Parelli or Clinton Anderson?

Just curious to know if you have met and spoken one on one with either of these two? Or are you basing your opinion only on what you see?

I have seen him work in person and like what I saw.Although I only spoke to him briefly, I really liked how he worked with the horse at the clinic I was at that day. From what I understand he is out of the limelight for a while due to a motorcycle accident but I sure hope he returns soon so I can see him work again.

I've met them both. I think they are fine people and probably good horsemen but I think there are a lot better ones out there. I don't like how they prey on the uninformed and get them to buy hundreds of dollars woth of crap they don't need. I like that they appeal to a lot of beginners and have introduced people to a better way of handling thier horses. Much like marijuanna is a gateway drug that leads to other drugs, CA and PP lead many to the better horsemen and away from the clinicians and trainers. When I judge a horseman I look at his/her horse and only the horse. I don't care if they wear farmer overalls and a feed store cap. The horse tells me how much they really "savvy". Both CA and PP ride nice horses but they aren't in the same class as Buck Brannamans or Bruce Sandifers. To watch either of them ride it's like they just became a part of that horse and whatever they think, the horse just does. Totally different than the kick and pull and wave a stick that the others do.

I've seen things I agree and disagree with from every person promoting their methode of "natural horsemanship". When my grandfather and family members from his generation were mentoring me as young teen the term "natural horsemanship" didn't exist. It was just understanding how horses did things and LOT of common sense. I have an 83 year old 1st cousin once removed who give me pointers in my youth (to many years ago:)) and is still training new horses using patience and common sense (what they now call NH :))
One of my biggest problems with all these "professional NH" system creators is they seem to feel that they're doing it right and the rest aren't as good (and their followers can be fanatical :)). If you see something one does that works well with your horse, then use it. Don't get into lockstep with any one of them. All the horses I've worked with training have each had their own little quirks about what works with them. Somethings have worked with most of them, but not always. If you try something from one of the NH programs that doesn't work, try something from another. There's also no crime in using your own common sense and figuring out your own way that none of them use.

My mentors use to point out that horses are like people with their own personalities. It was the common sense things that stuck with me the most.
You'll never be bigger or stronger, so you have to always be smarter.
Training and teaching a horse to do what you ask because it wants to(rewards and praise help a lot there) always trumps teaching it by force.
Keep discipline fair and use what the horse understands as discipline, not what we think of as discipline (unless you're thinking like a horse).
Stop training if you get frustrated with how things are going. Never train when angry or upset. Do something the horse already does well and you'll both feel better about the days work (you always want to horse to feel willing to train the next time).
Never forget that horses have LONG memories.
There are many ways to skin a cat and many ways to teach a horse.

It wasn't rocket science, just common sense. I find it odd that people are paying so much money to be told how to train a horse using one persons "system".

I used to really like CA until I seen him in person. In his training he says "tap, tap, tap your horse" Well, when you can hear that "tap" in person, it is a really solid smack. I don't know if it was just that day I saw him, or if he's always that way, but in my opinion he was unnecessarily harsh to a horse that was trying its guts out to figure out what the monkey with the stick wanted. Also his videos skip some of the time he spends doing things, he whacked on the horse I seen him work for nearly 3 hours before it was doing what he wanted. Even then the horse looked to me like it was reacting out of fear, rather than responding calmly because it understood.

I feel the need to defend these clinicians a little. Yes they are in it for the money, but by "mass producing" a product they make it available to the masses. I can't afford to spend $45/hour to have private lessons with a trainer, but I can save up and get a few videos on subjects I am currently having trouble with and then work out my problems on my own. Before I started watching clinician videos, I was taking advice from anyone with a horse, and it landed me in a WORLD OF TROUBLE!

I agree that it is far better to receive personalised advice from someone who knows you and your horse, but these big name guys do fill a need, especially for the backyard hobbyist. I have videos and books from many big names, and I know I'm going to be unpopular for saying this but Parelli is my favourite. It just works for me, even if its not for everyone.

I have different views on Clinton. I think he is a great horse trainer, but a phenomenal people trainer. As far as him whacking horses, he doesn't just go WHACK for no reason, he starts out soft and gets harder as needed. If the horse is being very stubborn, he corrects them until he gets the response he was looking for. I've been to three of his Walkabout Tours and loved every one of them. His videos are skipped around a lot, but I think in order for him to show all the things he wants per video, it has to be cut down.

Larry Trocha is a great teacher as far as seeing mistakes that happen to everyday horses and people. I love that he actually rides several different horses and uses the green or problem horses so we can actually see them mess up and how he fixes it.

I've had to fix a Parelli-trained horse, so of course, I'm not a huge fan of his. My old gelding was trained using Parelli (not very well-executed Parelli, mind you, but still Parelli) and he was more of a handful as a trained six-year-old than my unhandled two-year-old stud colt when I bought him. Retrained my old gelding literally from the ground up using common sense and a little bit of CA and ended up with an eight-year-old that we used as a bareback lesson horse in a french link snaffle (his old owners said he couldn't be ridden in anything but a twisted wire snaffle, direct reined , with spurs, and his head tied down to his chest).

I have used a lot of CA's methods on my coming 3yo and they've worked really well.

Given the big names, I would much rather study with Buck Brannaman just because I think he's a much better horseman that the others and he truly is in it "for the horse".

However, if I had to choose between PP and CA, I would choose CA. At least most of his methods don't have the feel of a 3 ring circus where you have to play "games" to make "friends" with your horse.

I tend to try to avoid anything PP. Mostly because I think he's a loud mouthed cluck, but also because many of his "followers" I've encountered just seem like stark raving lunatics to me.

This is why I call PP a cult.

I voted CA but I think Chris Cox wears his jeans the best.