Pat Parelli

Being one who lives in FL not far from PP, I, too was interested in this thread. On another bb it always got rabid, in the wrong direction and eventually the thread was shut down.

Since I'm new here, I'm glad to see that this hasn't immediately turned into a war, yea!

Doe, I don't think I've ever heard a more fair and accurate description of the PP and CA methods ever stated (at least for me, personally). Bravo on being so eloquent without being negative. I'm sooo impressed. (where's the hand clap emotocon?)

My trainer is very opinionated on this topic and I'll share those opinions with you.

She was a parelli instructor for many years, trained under one of pats trainers who actually did most of the work with Magick, in other words he's good. She herself was selected to ride at equitana before qualifying as an instructor, so she knows what she's talking about.

She got quite fed up and now tells us to listen but if we watch to spot flaws, often what he's doing does not match what he's saying. She is no longer a registered instructor and thought about renewing it but parelli instructors are not permitted to teach anyone not a parelli member and that would mean the end of our school.

He often does appear too rough with the horses which is the main reason we're often told to listen and not look. Often even without being rough he appears to be working to a script towing the horse along. For example in the seven games video he often talks about the nice relaxed arab mare who's standing there head high bulging eyes flaring nostrils.

One of the keys to NH is that if you have a goal you need to not have a strict timeline and if you have a timeline no specific goal. To be fair I think this philosophy can be applied to horsemanship in general. You may go out to practice dressage tests but on this day your lateral work is letting you down. Do you continue the test badly or step back fix what needs fixing and if you run out of time may not be able to finish running the test.

When presenting clinics there is a time limit and this is an issue faced by all clinicians. I think is where these demonstrations turn nasty.

As a bussinessman PP is a genius but in being a marketing genius he faces alot of criticism in being money hungry. The overpriced halters don't worry me so much how is that different from Wanting brand name anything.

There is a lot to be said about whether or not PP is a good horseman. But I think in my own opinion he is too focused on the marketing and that many people do expect too much at clinics , they leave unsatisfied if the horse "plays up" and the end result isn't achieved. I'm sure we've all had lessons where were going to do something, for me my last was I'm going to get on this mare for her first ride and yet she was misbehaving during earlier steps so no ride. Had this happened at a clinic many people in the crowd would have seen this as failure on my behalf.

Ok I'm going to stop here I hope this makes sense I apologize for the scattered nature of my arguments

Those are great. :) I can see from that point of view now.
No agruments should be started no worries. :)
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I think that as long as you don't allow yourself to be blinded by the hype, you can learn something of use from any trainer, be it a positive training tool or a lesson in what NOT to do. PP, like other programs has some good bits, but it seems to cause such a rabid following that it turns a lot of people off. The trick is to keep open eyes and take only what is useful, and leave the rest. Telling the two apart is the hard part.

In some cases I think your best bet is to learn the horses' body language, and then watch THEM when these various trainers are working with them. You can see when techniques are really working the way they are proclaimed, or whether the horse is being nitpicked or frightened into submission.

Totally!

There is something to be learned from every horse and every trainer. Even if that something is what not to do.

One of the biggest issues with the PP program is the 'my way or the highway' theory. The constant 'this program is all you need and anyone can train anything using it'.

One of the things that Prinella said has always bugged me about the whole PP program. To be a certified trainer you have to basically disallow every other training method/system/person. How close minded and it speaks of just how not a true horseman (just a marketer) that PP is.

I agree. PP and PP followers tend to be, "This is the only way" and look down on anyone who doesn't follow PP to the "T". Well, PP, just with anything should be taken with a grain of salt. There are many good instruction on how to connect and understand horse language and how to build some practical foundational skills. There are some good techniques that can go hand in hand with more traditional riding. These techniques are the same throughout all of natural horsemanship. I have been using PP and CA for years and have built a better relationship with my horses. I think that PP is overpriced and he can be hard to understand (what's with all that alliteration!)

I have met many people who hate parelli, but those same people considered problem horses unfixable. I have also met some people who swore by parelli and gave me funny looks that my rope holter isn't the parelli brand (puh-lease). Many strictly parelli people are timid and focuse too much on getting to the goals that they forget to enjoy the ride and remember why they want a horse in the first place.

Don't loose your focus and remember to love your horse! Natural Horsemanship can remind you of the beauty of horses as long as you don't get too caught up in the branding and marketing, but focus on the results you want to see, not what anybody else wants.