Parelli

[Speedy]

Does anyone in the Hemel Hempstead/Aylesbury area do Parelli? I've just started and would like to find other people to chat to about it - also maybe to get someone professional up here to teach it and make it worth their while by having a few people for them to visit.

[JoJo]

Sorry can't help as to living near you but feel free to email me! What level are you at? How far do you intend to go with your horse? What made you interested in Parelli anyway?

And while I'm at it, does anyone live near me! Yorkshire.....just moved here and loving it - cold as it is!

[Speedy]

Thanks JoJo - it would be nice to have someone to talk to as I don't know anyone else who does it, so feel a bit out on a limb sometimes.

I'm working my way through the Partnership pack at the mo. Must admit to not having done anything for the last few weeks as our school is frozen solid... I first discovered it in Oz - went to a demo and was so impressed that I bought the stuff out there (was a lot cheaper!) It's very popular in Oz and they have a huge support network. I feel it might help my mare as she is very spooky and rears and runs home if anything scares her - she's a bit nervy!

At the moment, she will play the seven games in the school (just about), she will bend to a stop from walk (but doesn't keep her feet still yet - she sort of turns half a circle and then stops!) and I can disengage her hindquarters (she found this really easy!) My main problem is that as soon as I leave the school she loses her attention and won't do anything! Also, sometimes it can take me AGES to get her attention in the school and she's far more interested in watching the other horses get turned out etc.

Some days I feel very positive but other days she's really frustrating! From a general day-to-day point of view she is really easy to handle and will move over in the stable etc and can be led on a long rope etc. After playing 7 games she will often join-up and follow me at liberty in walk and trot, but I've lost my nerve a bit when riding her and I think she knows this!

Where would I like to go with this? In a perfect world I'd like to be able to ride my horse without any tack and be in complete control..... this is pretty unachievable though!!

Sorry this is so long - should have sent it PM really

[vyvyen]

Hi Speedy,

You sound like you have the same kind of mare as me. They are hard work, especially when you don't have much confidence. I'm also working on Partnership, still mostly ground work though, Lindy is great in her comfort zone when I work her in her paddock but a complete loony out of her comfort zone, so I'll keep working her in her paddock (especially the ridden part) until we both have a lot more confidence. I take her for walks thru the bush on our property, she used to freak out and jump at everything but with perseverance and playing the games as we are walking its got a lot better. Good luck with your PNH, I hope you can get together with a group of other people studying PNH, it makes it so much more fun and encouraging.

[Speedy]

Thanks vyvyen. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who doesn't find this really easy! Our mares definately sound similar - mine is also very spooky out of her comfort zone. When you walk her around your land, is that led or ridden? Maybe I should do that too! At the moment we just stick to the arena

[TrotaLot]

I've been doing the Parelli exercises for about a year (not very consistently) and have stepped up the training because I want to test out of level 1.

I'm excited about going on to level 2 (harmony) because I see what my trainer has been able to accomplish with a client's mare. My arab gelding used to get anxiety attacks and would pull some spooks that left me hanging in air. He didn't like trailers, but would eventually load, but you could tell how nervous he was. He's always been a willing horse with a bit of a dominant streak (I've labeled him a passive dominant.)

I learned to ride through most of the spooking with help from my trainer, but the Parelli training has REALLY changed him and me. He is significantly braver and I have a better independent seat. I'm more calm, which in turn makes him less anxious. He also pays a lot more attention to me. Him being braver was evident when an antelope fawn jumped up out of the grass in front of him and he had NO reaction.

The improvement in my seat was a result of taking Parelli's suggestion for developing an independent seat is to ride in a secure area -- round pen or arena -- bareback, no reins and allow the horse to go where he wishes at a walk, trot and canter (you move him through the gaits) -- but I would only do this on a horse I trusted not to runaway or buck.

This is getting too long, got to quit.

[Speedy]

Trotalot - yeah, I need to do more with her, but it's difficult with the weather at the moment. I would trust her not to buck (although I've seen her do some crackers on the lunge!) but I think she would runaway in trot and canter. I've sat on her in walk (bareback) and did the "go wherever you want" thing and she kept going to the gate. it was almost as if she was saying "if you're not going to tell me where to go then I'm going back to the stable, where my food is!" I have ridden her bareback in trot in a normal bridle and she was really good, but she's so athletic that I can't sit to the trot unless she's working in an outline and carrying me - something which we're not really ready to ask for in the parelli halter! I rode her in her halter and a saddle at trot and she would bend to stop, but if I didn't keep asking her to stop then she would start to run and get faster and faster in the trot - didn't make her anymore difficult to stop though.... should I let her run with me in trot to get it out of her or take it back to the walk until she's ready to trot quietly?

These messages are getting so long, maybe we should all PM each other, but then I won't get answers from other people as well!

[TrotaLot]

Speedy -- I started a long message then reread yours. Short answer. Yes, wait until she trots easily and is paying attention to you. I tend to be overly cautious, but I think that is a good thing around horses. The idea is to stay safe. And I cannot stress enough about how important it is to complete the ground games (and the first couple of riding tasks) to get the kind of responses you want.

I would really like to hear how other people have gone through these games and what they think of the results.

[TrotaLot]

Got to share this. Please allow me to crow a little bit.

Sir went into the trailer by himself and stood properly until I asked him to back out. He FINALLY relaxed and went in several times. He even figured out how to step up and stay in position for the back slot! (I have a two-horse slant load and there is a single back door the width of the trailer.) I have had a bad habit of allowing him to go out forward, which causes a problem in a trailer where he can't be turned around. But he understood the tug on the tail meant to back up. What a smart boy!

[Speedy]

Really pleased for you - what a clever boy Sir is!!! And you are right to tell us - I'll be telling you the minute I get a full circuit of calm trot!!!!

I'll make sure my ground skills are excellent before I attempt anymore trotting and will bring her back to walk if she gets stressed. Unfortunately, I can't do anything at the moment as she has strained her shoulder and is unlevel - typical!

Keep up the good work xx

[Ame]

Great to see another positive PNH post on the forum. Keep up the good work everyone.

Just a quick note: A few of you mention wanting to get in contact with other like minded people.

I've found that a great way to achieve this is through joining online discussion group(s).

There are some fantastic PNH/NH email discussion lists available at the moment to Parelli students - all groups offering plenty of fun, friendship, inspiration and savvy, with lots of opportunity to ask questions and exchange ideas/advice.

Subscriptions are usually via either individual messages or alternatively, daily digests.

A few perhaps worth checking out:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Parellinaturally/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/parellisavvy/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/northernparelli/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/horsenaturally/

I'm currently living in Nottinghamshire, England - is anyone from this end of the country? Would love to meet up with any fellow PNHer's - perhaps go for coffee sometime :)

Anyway, hope the above information is of some help.

Take care all.

Best wishes,

Ame (who is extremely excited to be going home to Australia for April/May/June/July to play with her horses and participate in a couple Level 2/3 Ken Faulkner workshops! Woohoo!)

PS. Vyvyen please accept my apologies for not having replied to your PM as yet! Promise I haven't forgotten you! Have had a busy few weeks, but am slowly getting there - will try and write in the next few days all being well.

[vyvyen]

Hi,

I'm back!!! Speedy I'm a real chicken, I walk Lindy around my property on line, the thought of riding her out of our comfort zone (her paddock) terrifies me, but I'll get there one day (I hope).

Trotalot I would die for a 2 horse angle load horse float! I've got pictures of the one I want saved on the computer but my husband refuses to let me buy it, I think he thinks it would be cheaper to divorce me:D . I keep having to borrow or hire straight load horse floats, which I hate. The last time my daughters little pony shot out under the chain across the back when I lowered the back down, what a disaster. It also became detached from my car - really dangerous, I'll never use that one again, but the hire ones are all the same, the back chains are too high up for ponies and don't stop them from trying to come off, I have to stand there with a carrot stick and tap them on the bum, but Lindy being a "panicaholic" always tries to rush off no matter how many times she's put back on which causes Tonka to panic and he just flies straight under the chain, I hate it. Now if I had a 2 horse angle load it would be so much more safer, I just need to win the lottery to buy a new one, you can never find any second hand ones for sale as they are relatively new to Australia. Anyway, I'll keep harassing the hubby and hopefully he will give in;) .

Its great having contact with other PNHers. Good luck to all of you:D

[vyvyen]

Hey Trotalot,

I've just read one of your replies on the mature rider section, your also a 40's like me - WOW! I've had over a 25 year break from horses too, and I absolutely love being back involved with them again, especially learning PNH its giving me a lot more confidence and safety. Isn't it wonderful being in contact with similar people :D . Thank god I'm not going to a riding school and being made to walk, trot, canter and jump in an arena, I couldn't cope with it. I love my ground work with Lindy and riding at my own pace (walking at the mo). You sound way more advanced than me, you're doing so well. Good luck with your PNH.

[JoJo]

Try this website, I found it brilliant for resource

http://www.angelfire.com/az/iceryder/pnh.html

JoJo

[Tina J]

Hi,

I'm another mature (over 40) rider interested in Parelli. Went to a demo just before I went out to Australia to visit friends last Autumn. When I got to Aus I found that my friend was using Parelli and although an inexperienced rider, she could do a lot with her mare from the ground.

I have a TB ex-racehorse that I can now ride bareback along the farm track between his fields and stable (represents his comfort zone!). He used to buck and plunge about so this is a major step forward, and he is calmer out of his comfort zone under saddle these days.

So, anyone within a 60 mile radius of Huntingdon/Cambridge interested in getting a group together to arrange a course of some sort?

[TrotaLot]

I Just got back from a 3-day clinic with Dave Ellis (one of Pat Parelli's premier instructors). Most significant lesson was to find that I have barely tapped the surface of the lessons of level 1. (In simpler words -- how little I really know.)

Sir was a real turd. He was so emotionally involved with the change of scenery, new horses, new sounds and smells that any memory of the games went flying out of his head -- he was way out of his comfort zone. And I had to work so hard to get his attention back. He also came up with a new game for me. While we're standing around listening to philosophy/concepts/instructions, he would slowly and inperceptively move so he was standing in front of me blocking my view -- instead of standing to one side or behind me. The third day he decided he had enough, plus he had to pee and he doesn't like to do it in public. So he would spread his legs raise his head then do nothing and he'd start dancing and trying to rear.

But, I probably learned more from him being a turd than if he had been "normal." His attempts at rearing (I was disengaging him from the actual rear) attracted the attention of Dave who showed me how to dismount safely (we were dismounting at the time). Learned more about passenger games where the rider develops an independent seat and learns to focus. There's just too much to tell --- already taking up too much space.

And as a glutton for punishment, I am going tomorrow for an impromtu, all-day workshop with Dave Ellis.

[TrotaLot]

Thanks for clearing that up vyvyen. It was used on another post and it had me baffled.