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Parelli, Your Thoughts?

16K views 158 replies 40 participants last post by  SportHorseHeaven 
#1 ·
I ride Parelli and my horse and I have an amazing bond, she does what I want her to do and wants to do it as well! I have benefitted so much from it but I know there are loads of people out there who don't like or agree with it and just wanted to know your thoughts of it :-o
 
#2 ·
I ride Parelli

:lol: There is a comment you don't hear so often, it's more usual it seems to be ground based Parelli followers.

I think there is a little bit of good stuff in there, hidden by a lot of hype, slick marketing, expensive merchandise and some down right dangerous concepts.
 
#6 ·
:lol: There is a comment you don't hear so often, it's more usual it seems to be ground based Parelli followers.

If I can, I spend half of my time on the ground (to see if she is okay to ride) and half ridden to keep it all even :-o In Parelli there are four 'Savvys'; On Line (rope and halter), Liberty (no rope halter or anything to attach you to your horse), Freestyle (like pleasure riding) and finesse (like dressage). If i spend an hour with my horse, I would spend 15 minutes on each, also to keep her even. :D
 
#4 ·
I've seen some parelli trainers work on horses and then try it on my horse. It was too much for my guy. Even the wriggling the rope to back up.. it scared him more than taught him. My horse is very easy to communicate to--much like myself. If you want back, you tell him and your body shows him and he'll do it. If you want over, you tell him, and your body shows him. But.. doing something without showing him what you want, and he starts getting frustrated and confused and sometimes even sad that he can't figure it out-- and then he becomes dangerous.

So I prefer to stick with what I know, and what my common sense creates for us.. rather than do something that my horse just doesn't snap into.

I'm sure it's great and all, but not for us.
 
#5 ·
I would never change what I do for what anyone says about it, becaus eit works for me, I understand it doesn't for everyone. My horse used to get scared when I wiggled the rope to! She nearly dislocated my arm! And there definately is to much marketing! At first it was all about 'Making a better world for horses and humans' but now theres just too much! I bought the starter kit for £15 which contained a halter, rope, savvy string and carrot stick and I have my horse at a completely Parelli yard so I was taught properly as the owner is a Parelli Professional. I personally don't think you should use Parelli if you haven't been taught by an actual human being as the videos just tell you what to do, and don't help in anyway if you can't do it or are doing it wrong! If you don't use Parelli properly, I completely agree, it can be dangerous!
 
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#10 ·
hahahh!! thats funny!




:rofl: but i do ride a horse! and would you say 'i ride my horse traditionally', 'i ride traditional' or i ride traditionally'?:wink: and my options are 'i ride Parelli', i play with and ride my horse parelli-y' or i ride parelli-y' lol:lol:
 
#12 ·
Sometimes yeah! the first time i tried to send my horse out on a circle, she did this sort of sideways cantering thing! But now I dont even need to use my carrot stick! And they are Phases, not "commands"
 
#33 ·
Carrot stick= funny coloured whip.

I don't agree with it. I don't agree with Monty Roberts. I don't believe you have to buy DVD's, a dually, a 'carrot stick' to be able to train your horse. Horse sense teaches a human, a trainer with experience can help you but if you do it right then you shouldn't have a problem, working from respect on the ground to working under saddle. Perhaps you want to call it parelli or monty roberts, but if you REALLY think about it, all the fundementals of riding a horse regardless of discipline are the same.

So no, I don't agree with parelli, or anything like that. There are many ways to skin a goose, but I don't need to teach my horse circus tricks to do it.
 
#13 ·
I'd say "I ride my horse" because realistically, Parelli or any other trainer isn't a style of riding, it's method of training a horse.

I personally wouldn't attempt to pigeonhole how I train my horse because I have worked with several trainers and any ideas/suggestions they have that I deem to be sane and reasonable, I'll try. I don't believe that a program with steps A, B, C, D to follow when training a horse will work with all horses. Each horse has a different personality and attitude and if a particular training method isn't working, it's time to find a new one instead of annoying/irritating the horse by repeating the same thing over and over.
 
#14 ·
Ifeel the same way, in parelli, we use horsenalities. for each one there are different things to do with them. there is no such thing as a normal horse or a problem horse which is why we train them differently. there are four main categories; dominant, lazy, food orientated (left brain introvert), playful, forward going, excitable (left brain extrovert), shy, prestends not to be there if scared(right braing introvert) bolts if scared, spooky (right brain extrovert) basically there is introvert (if had choice wouldnt move much) extrovert (always moving) right brain (scared, shy) left brain (dominant, less scared. for each of these horsenalities, we train them differently. but i dont follow everthing pat parelli says, i use the way he thinks about how horses are treated. all it is to me is an outline of what i should be doing and i build on it myself and do what works for me but in that style
 
#15 ·
The Parelli system, if done well, should make the carrot stick almost unnecessary, shouldn't it? I mean the idea is to get to the softes cue possible, which would be plain, old body language, minus any "aid".

If you watch Pat himself work with horses, he is very good. And I am sure that , again, done correctly, the system is really great.

I have seen horse that end up being rather dull and mechanical in their interactions to the handler because they have learned the "games" and go throught the motions without being fully there , upstairs, you know.
 
#16 ·
I've done a little bit with mine, if i hadn't done it when i got my horse in May, i probably wouldn't still have her now. she was bargy and had no respect for me at all! I've only played the seven games, i ride the classical dressage way, but i think parelli on the grounds amazing, and watching linda and pat ride is so cool! it was a total lifesaver for me, i now have a safe, sane, respectful horse.
 
#17 ·
I went to a Parelli clinic as I was fascinated by what they were able to do with the horse. But, from what I see on RFDTV for the Clinton Anderson, It's pretty much the same thing. Same techniques, same tools, same products. I take some of their tips, but I'm not a "follower" I like to use a lot of different trainers techniques and make my own for what works for my horse. :)
 
#18 ·
I've seen what it can do to a completely uncontrollable horse firsthand, and I am soon going to use it on my horse. Pat Parelli himself annoys me cause of all his annoying little sayings all using the same letter and how he talks soooo much, but some of the stuff he says does make sense, it is just mostly common sense though. However, it does work, and I support it. Although I don't support how he never wears a hard hat/helmet or anyone he teaches, as you can never be 100% sure the horse isn;t going to trip or spook. And also I think the whole Parelli thing now is quite money-orientated :/
 
#19 ·
the idea of parelli is to get a horse working for you as a partner, not prey or to dominate you. it uses a horses natural instincts to make it 'natural'. so if you use it correctly, a horse will be happy to do these things like they would do for their herd leader.
 
#20 ·
claporte, i agree, parelli has become a money making scheme, pat parelli is a very good horseman but there is no need to buy dvd's a stuff! there is also no point trying to pass parelli levels, they dont do anything, i havent entered or passed my level one or two and i still do level 3 stuff, it doesnt limit you in anyway, and you have to pay to enter, and if you dont pass, you have to pay again!
 
#22 ·
The problem with Parelli is that it targets horse owners with hyper and exciteable horses, usually forgetting about the ones that you could beat over the head with a carrot stick and they'd fall asleep. For example, take my Arthur. Parelli's methods simply don't work with him because of his personality. My energetic mare has benefited some from using his methods, but she's a different type of horse than Arthur is.
 
#25 ·
My horse is exactly the same! in parelli they use horsenalities, and there is certain things to do that will motivate him, why he wont do anything is because to hime, its not interesting enough.
 
#23 ·
online: back up, cirlce, figure 8, sideways, jump, make her back up by picking up her tail :), half circle to sideways canter, stand on objects (this takes a lot of courage for a horse, its like us going to stand on something that we think is gonna hurt us), circle and change direction in the space of like 2 seconds and so much more! liberty: (no halter) sencd out and bring back, my horse can do circles around me at canter until i ask her to stop and i dont need to keep sending her, i walk my horse walks, i imitate a trot or canter movement and my horse will do so!, send over a jump and loads more! Freestyle (pleasure riding): everything that everyone else can do but all i need to do to make my horse for forwards is bring all my energy up! and again, everything said before but with no bridle/halter(i use a halter) finesse (like dressage): everything like normal dressage but with no bit in my horses mouth and make then go using the same way as before!
 
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#24 ·
My horse is a LBE, passively dominant light draft type guy. His method of becoming a leader is ignoring any pressure at all. However, he was started with the Parelli method and since then he has been trained with natural horsemanship methods exclusively (ok, I know they are often similar with many traditional methods, too. ;) ), and this type of training has been only beneficial to him - he's now active, alert, interested in people, and, though passive dominance is still his game, I do the 7 games with him on a regular basis during groundwork and I really, honestly can say that he understands them and responds to them well. If to some only more active horses respond to Parelli - then my guess is something has been misunderstood in the whole pressure thing. It cannot be used as a system, it has to applied to each horse by his character individually.
 
#30 ·
there is no need to play with your horse for that long! theyed be tired out! but i never go on trail rides that long so its probably best to ask someone else ;)
 
#31 ·
and saranda, mine would usually be fine as well, but id hate to get on her without her wanting me to. also, i do the cinch up in three goes to see if she is in any discomfort. so i'd do it up a bit, play a bit, do it up a bit more, play a bit, then do it up, play quite a bit and then get on ;)
 
#32 ·
I also like combining groundwork and bareback riding in one session - for example, work with yields from ground and then continue it with the same thing, just from mounted position, to establish the new elements. :)
 
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