Parelli VS: Clinton Anderson

Ok so I purchased Parelli discs levels 1-4 and I really like it so far. My colt and I are working on level 2. But now I'm confused. My sister just took her dream job on a ranch in Arizona. We've been talking a lot and the ranch owner is heavy into Clinton Anderson. He claims that he does not like Parelli's round pin work. He claims that your chasing your horse around with a stick to much and that all the horses he has worked with in his life that have a lot of parelli training are a lot less confident than a horse trained with Clinton Anderson tech. I can't really give an opinion on this because I have not yet started round pin work with my foal. Truthfully I don't have a round pin yet. I have lunged him a little but mostly we're working on leading and getting his feet to move. If your familiar with Parelli I have a left brain introvert so getting him to move his feet is a chore! :) Does anyone have an opinion? Would love to here from someone who is familiar with both trainers...Also I have already purchased the Parelli Savvy stick, string ropes, and halter. Is the Clinton Anderson halter any better? I noticed it has knots where the pressure points are. Does this really make a difference?

I would never just rely on one persons training techniques. Take a little bit of knowledge from all.

I haven't used Parelli or Clinton Anderson anything because I haven't done any real training, but I do know that the halters are all the same. You can get a rope halter at a tack shop for probably less than $10 that is the same. They are essentially the same design, but they all serve the same purpose and get the job done.

Agree totally. There are also many others out there. Noone has all the answers, IMO. The more you learn, the more "tools" you have when your guy gets "sticky" feet. I have one of those also, and as long as we have been doing it-he STILL stops and acts like I am asking something totally foreign. One minute he is doing flying changes on the 20' line-the next he won't even walk a circle.....

As far as the halters-the $10 ones are usually as flexible as you need to be really effective, IMO. AS long as it is not stiff, I have not found a real difference between them in using them.

Not supporting one trainer over another or even saying any of them are what you should be following. Just pointing out that the CA halters do have extra knots in them on the nose. So they are not the same as the PP halters or the halters you buy at the tractor supply. I have no opinion on the knots being better or worse, just stating there is a difference.

Totally agree, Lacyloo!

I went to a clinic last April, that the clinician asked for plain flat nylon halters. I was able to drop my horse's head and back him with one finger and thumb after less than 5 minutes. So I don't know if the halter type actually makes a difference. It was a desinsitising clinic and it was pressure and release, just like CA. I've watched both CA and PP on TV (love RFD Tv). It seems PP has some gimmicks that are kind of hokey and didn't work with my gelding when I was starting under saddle. The whole "walk with your body and your horse will walk" thing was a wash, as well as "trot w/ your body" and "canter w/ your body". My Teddy thought I was wacky, sitting up there rocking. He thought I had ADD.

THIS!!!! Well said!!

That whole exercise is a really simplistic version of something that does work when done correctly. The thing is, for a horse who is not used to seat aids, you actually might need to back up the cue with something that he is more familiar with, I.e., leg or whip. Over time, the horse becomes sensitized to seat aids, and you can get really light and subtle in your transitions. This is one of my major issues with Parelli - he makes simple things much harder than they need to be (The whole zone system fries my brain, lol ), and some more advanced ideas, such as seat aids, get reduced to "move the way you want your horse to move" with very little explanation how, why, and what to do if that fails.

If someone had me at gunpoint and was forcing me to choose, I would have to say CA over Parelli any day. I do have one of Parelli's older books, and there are some interesting and valuable insights to be had there. As far as roundpenning, I've mostly only done lunging, akin to CA's style, mainly because I don't have a round pen. I see nothing wrong with roundpenning done right. If your horse's feet are "sticky" and he has a hard time moving forward, the comparative freedom of the round pen might be more motivating to him than lunging in the beginning.

Halters - I do see a slight difference in Scout's "handling" with a rope vs a web halter, but not enough to matter. I'll save my money and have 2 halters, one rope, one web, for a tiny fraction of the price of either Parelli's or CA's. Pressure is pressure, and any kind of halter is serviceable to the end of exerting it.

Parelli does NOT chase the horse around in the round pen. I'm a Level 3/4 student with my second Levels horse so I've been with the program for quite some time and we do not teach this. I've actually seen Clinton chase horses around and around, makes me sick.

My horse now is a left brained introvert and unless you use psychology and truly understand what makes them tick, yes it will be difficult to get them to move lol. These kinds of horses really make or break a person, either you know what it takes to get this horse to WANT to do things and to OFFER things or you don't and you'll always end up working harder than the horse.

Okay well to start with let me say I had this same issue for years. I was like well I love the things that the Parelli horses do, but clinton andersons methods seemed a little quicker and easier to understand. I purchased bothe Parelli and Andeson dvd sets.

I trained with a mixture. Until...I went to WEG (the World Equestrian Games). Both Parelli and Anderson were there along with a ton of other trainers. I lost any respect I had for Parelli at this great event. He does great things with horses I will give you that but I will never spend my money supporting such an arrogant jerk agian. He was rude to the people that worked for him, he was rude to the public, and he was in general a walking informercial for himself. It was disgusting. I don't know if you have seen the Horseman's Apprentice on RFDTV but in the series they showed a little of his true colors when be began yelling at his students. I don't see why anyone would support him. He doesn't need it he supports himself.
I gave away all my Parelli stuff to a pony club.

Clinton Anderson was nice, the people in his booth were nice, he was humble, and he was not pushy. He answered questions people had instead of telling them to buy the Parelli program.

I have went to clinics with a person who does mostly Anderson like methods and my advancements have went far. My horse lays down, bows, collects, changes leads, isn't spooky, and so on.

I will say based on what other people stated that they are right you can't stick with just one but my suggestion would to be Anderson and someone else lol.
Pat Parelli said at WEG that you can't mix training methods you must just stick with his methods or you won't find success. WHO SAYS THAT?!!

I believe this year if we watch the Road to the Horse we will see who reigns supreme sonsidering they are competeing agianst one another. I kinda want Chris Cox to win lol.

All in all both methods are the same worded differently. Pat Parelli makes it seem like a game and uses that word to help people think it is the natural way. Clinton Anderson doesn't sugar coat it. I have seen Linda Parelli yank on a horses face just as agressively as Clinton Anderson on RFDTV because the horse needed it.

If you were really smart you would give up on the big box trainers and look into a smaller clinician such as Steve Rother (my favorite), or Julie Goodnight.

I use methods from many different trainers, but I prefer Clinton.

Don't even get me started on parelli.:roll: have you seen the Catwalk video? Parelli is a JOKE!

And here's a video of Linda. I don't even have a clue what she wanted from the horse, how is the horse supposed to know!?



This about sums it up for me about Parelli: