Would you buy a horse that had been parelli trained?

Possibly, depending on what I wanted, it wouldn't worry me so much if I was looking for a broodmare.

What puts me off more (and puts me out of the running incidentally) than a 'Parelli' trained horse is a Parelli seller who won't sell to anyone but a Parelli buyer! Talk about limiting your options! To be fair on that count, I can see where they are coming from though.

To me a having a completely Parelli trained horse would be akin to having a unbroken, untrained horse, I would have to start again, it would be like learning a whole new language - for both of us.
 
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Lolo, if the horse is well trained Parelli fashionthen your friend should hardly see a difference. It will be used to being lead with a bit longer rope, rather than held under the chin. It will have a different approach to lunging that can easily be demonstrated. As a ridden horse it should be good, nice and responsive and not needing a "firm" contact. If your friend is up for it she should be able to ride safely in a rope hackamore, and maybe even get a true bitless outline with self-carriage. It should backup from just a thought and maybe a lift of the rein, and lateral work will be a doddle.
As with all horses, if the horse hasn't been well trained then your friend would need to decide how much work she wanted to do, but we've all been there. We only have to read this forum to see how many badly trained horses are out there being purchased by people, and most of them have never seen a carrot stick in their lives.
 
rhino said:
I have seen several videos (and one live clinic) where Linda repeatedly stated that the 'safest place' to have a led horse was several paces behind... Cue flapping chicken arms if it tried to move alongside :rolleyes:
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That's the bit I've seen.

He has so many issues I can't tell what's from where but this thing of his is so deep rooted and the only other place I've seen it is Linda Parelli! He doesn't get scared or stressed if you try to move him off next to you or slightly in front to make space, he just doesn't get it, total lack of comprehension!
 
I would be very careful. I bought a horse who had been professionally produced by a showing yard in the 'traditional' way, THEN had been dressage schooled, THEN had been sold on to a home where the owners couldn't handle him and did some sort of NH - wasn't Parelli but it was similar, they used a long rope and a rope halter etc with him and did backing up games and all that...
I bought the most confused horse you have ever met!!!! He just didn't understand what he was asked to do, he was stressed out bolshy bargy nervous spooky nappy rude etc etc etc etc..... He is very intelligent and sensitive and had learned all the 'games' but would then stand and look at you in the eye with his head up and snort as if to say "ok I did what you asked but I still have no respect for you, you stupid woman." :) I tried at first to 'learn' how to handle him in the way he had been taught but we just ended up battling with each other...

Took nearly 3 years to sort him out. In the 'traditional' way I hasten to add!!!! Consistency, discipline, repetition, timing, reward.
 
Tinypony said:
Perfect example of a horse that hasn't been trained well. I think it's a bit immaterial whether or not a previous owner "did Parelli" or not, we often find quirks with new horses. This wouldn't bother me at all, I'd just add to his leading skills and teach him to be led at the shoulder as well as with me in front. I can "lead" my horses from any position, in front, at the shoulder, by the girth line and walking behind them.
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He also wouldn't do anything other than trot in front and canter behind at gallop speed, or jump when I bought him, there is a lot to work on, mainly his ridden temper, though on the ground he is very sweet just easily confused. He lunges like a partially trained parelli horse too, my instructor agrees he looks as though he has had a novice attempt parelli and it has made his issues far worse.

His physio tells me his hips and spine have been mis-aligned for a number of years, possibly 5 -8. He is only 13. It just saddens me that someone has possibly bought into the parelli hype, done it badly, added to his problems and yet at no stage spent a relatively small amount of money on a vet or physio to rule out physical pain. The first thing we were taught the 'traditional way' was rule out pain as cause of any problems.

Someone has possibly spent on dvd's and equipment instead of his health. He's my litte man and I am already very fond of him, that saddens me, that's all.
 
noblesteed said:
I would be very careful. I bought a horse who had been professionally produced by a showing yard in the 'traditional' way, THEN had been dressage schooled, THEN had been sold on to a home where the owners couldn't handle him and did some sort of NH - wasn't Parelli but it was similar, they used a long rope and a rope halter etc with him and did backing up games and all that...
I bought the most confused horse you have ever met!!!! He just didn't understand what he was asked to do, he was stressed out bolshy bargy nervous spooky nappy rude etc etc etc etc..... He is very intelligent and sensitive and had learned all the 'games' but would then stand and look at you in the eye with his head up and snort as if to say "ok I did what you asked but I still have no respect for you, you stupid woman." :) I tried at first to 'learn' how to handle him in the way he had been taught but we just ended up battling with each other...

Took nearly 3 years to sort him out. In the 'traditional' way I hasten to add!!!! Consistency, discipline, repetition, timing, reward.
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This is Sonic working in the school on lunge, and 100 times worse ridden, when he 1st arrived he would deliberatly crush me against solid objects napping, seriously, he'd be napping to the yard and if I argued, he'd make a bee line for the nearest wall and pick up speed slamming my leg into it, back up, pause and slam again, it only ended when I got off in the pause, nothing I did worked.
 
This has got me thinking I have for years bought horses that clearly very badly broken handled and ridden so why would I be so cautious to take on a horse that was parelli trained ?
thinking about it I think it's because I would not really know what I was dealing with the method of handling seems so devoid of reward to me ( I am thinking about the clip where the horse is loaded in to the ramp less trailer when it begins to think about going in no one rewards it when it does go in it's just left loose no reward then as the trainer talks to the owner the loose horse turns round in the trailer and escapes !) I just dont get it.
I can reback badly started horses they usually work out well so I suppose it should not be different even horses who have no problems need a period to adjust to the slightly different ways we all do things so why would parelli trained make me fell instantly wary ?
 
It wouldnt put me off at all in any way shape or form.

My two horses were trained the "conventional" way (if thats what you want to call it for sake of argument) and had a few "issues" that couldnt be solved fully using the "conventional methods"

I have now re-schooled / retrained them with "natural horsemanship" methods along the lines of parelli and have the most polite, well mannered, respectful horses that are easy to deal with and ride.

I still ride them "conventionally" i.e. in a bridle, saddle etc and do "conventional" things but I can also ride them both in just halters / neck ropes etc and do so on a regular basis

I'd personally judge the horse on "the horse" not its method of being trained
 
Tinypony said:
Lolo, if the horse is well trained Parelli fashionthen your friend should hardly see a difference. It will be used to being lead with a bit longer rope, rather than held under the chin. It will have a different approach to lunging that can easily be demonstrated. As a ridden horse it should be good, nice and responsive and not needing a "firm" contact. If your friend is up for it she should be able to ride safely in a rope hackamore, and maybe even get a true bitless outline with self-carriage. It should backup from just a thought and maybe a lift of the rein, and lateral work will be a doddle.
As with all horses, if the horse hasn't been well trained then your friend would need to decide how much work she wanted to do, but we've all been there. We only have to read this forum to see how many badly trained horses are out there being purchased by people, and most of them have never seen a carrot stick in their lives.
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I understand what you are saying TP, but I am neither NH nor Parelli and mine walk on a loose rein and are never held under the chin, ebony is nice and responsive and ben, well he is just ben, a big baby and a buffoon but he is learning, I have in the past regularly ridden ebony in a rope halter, a scawbrig bitless and a headcollar. It is also true that not all badly trained horses are parelli trained, but a badly trained parelli horse is a sodding nightmare and a well trained one may not fit the bill for a lot of people unless they are like minded parelli/NH people. In addition it is quite simple to make lateral work a doddle with traditional horses, it just takes knowledge sense and skill and experience helps :rolleyes: many of the horses in this world that fit the description of what a good parelli trained horse can do can be found in the traditional world and they have never seen a carrot stick or any force from their trainer either.
 
rhino said:
I have seen several videos (and one live clinic) where Linda repeatedly stated that the 'safest place' to have a led horse was several paces behind... Cue flapping chicken arms if it tried to move alongside :rolleyes:
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My horses walk a few paces behind me but slightly to the side if that makes sense - sort of arms length behind me and same to the side on a loose rein

that way if they spook and shoot forwards they're far enough away to not get me but i also have enough time to react if i need to

Theyre NH trained - along parelli lines but not "total" parelli
 
Hi
I dont like the marketing of Parelli but having a girl on our yard doing her level 4 riding gives me a bit of a diferent perspective on this. If the horse is trained to be riden it will not make a big difference as we have sat and discussed dressage & jumping against Parelli and there is a lot of similarites. All of her horses are trained in the parelli style but if asked she will not admit it and has noything to do with the online forum, but both me and my young child who are very old school Bhs can jump on these horses and have them going in advanced dressage moves with no issue even though my child is 9. Well behaved well manered horses, even the baby. But again i am totally against the marketing. I really beleive a lot of problems with these horses are caused by the handlers having no confidence & not taking the horses past the level 1 games stage so they never get to being ridin & are bored out of there minds, but Parelli origanally was never meant to be like this, it was meant to be progresive. But again please do not think I am pro for this training method but please find somebody that has went passed level 1 and will not force feed it down your throat and have an open discussion without mentioning the dreaded P word, you might be surpriised how similar some of it is.
 
I'd look at the horse, and assess the quality of its training for myself. As tinypony said, Parelli is the training of last resort for many people. Some people try to correct problems caused by bad character or training with parelli when they can't get traditional methods to work; unfortunately the fault may well be with the trainer not the method. PP says that anyone can learn to train a horse using his methods- I don't think that's true, but I do appreciate his attempt to formalise a progression of training that pulls together many different techniques in one programme.
What I don't like is the commercialisation and the implication that any other way is cruel.
 
Prancer and Vixen said:
I understand what you are saying TP, but I am neither NH nor Parelli and mine walk on a loose rein and are never held under the chin, ebony is nice and responsive and ben, well he is just ben, a big baby and a buffoon but he is learning, I have in the past regularly ridden ebony in a rope halter, a scawbrig bitless and a headcollar. It is also true that not all badly trained horses are parelli trained, but a badly trained parelli horse is a sodding nightmare and a well trained one may not fit the bill for a lot of people unless they are like minded parelli/NH people. In addition it is quite simple to make lateral work a doddle with traditional horses, it just takes knowledge sense and skill and experience helps :rolleyes: many of the horses in this world that fit the description of what a good parelli trained horse can do can be found in the traditional world and they have never seen a carrot stick or any force from their trainer either.
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Please don't misunderstand me. I am not saying that any of what I mentioned is not possible, or easy, if a horse is not Parelli trained. I was just stating some of the things that I would expect from a well trained Parelli horse, which is a different point entirely.

If you ride a well trained Parelli horse it shouldn't be a problem for any decent rider, once they are trained to a certain level then you shouldn't really be able to see a lot of difference. You shouldn't need to be Parelli/NH or whatever minded because the horse should be beyond where that matters.

I agree that a badly trained horse is a sodding nightmare, any badly trained horse is a sodding nightmare LOL!

I don't subscribe to the opinion that in Parelli, if something goes wrong, it's always the person that is the problem and not the horse. I tend to be of the opinion that if something goes wrong it's always the person that is the problem, not the horse, regardless of what training "system" is being used.

Just to mention, although I always try to show the other side when people are talking about Parelli, I am no longer a supporter of the system, and I don't follow it. I just speak from long previous experience.
 
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I did! He bit me, kicked me, and bucked me off. The most miserable critter alive, he was...

5 years later, he is a babe. :D ..and not a carrot stick in sight...

HOWEVER....I have seen it used to some success, but don't endorse it myself.
 
Oh for gods sake get a grip.

I bought an 11 year old mare, conventionally broken and ridden but bolshy as hell on the ground.

The yard next to us happened to do Parelli, so I sent daughter and cob down to them. I must say I found most of it strange but nothing that concerned me greatly. I did tell her not to stand on the ponies back though.

After a year the daughter got fed up but the pony was much better behaved. All this time she also rode traditional and showed her at county shows.

10 years on and I occasionally doss around the yard bareback with a Parelli headcollar on the pony. But put her show tack on and the pony reverts, they aren't stupid.

Done in moderation I cant see the harm
 
They're just horses. The way they come to us is how they are. I think we can spend too much time speculating about history and why a horse is how he is, or who is to blame for it. My trainer says (controversially) that once you've had a horse a month the way they are then is completely down to us. He won't let his students blame anyone but ourselves after that time.
We read all the time about how people buy problem horses, or horses they find difficult in various ways, the only question for me is can they deal with what they have in front of them. I think that is what we need to be asking ourselves when we view a horse for sale, rather than worrying about the labels attached to them, can we deal with the horse in front of us?
 
In a word, NO! to me it is beyond belief that people genuinely think is it ok to bash a horse round the head with a big stick, just because some ****** in a cowboy hat does it and says its ok, Its about time someone took a big stick and bashed Pat the **** around the head with it!!
 
No, I don't buy ready trained horses for a reason - regardless of the method :p

Well, that's not true - they've been halter broken, handled as necessary and trained to load as that's necessary to get them down here, but not actively trained as such. And I wouldn't trust many people to do that...
 
Absolutely not. I wouldn't want to have to undo the damage done. I have seen some very, very good horses totally ruined by numpties using parelli. I will only buy unbroken 3/4 year olds now that have come from reputable sources that do not use this method.
 
so because people tell you and are honest they done parelli you would not not touch it but people take on ex racers and horses you have no idea what happened to them whipped, thrashed about, head tied down, spurs etc etc and would be oh well you no the horse has potential and will work through these problems and totally re train a ex racer but parelli no that horse would be far to messed up. you lot are nuts i dont get you at all yes i do dabble in parelli among many other methods mainly common sense and my horse dont have any issues and is perfectly normal but common sense prevails and i would look at the horse and its temperament conformation and nothing else every one trains differently dont they
 
To be fair I think a lot of the ruined Parelli horses are victims of numpties that are attracted to it because they are numpties.
No one can deny that the Good Parelli trainers get results, how they get those results has at times been questionable to say the least.
Personally I don't want to have to drop my pants and say alacazam whenever I want my horse to do something.

Eta
I'm so wary of the whole thing that I wrote into a loan contract that my horse was not to 'Do Parelli' or be trained by Parelli trainers, or attend the gatherings. I didn't mind if he went Hunting, XC or pretty much anything else though
 
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absolutely I would, if it was what I was looking for. I would view it and try it like any other horse.

like any horse the training depends on the experience of the person fdoing teh training, and what level they have reached. For eg the horse may have done some groundwork only, or may be at a level 3 stage.
 
stacie21 said:
so because people tell you and are honest they done parelli you would not not touch it but people take on ex racers and horses you have no idea what happened to them whipped, thrashed about, head tied down, spurs etc etc and would be oh well you no the horse has potential and will work through these problems and totally re train a ex racer but parelli no that horse would be far to messed up. you lot are nuts i dont get you at all yes i do dabble in parelli among many other methods mainly common sense and my horse dont have any issues and is perfectly normal but common sense prevails and i would look at the horse and its temperament conformation and nothing else every one trains differently dont they
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When looking at horse adverts, everyone has a list of things they'd rather avoid as a starting point. Unless my options are limited by budget, I rule out anything with issues and for me, that includes parelli horses.
Once I'd eliminated the top choices on my list of preferences, I might look again at a parelli trained horse if it was local and cheap, although I never have so far. They never seem to have useful photo's on their adverts.

Parelli people can sell to whoever they choose, but if they're aiming for the widest market, putting a P tag on the horse will limit their options.
Why buy something that needs its brain sorting unless you want a project ?
 
Trot_On_Dressage said:
I think i have seen this advert. is it a Friesian?

If it is the same one the pictures put me off too!
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Wow - lots of points of view. I was expecting this post to be on page 2 or 3 by now. I am finding myself agreeing with everyone. Not very helpful. I am a bit turned off by Parrelli as my experience has been that they are usualy so fanatical. However I am open to most things and we have used NH methods in the past to great effect.

The horse is young 4 1/2 so might give the owner a ring at the weekend and try to suss out if they are selling for a reason other than fear of riding their horse, but as several folks have pointed out they may not be interested in selling to a non Parelli person. That said we are not deperately seeking ATM - still very early days after loosing the best horse in world.

Trot on - the horse is a very splendid looking black WB x Welsh. 16.2 in Essex
 
lol the good old load a bull s,,,t parelli , yes i would buy 1 thats trained in it BUTTT it would never see another pathetic stick they ask you to buy or get smacked in the chops with the metal clip off there silly lead rope i would simply take it home forget all the bull s,,,,t its been taught and bring in back as an every day horse is taught if you like it buy it and then do your own thing
 
Magicmillbrook said:
Wow - lots of points of view. I was expecting this post to be on page 2 or 3 by now. I am finding myself agreeing with everyone. Not very helpful. I am a bit turned off by Parrelli as my experience has been that they are usualy so fanatical. However I am open to most things and we have used NH methods in the past to great effect.

The horse is young 4 1/2 so might give the owner a ring at the weekend and try to suss out if they are selling for a reason other than fear of riding their horse, but as several folks have pointed out they may not be interested in selling to a non Parelli person. That said we are not deperately seeking ATM - still very early days after loosing the best horse in world.

Trot on - the horse is a very splendid looking black WB x Welsh. 16.2 in Essex
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It must be the same one. The horse was indeed beautiful. i meant the pictures of them riding without bridle in the pen is what put me off!
 
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