Does Parelli Natural Horsemanship work?(Read Detail please)?
I know a lot of people say he is just a salesmen but would he be one if he didnt do a good job with his horses. I hear a lot of people say that Parelli Natural Horsmanship is the same as everyone elses just with his own ways, so doesn't that mean he is good but since he is on tv it tends to be expensive but im not worried about buying it I just want to know if it works like other trainers?
Comments
The question I would ask is whether any of the training methods used by anyone here would allow a novice to become a trainer. "Parelli trained horses" referred to here are typically novice trained horses. Call them what they are, and you can then judge them accordingly. I've retrained a few in my time. They were trained by novices and came with some pretty serious issues. The only difference was that the novices who tried to train them used methods they learned from the guy down the road, or Grampa, and no one with a big name was blamed for the failure.
Parelli and the others out there offering DVDs are today's versions of former trainers who wrote books to inform the public. I imagine Xenophon would have made some DVDs if he could have. How the public uses those books or today's DVDs is the responsibility of those who buy them.
If you buy a DVD and think it will make you into a horse trainer, then the answer is no, it won't. But it can help you to learn and find ways to improve your overall training program.
Parelli is Parelli. The biggest problem I have with his system is that he doesn't explain why the horse reacts the way it does to certain steps in the training, or why he does certain steps. And unless a person (one of his students) understands the fundamentals behind the program, then they aren't going to do it right, and they aren't going to have success.
For example, the video Bliss offered up... if you don't understand the fundamentals of why Linda Parelli is doing what she is doing, you just think she is being mean to the horse. Now I think there are better ways to achieve the goals she is going after in the video, but I understand what she is trying to do and it goes much deeper than the horse was swinging it's butt toward her. But a person who has no real clue about training would jump to the opinion that it is cruel and unusual punishment or that it was business as usual. If Linda or Pat explained the 'why' behind what she was doing, people might understand. Instead, someone will take what they saw, twist it the wrong way, and think they are doing it the right way, mess up another horse and cry that Parelli doesn't know what he is doing. As a trainer, I don't like his methods, but obviously the guy can train a horse, he's been around for a while now.
The bottom line is, you need to know the fundamentals to be a good trainer. That means an understanding of horse psychology and physiology, as well as riding. You need to know not only what a horse is doing, but why it is doing it. And that means you need a lot more than just what Parelli has to offer.
It can be helpful in terms of learning a bit about your horse's personality, but it has no practical application for riding. If you're scared your horse is going to hate you forever for smacking it to get off your foot, you (and your horse) are not going to get anywhere. I think it's fine to use a lot of the methods used by many different NH trainers, as long as you realize that there's no cure-all method for every single horse out there. Somehow, I got on the Parelli List-serv, and in their monthly (?) e-mails, they have a Q/A section where an owner outlines a problem they're having with a certain game or whatever. Not once have I seen an answer that didn't say "you're just going to fast with him/her" or "start all over again with game ______."
Don't get me wrong, some of his stuff works, but it's the insistence that his way and only his way works is what really turns me (and many others) off.
People buy into it because they want to have a relationship with their horse like they'd have with any other human. But you really can't, because if your horse thinks it's a human, it's more likely to cause you physical harm and make you scared of it (so you don't ride it and it ends up being "useless").
I've seen good and bad come out of Parelli. I've used some of the techniques with my regular ground handling, but I'm not really into the "games" that they want you to play with the horses. I think a confident, experienced horse person doesn't need to invest in hundreds of dollars worth of DVDs, special halters and leads, and a carrot stick. I would pay to watch a clinic with the Parelli's, but not the DVD training methods.
There are some older advanced-beginner ladies at my barn who bought some young hot (inexpensive) horses they had planned to use for just trails and light pleasure riding without really knowing how to buy a horse. Someone got in their head to use Parelli on their horses and they have dished out so much money on it. Their horses have mastered the "seven games" but they still are afraid to actually get on their horses! Natural horsemanship can't be taught, it needs to be felt through experience (with the help of an experienced horse person!).
I'm actually going to see a Clinton Anderson clinic this summer so I'm anxious to see some other methods! Natural horsemanship is really an amazing thing to watch when done correctly!
No, it doesn't work like other trainers, as in other trainers who are actually handling your horse. No horse fits the "one size fits all" mentality of Parelli training and many horses suffer because of the handler's lack of knowledge and misinterpretation that happens between the DVD and popcorn to the stables.
Most of the Parelli horses that I've met were sour. They didn't like the idea of spending another day having an orange stick waved at them or running around in tiny little circles literally going no where. One place I boarded, a "dangerous horse" sign was put on the fence of a Parelli horse that was trained using that system and would lunge at anyone that got near the fence.
He is nothing more than a used car salesman. Oh and a cult leader too since the Parelli zealots act like the sun shines out of places where sun isn't supposed to shine.
Take your hard earned money and spend in on a trainer whose worth their salt. A little extra money to pay for a professional will pale in comparison to the cost of having to have a horse completely retrained at an older age.
Edit: Bliss... wow... that video is just... WOW. No wonder that horse didn't want to do ANYTHING. Jeez... I wonder what kind of damage that woman is doing while she's reefing on his face after giving him all the confusing cues...
Yes - it CAN work on SOME horses - IF taught in the RIGHT way.
It CAN totally screw up some horses , as it makes little sense to them.
It is not "a little expensive" it is downright ROBBERY. To actually TRAIN to become a "Parelli Trainer" - will cost you close to HALF A MILLION DOLLARS (add it all up!) - all paid to Mr. P
Back in 2002 He put on a clinic near me - the blurb was that he would take UNTOUCHED wild stock , and train them right in front of you. I was working with PMU horses and foals and saw this as a great opp for them. Problem was Mr P - ONLY used horses that HE had "selected"...and PMU's were "too rank"...the man even looks like the Wizard in the Wizard of Oz...same smoke and mirrors.
Apparently I train horses that are too "rank" for Parelli...anyone want to buy a rag on a stick from me for ten bucks??
Its all crap! Every bit of it! Ive tried EVERYTHING! I recorded every horse training there was on RFD Tv and I tried all of it. The things I did and didn't need help with, just to see if it worked. Nothing did, except Clinton Anderson. That's the only thing I found worked. Besides that nothing did. I tried Ken Mcnabb, Craig Cameron, Monty roberts (hes not on RFD), Dennis Reis, Parelli, and Clinton Anderson. His is the only thing that worked and now I have a good, reliable trail horse. Hes the best horse I could have wanted! Clinton Anderson isn't mean to them and he does build a relationship with the horse, After the work is done and they're respectful. Do you really want to allow a 1,000 lbs horse all up near you when they have no respect? I sure wouldn't! Parelli has a lot of 'behind the seine' work to it, where Clinton Anderson lays it all out there. Hes not going to show a horse going around the round pen for 3 hours but the part where people can learn from it is what he displays on his show, Down under Horsemanship. He is from Australia and people say his voice gets on their nerves. It does mine a little but his training is effective and Ive learned everything off of his tv show and got the tools for under $20 at chicks saddlery. The double nose rope halter was $6.99 and the stick with string was $8.99. I got these at Congress (All American Quarter Horse Congress) so they dont have everything on their website. Parelli is just playing games with the horse and 'natural' is not natural for the horse! Its natural for the human! Parelli is a worthless, waste of time. Dont train your horse by it no matter what. Thats my say in it all! Hope this helped!
Parelli IS all about money. let me share my trainer's experiences with Parelli training.
Our trainer is the best I've ever seen. I've never seen horses respond to anyone like they do to him. He went to a Parelli clinic because he was interested in this popular training method, and also, because Pat Parelli's horses are pretty dang good. Well you go through different levels of training and for our trainer, he finished the first 3 levels in 2 days. After each level, you have to pass a test. The instructors at the clinic would only let him take the tests for levels 1 & 2 in one day and told him to wait another day to take test 3. So he did and moved on to level 4. The instructors started being super picky and doing everything they could to stall him. He was getting through everything so fast that they couldn't make as much money off of him being there so they tried to slow him down to make more money. Also, a lot of the instructors at the clinic could not ride a horse. The first few levels are all ground work and the instructors for those literally could not ride a horse. Some of the instructors for higher levels rode like crap. Other people going through the program were passing the tests and advancing levels when they also could not ride or rode like crap. Well after all that, our trainer decided to leave because it was just a money gouging scheme. Well the instructors there tried to get him to stay because they saw how good he was with the horses and they thought "hey this guy could be an instructor with us and make us a lot of money". But our trainer is smart and left anyway.
Something else our trainer told me that's a little known fact. Parelli is successful with his own horses because he starts them the same way everyone else does, using ropes and force. But if the world knew that, they wouldn't buy into his program.
Another thing, my dad's ex-wife was big into Parelli. She had a horse that she claimed had been abused by 3 different trainers. Whether this was true or not, the horse had issues. She sent him to some Parelli people who tied him to a post in the middle of a field. Then they took a carrot stick (Parelli's most famously overpriced tool) and tapped the horse on the butt with it. Repeatedly. As they did, he tried frantically to run away but was tied to the post so could only go around in circles. They continued chasing him and tapping him with the stick. They were trying to get him over being scared of it. Does this sound very "natural" and like they're understanding and putting the horse first to you?
Some things the Parelli method does are not all bad and some work. Overall, the program as a whole does not work. Our trainer has seen countless horses that have been trained in Parelli that are extremely dull (we have an ex-Parelli horse who is the dullest horse our trainer has ever seen). He's also seen the crazy super sensitive skittish horses that most people talk about after they've been through the Parelli program.
So overall the program is just a big money making scam. The Parelli trainers don't care about how people interact with the horses, as long as they're making money. There are plenty of other training methods out there. One trainer that ours recommends is Stacy Westfall. She is a reining trainer and has a horse that she can ride a reining pattern with no saddle and no bridle. It's all with her legs and her seat. Google her and watch some videos of her riding her horse tackless on a reining pattern. It's awesome. Our trainer is going to get a 2 year old soon and make him his special project. He's going to train him to be ridden completely tackless and do cutting and reining and everything with him. I'm trying to convince our trainer to write a book or something about how he trains horses because he is so amazing with them.
Other trainers he looks up to are Clint Allen, Craig Johnson, Bill Riddle, and Paul Hansma. We also work closely with Tim McCloud.
So just say NO to Parelli. He's rich enough and his program has messed up too many horses.
I tried to use Parelli method and i didn't get the results the he said i'll get.. I found another horseman by the name of Clinton Anderson. I bought his book and horsemanship and tried them out.. i got good results. This is the book i bough: Clinton Anderson's Downunder Horsemanship (CLANDO)
by Clinton Anderson, Ami Hendrickson, Caleb Gray (Illustrator)... At barns and noble.. His methods are good... i am not saying they are GREAT but he's methods worked on my horse and my frieds' horses as well..
Absolutely not. I have never met a parelli horse that didn't have a whole pile of issues and need to be retrained. Parelli's methods don't make a lick of sense and he uses the same method for EVERY horse. If his methods don't work, he tries them over and over again, and when they fail he blames the horse. He recommended retiring a horse and using it as a broodmare because his looney methods didn't work on it. There was nothing wrong with the mare, she just needed a firm hand which Parelli was unable to give her. Poor horse.
ADD-- Tasha, why on earth would anybody WANT to bounce a big ball next to their horse? That's pretty pointless if you ask me, and it'll lead to lousy riding like this:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1272/617395577_23de...
Yes, that is Mr. Pat Parelli, about to slam into his horse's back and ripping its face off. He's focusing more on that big rubber ball than on his horse, and the horse is suffering for it. If he were riding at my barn, he would not be allowed to trot off of the lunge line.
ADD-- Gallop, I agree, no matter what methods he's teaching people are not going to learn them properly from a DVD... I don't think anybody can learn to train without actually working with a real-life person there, it's just not something you can teach yourself. However, I have been to one clinic of his around 5 years ago and watched much of the level one DVD, it just doesn't make sense in terms of horse psychology.
If you have $300 to throw away, spend it on ten lessons not one steaming load of crap. The lessons will help you and your horse WAY more.