Pat Parelli

Did it ever occur to you that she is WORKING on those things? WORKING on those things implies that they are not perfect and that it's a work in progress. Remmer is an introverted horse by nature, so dressage has little purpose to him and the fact that he's offering that to her is awesome...and she doesn't have to use spurs to keep him going. I've seen with my own eyes Remmer get VERY suspended in his gaits and it's just beautiful.

I actually have a friend who took a clinic with Walter once. She said she didn't like him AT ALL because he was critical and not that gentle with the riders. However, as much as I love my friend dearly, she is very stiff and quite hard on her horse's mouth, yet she doesn't think so....so I don't believe you that Walter won't be "firm" about things at times. And I don't think he would lie about Linda doing nice things with her horse ;)

As far as Linda being stiff......omg, she is one of the least stiff riders I have ever seen. And Remmer is a VERY honest horse who will do *something* if he doesn't like something...and a stiff rider is one thing he does not tolorate. She was flowing with his motion, not bouncy, fluid, and Remmer was nice and quiet.

Quite honestly I think you're just pulling at things to pick on. Do you not want Linda to be successful with Walter and in dressage? Hmmm...

Spirithorse, Remember that everyone is allowed their opinions. If Spyder thinks that Linda stinks at Dressage, ok then, If so and so thinks that Parelli has good and bad points, share them. Please refrain from any more comments like " Are you kidding?? And "Did it ever occur to you" I found them to be borderline rude and would appreciate no further comments or accusations like you have already posted. If you continue to do so the thread will be locked.

As to everyone else. PLEASE remember our contientious ediquitte policy and post nicely.

Thanks!!!

As far as the video goes, I know absolutely nothing about dressage but it just did not look fluid or balanced at all to me. As for the whole Pat Parelli thing, I believe he started out well a long time ago and is one heck of a horseman but he sold his soul for merchandizing rights. I completely agree with a previous post that he leads you to believe that "If you buy my products, you WILL have perfect harmony with your horse. Regardless of how similar other products are to mine, unless they have the "Parelli" stamp, they are not worth the less than 1/4 price tag you will pay for them." I am sorry and I mean no offense but with most parelli products, it is not quality you are paying for but the "Parelli" name. Plus, I just don't believe that you can really group every horse in the world into 4 personality profiles. That is like trying to group people like that, it just doesn't fit. Every horse is different and no one training style will work for every one of them. Wow, sorry for the rant. It's just that I have noticed that every year, he seems to come up with some new idea or gimmick to get people interested in buying his stuff.

Mark Weiler is the one responsible for the prices and the business side of the program. He owns 51% of the company and Pat and Linda have little to no say in the matter. It's a shame really, he's a jerk and he doesn't even own a horse.

The thing I don't like about Parelli, is how I think it is catered to take advantage to new and inexperienced horse owners. I think it doesn't have much merit in the saddle and people are spending so much time trying to "play" and get their horse to love them that they never get any true horse sense.

In doing research....trying to find just the right trainer to help me with Major...I found that the Parellis had entirely to many videos that they say you need. I mean, it may be fine for those people with unlimited budget...but I felt it was way to costly for me. All training videos are expensive, but most trainers don't require that you purchase so many! I have a lot of respect for the Parellis and their ability to train horses...how can you see their horses in action and not. I just feel that their program is for the very rich.

I've watched Pat Parelli's videos and was able to watch just half of couple of them. Boring and not impressive... Also I've seen presentation by Level 3 or 4 (don't remember) instructors at Horse Expo. Boring as well: many people were leaving a show after 10 mins. And horses didn't look happy either.

No offense here, but Parelli is all about advertisement and selling.Those $4K saddles (and some other stuff) advertisements are just unbelievable.

I'm not rich by any means. I just save my pennies for the things I want. Their educational material is priceless IMO. So much excellent and in depth information.

I agree with what others have said about checking into an Equine Library (some tack stores offer these) to rent some parelli/other equine training videos. Ebay might even offer these videos for a little bit cheaper. I'm not sure though, i've never checked to be honest ^^

If I was first getting into horses and had absolutely nobody knowledgable about horses to chat to in person and I considered reading into Big Name Trainers, i'd want to sample a bit of each before I got my heart set on one Trainer. Its a shame that no Big Name Trainer offers a cheapie DVD to pretty much "sell themselves" to a new and inexperienced horse person. A short DVD to showcase their views on horses and methods of training. I mean, Clinton Anderson's sets are what.. 120.00? (i think I read that on a thread around here) that is a LOT of money to pay if you aren't sure of his methods. What happens if you buy the DVD's and think he is way too harsh? You're out $120.00 bucks, and now you can flush more money on another Trainers expensive DVD set and hope that it'll be the Trainer for you.

I hope that makes sense... for the sake of new and naive horse people, I wish there was a "free" way to view some of the Big Name Trainers methods before having to dump oodles of money that could otherwise be purchasing blankets, updating vet kits, etc. I was working on something for my website and I couldnt find ANYTHING on Clinton Andersons website about actual horse training. But it was very easy to find the Store, and where to order tickets for his next event! ;) I didnt check parelli's site.. but Stacey Westfall actually answers her followers questions and gives advice freely. I think that's awesome ^^

I am very, very fortunate to have never needed to learn about training horses from books or videos. God put me in the right place to learn what I needed to from a very experienced horse woman with numerous horses of varying disciplines/training levels for me to work with and learn from.

I wish everyone could be this lucky!

Parelli has a free DVD. I got it and it was mostly just videos of them jumping tables and riding bareback/bridleless. It talked about how to "create a bond with your horse" but I don't remember any actual training shown