A few thoughts.....I am not a Parelli fan, probably
see too many "Parelli"trained horses that I felt were dangerous and
disrespectful....and too many goofballs involved with the program. (NOT
calling you a goofball; you are no doubt totally competent
horsewoman!).
But some people get so into his program and doing
things his way they totally seem to lose all common sense......example of
two ladies who came to look at mare my friend had for sale...this was an
energetic, almost hot little QH mare, who had nevertheless, been a safe
childs horse, done tons of trail and horse camping, gymkhana and even kids drill
team, very well trained, safe and respectful. My friend got on this mare
and demonstrated all gaits, sidepassing, leg yielding and some rollbacks,
etc....all very light and cooperative. The gals rode the horse and
liked her, and we asked them where they rode and what they liked to
do.
Well, they were Parelli students and going through
the various levels....they were not yet supposed
to RIDE their horses!! (older horses anyway
broke to ride), until their horses were through some various $$$$
levels.....they were still stuck doing ground work and silly games. Come
on...how absurd is that?
I have seen the 7 games video and still feel the
horse in the video looks pissed! At the end of the video, at his ranch or
some place....you see people doing things with horses willy nilly....standing on
their backs (falling off!), jumping bareback, no bridles, with NO HELMETS!,
standing on horses lying down, bridling from their KNEES??? Come on, all
very unsafe practices....NOT what people who join the program who need guidance
should be seeing or doing.
Way too much grandstanding for me.....sorry...every
so called Parelli trained horse I have run across in the last 16 years has
had serious respect issues and holes in trianing....
To adress your post, what I "don't" see is the
fun!
Karen (old grouch, school of common sense
training).
True, but not everyone has the discipline to
accomplish this. The rest of us lazy inconsistent slackers that just
like to ride, and who thought they had been around the block until they
found themselves with a dominant fire-snortin' hottie-horse,
might benefit from some Horse 101. The Parelli package (and
others like it) provide The Rest of Us with an easy and rewarding
program. It's a recipe. It's easy. It's fun. Small
investment, lifetime return. No, it's not necessary to "buy all
that stuff". You can learn a lot with a minimal investment, and did I
mention that it's fun? Oh yeah, I think I did!
Cheaper than a trainer,
and fun. Oopsy, I repeated that fun part
again. My attention span is insufficient to train a large
emotional and energetic animal without guidance, and my budget won't bear
the cost of professional help. The recipe program works for
me.
I disagree. It doesn't have to be Parelli as
long as you are teaching groundwork and being consistent with it. And
you don't need to buy all that stuff to teach good groundwork!
