would you recommend the techniques of parelli?

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maddison_123

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people that i know have recommended using parelli techniques on my horse. was just wondering,would you agree with them? or should i not even go there? any advice on this would be great.
 
It depends what you currently do with your horse - i know alot of people that do parelli and it gives them alot of enjoyment with their horses as they are often too scared to do much of anything else with them - obviously it doesnt apply to everyone but all the people i know that do it are middle aged ladies that have lost their confidence so great for them to give them something to do with their horses.
The people i know that compete myself included dont really bother as they have no use for it. I find more conventional methods of training work just fine for me.
Have a go and make your own mind up.
 
Parelli is a load of rubbish. It's a clever marketing machine aimed at getting nervous and novice horse owners to part with large wads of their hard earned cash.

If you want to do "natural horsemanship" then try Intelligent Horsemanship (Kelly Marks). Much better IMHO and not so cult-like.

I've had an IHRA out to my horse in the past and they do talk sense. I also went to watch a Parelli demo at the British Open this year and walked out in disgust after 10 mins. It was supposed to be a loading demo, geared towards people with horses who were difficult to load. What they actually used were their own Parelli-brainwashed horses who had been drilled into performing what were essentially circus tricks and a bizarre routine. I know Monty Roberts is criticised for working with the demo horses before the show starts but at least they are true problem horses and he only sees them that day. These Parelli horses were well and truly brain dead, totally switched off and bored out of their minds.
 
I really wouldn't recommend parelli. If you want to go down that route, then by all means read up on natural horsemanship, but parelli as a brand is more of a marketing machine selling expensive equipment and teaching very confrontational techniques and bullying horses into doing 'tricks' imho. That money would be FAR better spent on a good trainer spending some time with you and your horse.
 
I agree with chestnut cob, that all of those so-called "horse-whisperers", like Pat Parelli, Linda Tellington-Jones, Monty Roberts, Andrea Kutsch etc., are rubbish, if it is pushed to extremes.
I mean, if one of those methods will become something like a bible for a horseowner.

In my opinion, one should pick out the required exercises due to the horses' or riders' problems.
That is what I did.

Obviously I am a "middle-aged woman", but I surely have not lost my confidence yet ! :p
But my horse had a bad life (basted with whip f.e.) at his former owner and was due to the previous experiences very bad-mannered, ruthless and extremely head-shy.
And a few different excercises helped to shape my perfect horse. It took two years, but in the end it was a great success.
 
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Chestnut Cob I can assure you that Monty Roberts does not even touch the horse before the demo.

You drop the horse off at lunchtime and some time in the afternoon it is put in a roundpen by one of the staff there and it is walk trot and cantered around to check for soundness etc. Monty is there (watching only) as well as a vet and others to assess the horse. But he never touches it, and certainly does not do any work with it. He chats with the owner, but that is all. The first time he even handles the horse is infront of the audience that evening.

A friends horse was used in one of his demos a few years ago, hence I can say this for certain.
 
galaxy23 said:
Chestnut Cob I can assure you that Monty Roberts does not even touch the horse before the demo.

You drop the horse off at lunchtime and some time in the afternoon it is put in a roundpen by one of the staff there and it is walk trot and cantered around to check for soundness etc. Monty is there (watching only) as well as a vet and others to assess the horse. But he never touches it, and certainly does not do any work with it. He chats with the owner, but that is all. The first time he even handles the horse is infront of the audience that evening.

A friends horse was used in one of his demos a few years ago, hence I can say this for certain.
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I didn't say he worked with them... I said "I know Monty Roberts is criticised for working the demo horses before the show starts". The IHRA who came out to help with my loading problems asked me if I would be a loading demo horse for the 2008 tour MR did (which he wasn't in the end as they wanted a horse that didn't load in a lorry.. he is perfect in a lorry). She said I would take him the day of the show, he would be assessed by the team who would do some basic work with him (to see what his basic education and issues were) and then if suitable, MR would use him for the demo. MR and his team have been criticised on here for working with the horses before demo's, and TBH whether it is him or his team who spend some time with the horse, my point was that them spending maybe 15min with said horse before a demo was better than the Parelli lot bringing their drilled, brain dead horses for a "loading demo".

I was actually advocating MR and KM. As I said in my post, I have used an IHRA with great success and would be happy to have one out to me again. I like KM especially; her horses don't look bored senseless, unlike the Parelli's horses who *do* look bored, or even worse, frightened. I think you misunderstood my point.
 
Bjutschilp said:
I mean, if one of those methods will become something like a bible for a horseowner.

In my opinion, one should pick out the required exercises due to the horses' or riders' problems.
That is what I did.

And a few different excercises helped to shape my perfect horse. It took two years, but in the end it was a great success.
Click to expand...

Agree with this 100%. Take the bits of every technique that work for you and discard the rest. A Parelli-fied friend tried their most basic exercise on my horse and it scared the life out of him. He responded much better to the IH methods but I don't nec. agree with everything they do either.
 
No matter what people invent you will always get bad bits, I've seen bits in parelli and Monty Roberts that I don't like but a lot of it is good because the majority of them have the time and patience to put into the horse, if you think about it, actually set your heart and head to it a lot of it is common sense and is what you make it.
 
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