Parelli, and how young?

[Diane Smith]

Do any of you use parelli? I have done a little of Parelli with my older horses, but I was wondering if anyone has used Parelli on a very young horse, and what the results were. The horse I'm thinking that may benefit is 10 months old, and is getting a little bit of a handful at times.

[Harry Hobbes]

One may start Parelli when a foal is a day old; or at any time hence.

As always, the age and emotional, mental, and physical state of the horse should be in the forefront of the trainer's mind, so that the amount of training, approach to training, and level of work never over-stresses the horse (including foals.)

Ten months of age is a good time to teach any foal.

Best regards,
Harry

[Alibi]

I started Parelli with my babies as soon as i got them at 6 months and they are real sweeties now (rising 3), never had any problems with them barging or loading in a trailer. They respect me and i very much respect them. Its great to start early - makes other things later on in life so much easier - nothing fazes my 2 at all.

Put the emphasis on "play" and not "work". Introduce them to new stuff, plastic, rugs, plastic, trailers, plastic, small logs they can step over, poles, more scary plastic stuff, so that when he's older and goes out on a hack he's not bothered about plastic bags in hedges, etc!

Some people say that youngsters don't forgive you as much as older horses, but i don't agree, they forgive as long as you don't forget or do it again!

And foals love a good scratch (Friendly Game) and its a great reward for them when they've done something good and it helps you to get to know every inch of them.

My boys are now Level 2 on their ground skills and we have had a saddle and girth on them and even sat on them bareback for a couple of mins - all lovely and calmly, with absolutely no hassle at all.

I 'd recommend it to anyone!

[Kate F.]

Absolutely! It's never too soon! After all, it's only what they'd be learning from the rest of the herd in a natural situation - moving with the herd, moving out of the space of higher ranking horses. They're just learning to treat us with the same respect they'd treat the other members of the herd!

My website is all about using natural horsemanship with young horses - Harmony - the central character, was 6 months old when the project started - so you might find some ideas for starting things off with your youngster there.

Have fun with it!