelli is a brand, a lot of what PP has written makes sense on paper, but his translation and product sucks<<< there is no other word! I love to work at liberty with ebs, and I love some of their equipment but I hate some of their methods and practice and the confusion it causes in horses. Letting a horse (especially a modern day horse) make its own decisions, is like putting adam and eve in the garden of eden with the apple tree, sometimes it can end in disaster. For 'exploring' and bombproofing aspects of the method if used sympathetically can be really good, but these aspects can be translated as 'common sense' and can be seen in practice with all good horsemen and women who do not 'follow parelli'

A carrot stick is an extension of your arm, so is a whip, I have never hit ben with a whip but I still get respect from it. Many people desensitise horses in a school with tarp and other scary things, this is basic common sense and was not introduced by PP. Everyone uses some form of 'pressure' to get a horse to move away whether it be touch, body language or a thwacking big rope with a clip, Now I can't say that anybody but the idiot PP invented that stupid idea! There is nothing wrong with Parelli as a concept, as long as it is used by someone with a brain and no ego and they use the right bits, the same goes for every method in this minefield of the horseworld

 

[debsg]

I have a friend who is seriously into Parelli and does some nice work with her horses. I even went with her to a 'celebration' at NEC a few years back but the whole thing is just too 'hard sell' for me. You 'have' to have the equipment and the learning program, which are very expensive and it felt, to me, a bit 'cult-ey'
Then I saw the YouTube vid of LP whacking the half blind horse with the metal rope clip
("give him a good clunk" were her instructions to the owner, I think ) and the vid of PP
forcing the Whitaker's stallion, Catwalk, to accept a bridle, and I totally switched off after that! I think that those two incidents have really damaged their reputation. Not only that, but they didn't apologise or even attempt to explain why these things had occured, just closed shop and put out a very poor press release via their business manager.
My way of looking at it is, if they do this kind of thing in front of an audience, what on earth might they do at home.
That said, last week I saw PP do some truly beautiful work with a TB at an English demo, broadcast on H&C last week (Parelli Masterclass)
Think its all pressure pressure pressure which leads them to sometimes make ill-informed judgements on the best way to solve the horses problems.
My two pennorth, anyway, FWIW

 

[Goldenstar]

don't know much about it , but did see the clips of the Catwalk incident after reading a thread on here and I would never give a penny to any " brand" who thought that was acceptable it was abuse simple abuse.

 

[unbalanced]

If you look for it on youtube you will see some stunning inspiring clips of what can be achieved using Parelli methods as well as the clips that people have mentioned here. The methods that Parelli promotes are not something that he invented himself and he has never claimed that - he credits his teachers at every opportunity - what he has done is made them accessible and marketed them to a much wider audience then the horsemen who taught him did (and Linda probably helped a lot with that). Some Parelli students do really amazing things with their especially freestyle and at liberty. However some Parelli students can get quite blinkered about it, seeing Pat and Linda almost as leaders to enlightenment and I find that a bit scary, to be honest. I think the most successful Parelli students are those who realise that the roots of the movement are in Pat's teachers (originally great cowboys like Tom Dorrance, but now including classical dressage masters like Walter Zettl) and open themselves up to these types of influences on their own learning. Pat, is, after all, still learning himself, as are we all.

 

[Tifferss]

The long complicated answer - Pat and Linda are nob heads.

 

[Tifferss]

If you look for it on youtube you will see some stunning inspiring clips of what can be achieved using Parelli methods as well as the clips that people have mentioned here.

ALTHOUGH strictly speaking you cant see the ones were talking about because the Marketing Machine has it all wiped from youtube........ Serious!! You try and find that blind horse one...gone..... amazing what a bit of cash does for you

 

[dumpling]

Not at all interested in parelli. If you waved a carrot stick at my boy he'd drag you in the other direction or walk through you for being ridiculous!

Watched a Clinton Anderson video the other day and thought he was crud aswell. I'm afraid I'm certainly not for cantering your horse on a 5metre circle and getting it to change rein every half circle, so it goes on it's hocks... By the time you get it on it's hocks itll be buggered.

More or less I think if you tried that with my boy he'd take the piss right out you.

 

[dumpling]

On the other hand, I like Monty Roberts methods. I've successfully done join up,

 

[Tifferss]

On the other hand, I like Monty Roberts methods. I've successfully done join up,

Ditto this

 

[Jazzy B]

a friend of mine is totally into parelli and I watched her perform the seven games with my friends horse who I can honestly say loved it! There was no smacking with lead ropes etc but I think like a lot of people have said on this what spoils the basics of parelli is the sell, sell, sell and its detracted about what it was all about. Personally having been very, very skeptical about all of these things, but having had a difficult younger recently started reading a lot about the intelligent horsemanship which I think is brilliant!!

 

[jeeve]

Saw an add up in the tack shop for a woman who does natural horsemanship, and she came up to see my boy today, as she said she could do some despoooking. Anyway, when she arrived she told me some stuff about what she does, and she follows parelli, etc.

The session was really good, Micks seemed to really enjoy it (he loves learning to do new things and then showing off that he can do them haha), and at the end of the session we had him freely walking over and standing on tarps, going up to a bouncing yoga ball, and plastic bags being waved on sticks etc. So it seems to have made him a little more confident in himself. It was very free and laid back, no force involved, if he didn't want to go near something he didn't have to. So I thought it was quite good.

When I mentioned to some friends that this parelli woman had been out, they all laughed at me and said parelli was stupid and a waste of time. Ditto with one of the other liveries, when I mentioned it to her, she said she was not a fan. However they did not say why. I get from the general consensus on here that people aren't very fond of parelli/natural horsemanship either, and i don't know why? What exactly does 'parelli' involve and why don't people like it? Sorry if im opening a can of worms, just want to know why it's a bit taboo

You have tried it and seen how the methods work, I have friends that have been using these methods for 10-15 years, and their horses are amazing - really light, abd responsive and a joy to own. So ignore the people that like to have a go at something they are either jealous of, or do not understand, or do not know anything about, and follow your gut instinct. If it works for you and your pony fantastic. I have to say that the PNH instructors are pushed really hard and I do not think you would find one without a wealth of experience and something to offer.

 

[perfect11s]

The long complicated answer - Pat and Linda are nob heads.

sorry wrong!!! they are rich nob heads!!!

 

[Orangehorse]

There is nothing wrong with Natural Horsemanship - it is making sure you look at everything from the horse's point of view and not the human's and it certainly opened my eyes and mind and made me shudder a bit at some of the assumptions I might have had in the past and some of the solutions to "problem horses."

Many of the clinics are held to genuinely help people with possible problems either riding or handling and to spread the word about looking at things differently and to help horses.

Some of the people giving the clinics have realised that there is a whole world out there, full of loving horse owners who maybe have problems and they then realised that there is a good living to be made, the more so you make it into club and "brand."

I went, inadvertently, to a sort of Parelli clinic and I found that my horse was totally confused and became very anxious possibly by my ham-fisted attempts rather than the actual exercise.

I have come across and ridden lovely horses trained by "parelli methods" and know that Monty Roberts does a great job and I genuinely believe him when he says he keeps touring and giving clinics as he wants to improve the situation for horses in the world.
Mark Rashid was magic when I watched a clinic where he provided a solution to everyone from a nervous, novice owner with a thug of a horse through to a dressage rider doing one time changes.

No "natural horsemanship" lecturers have said you have to be soft with the horse, just kind, but the main message is that you must be clear and if he doesn't understand it is the trainer's fault, not the horse's.

OP, if you enjoyed your session and it makes sense to your horse, carry on and enjoy.

 

[ClassicG&T]

Although i dont see the point in parelli and think its a waste of time there are worse things people could be doing to a horse

 

[aimsymc]

sorry wrong!!! they are rich nob heads!!!

Very, Very, very rich nobheads!!