Parelli Horsenalities

Thank-you Saranda. I was on a Parelli only forum, but that is closing down and I did not like the face-book styled replacement.
I also wanted a place where folks would challenge my posts more which makes me do even more research and thinking. The best teachers are those who have a different perspective to ones self, not the same.

About the horsenalities - I value the concept and definitely agree that horses are much more complex beings than many believe - mentally, emotionally, spiritually. But one won't see it until ready to accept this complexity and to be open for some very mind blowing discoveries.

The horsenalities themselves are a basic concept about the basic characteristics of different kinds of horses, but it is a very good start to begin understanding your horse - it really helped me with my gelding, who is a typical, 100% LBE. A challenging one for the first horse, if I may confess. For example, our relationships changed upwards when I introduced more action and less precision at times in our routine, less routine and more adventures, also longer ropes and more liberty. He has opened up immensely and is visibly having fun with me - and learning in the process! - instead of being dominant and hard to motivate.

Quite honestly I think Horsenalities is a load of marketing hype to get people to look for excuses as to why their animals are not behaving perfectly.

A horse is a horse is a horse - end of story.

No matter what their temperament, whether from nature or nurture 99.999% of horses respond to firm, fair and consistent training. The other .001% might need some specialist and very experienced training for one reason or another.

With humans it is possible to test for left or right brain use - majority of men are left brained whilst women are right brained but it is a complex system to diagnose and not always correct.

As said, it is a hype to sell.

Sorry but I do not want to play games with any horse, I have yet to see a Parelli trained horse look as if it is enjoying life. They are so bored and compliant and unable to think for themselves. They do things because they know that if they don't they will be made to. I want a horse to do things because it wants to please me. I want a horse to go out for a ride and enjoy it, to tell me he is feeling well by giving a whoopee buck, but listening to what I am telling him. I want a horse to question something new, to ask if it is safe and when I tell it it is, to trust me enought to go ahead with whatever.
In other words I want my horse to have a personality not just be a lump of meat I can climb on and do anything with because all character has been bored out of it.

Foxhunter, it seems that you have observed only bad PNH training examples - I run into completely different horses every day! I don't do pure PNH with my horse, though, because it seems to me that it teaches them too much push-button behavior, however, that's just me and to each horse their own. I prefer Hempfling and Pignon, for example.

Horses do vary in personality, but they mostly all respond well to the same training approach: Make sure they understand what you are asking - that they have been trained to understand. Ask clearly. That is why one of my horses prefers a bit, because it is easier to be clear when using a bit. Don't nag, but don't take no for an answer. Only one of you can have ultimate responsibility for what you do as a team, and it had better be the human. Be fair. Any punishment needs to be proportional and timely. There are big differences between "I don't understand", "I don't feel like it" and "I'm afraid". Respond accordingly. Let the horse know you care about its well-being. That can be as simple as squaring a horse up before cleaning its feet rather than grabbing a leg of an unbalanced horse.

Horses do have differences in personality. My mare is much more high-strung and excitable than my Appy gelding, but "Firm, fair and consistent" per Foxhunter's post will get her as far and as fast in a training direction as her individual nature allows. The underlying training approach doesn't change, only how much she progresses and how quickly.

Foxhunter, please bear in mind that, as I have mentioned in other posts, Parelli is primarily a people training program. I am sure that you have many many years of experience training many types of horse, and therefore probably adjust your training style without even realising you are doing it to meet the needs of the horse in front of you this second.
For those of us who are new to training horses the Parelli program tries to give us some models to use that help us to use the experience Pat has built up over 30 years in Natural Horsemanship. His aim for the program is to make learning at least ten times faster than it was for him and to achieve this his has to explain his experience in an accessible way. Horsenalities is just his way of trying to get students to react properly to the horse in front of them even if they don't have a huge amount of experience.

You mean to say there is good Parelli training?

Sorry but having seen the way he lunges horses constantly in their faces breaking a rhythmic pace, seen how badly he rides and listened to the rubbish he spouts I can only admire him for his hype.

Animal behaviorists now recognize fight or flight and freeze and frantic =]

Yes, Fox, I mean it. But I've seen it not necessarily by Parelli himself. ;)

This post seems kind of mean and unnecessary.