Opinions on Natural Horsemanship Gurus.

[goneriding24_7]

Ok, I've always hated Parelli because he's a money squandering jerk, but I've recently given in and been looking everywhere for more tools to use in training my horses. I have read his book and am doing his level 1 program. I've learned a lot, but I don't suck up every little thing he does, and I'm certainly not following his program like I

Comments

[cassidyscowgirl]

Natural horsemanship...okay I'll weight in here. I think some of them get amazing things out of their horses. Stacy Westfall, who I've just heard of recently, seems like a cool girl and Clinton Anderson has some common sense stuff. The Parelli's seem like all they want to produce is a 1000 pound circus dog and if that's what you want to do that's great but personally I would rather have a horse that I can ride and respects me. I know next to nothing about Parelli, just what I've gleaned from the internet, his site, and his marketing campaign. I can make a rope halter, do I expect someone to pay me $50 bucks for it? No, because that's ridiculous.

What bothers me the most about these people is they act like, "I was the first to figure all this out all on my own." *puffs out chest* Um, no you didn't. Go look up Ray Hunt or Tom Dorrance. These guys were the originators of what people call Natural Horsemanship - they were around way before John Lyons. Their philosophy is full of low stress training and common sense. Let me reiterate _common sense_

I don't need to be able to bounce a ball on my horse or ride around with a tarp crackling behind me, most folks don't either. What we do want is a good relationship with our horses. We want horses that whoa when we ask them and go when we ask the and do it with a willing attitude. To me, that's just good old fashioned common sense horsemanship. That's what Tom Dorrance teaches as does Ray Hunt. Another guy that I have a lot of respect for is Bob Loomis. He's a reining horse trainer and has a great book called "The Art of Reining." The first few chapters really apply to training barrel horses as well as reining horses and is chock full of just good ways to ride and train a horse.

So, to sum up this insane long and rambling post I really don't buy into the natural horsemanship. I go more for a common sense approach to riding and training. I also am like you. Take the things that work and use them. If Parelli has some things that are helping you with Thunder then by all means, use them! I've used some dressage techniques in the past to help me sit at a trot and I've only ever ridden western.

Great question!

[goneriding24_7]

Thats one reason I like Monty Roberts more than the others, he grew up KNOWING Tom Dorrance and mentions him explicitly a lot. I like that about him. Parelli does mention other trainers even Xenophon (dating back to B.C. times but seemed to get the "Not beating the horse" idea) but he does it so subtly as if to hide it from most of the people that follow his ways.

I've wanted that Art of Reining book but I've noticed its outrageously expensive because it appears not to be in print anymore. However, I intend on getting a copy down the road, when I'm employed.

I like to play the games with balls and tarps and stuff, just because to me it strengthens the trust between the horse and I and I just plain out have fun doing it, but I started doing this when I was in the Mounted Division to desensitize the horses, long before I really paid any attention to Parelli.

I guess as a bigtime horse enthusiast and animal behavior lover looking into all these training options really interests me. The thing is, after I picked up parelli's level 1 program I sort of got sucked in, and then I realized that he had a REALLY good marketing scheme and it even runs through his DVD's. I started wanting to buy HIS stuff because it was "better" and thats when I finally realized that I was getting myself in trouble. I have one of Parelli's halters, but I got it so I could teach myself how to make my own with the knots in the same places (as I like the style of his) not buy one for each horse!

As I was watching the level 1 stuff the other day Linda was trying to get this horses attention and she was just YANKING on the halter like crazy, and I could see how it would get its attention, but it wasn't like it was fixing it, she could get him to stand and such but it just, arg, I don't know!

They also keep saying that a horse when it panics wants to go forward (which I agree with) but they think that backing the horse will help it become less panicky. I know that Titan is quite capable of backing up and panicking at the same time, so I'm not so sure I buy into this philosophy either.

Thank you for responding though, I really need a chance to talk this out and get myself set back up so I don't join Parelli's stupid Savvy Club or something of the like.

[cassidyscowgirl]

Oh, god please don't join the club! You'll go to sleep in a pod and wake up spouting the gospel of Parelli! :)

And um, a horse can panic in any direction. That would be why when they are tied and get scared they pull "back" and try to run away instead of running forward.

The yanking really gets me. I've seen Parelli do it and I've seen Clinton Anderson do it. (Damn you RFDTV). Yea, you need to snatch the crap out of them sometimes to get their attention, but the jerkjerkjerkjerkjerkjerk thing, that's why you got the rope halter dummy one good short jerk will get their attention.

Lastly , if you can afford the Art of Reining I highly recommend it. Loomis has a great low resistance style and a philosophy that I totally agree with. I grew up around a really good reining horse trainer and the two of said pretty much the same thing. It's hardback...you know you want it. Get a Western Horseman magazine, they published it back in the day you might can get a copy there. Oh, and WH also published the Ed and Martha Wright barrel racing book. That's really good too, check it out.