is there any pitfalls doing parelli

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horsey1

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Apr 5, 2005
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Hi
Can anyone tell me if there is e.g could it affect his behaviour or can it harm the horse in any way if not done properly.
I know it all looks great on the video's but just worried it could go the other way if you know what I mean :confused:
Please help any suggestions appreciated :D
 
Yes - if not done properly it can mess a horse up. A friend of mine has made her pony into a nervous wreck by doing Parelli 'her way' - before she started messing with it it was fine.

But, the owner was sort of mad :rolleyes:
 
Ive never heard of a horse being messed up by parelli. I do it my own way, some exercises from the perfect manners book and some other things ive picked up, and my horses have been fine. I think sometimes with natural horsemanship you can sometimes be a bit soft with them. I would watch your sharer for a bit, but if she is following a structured plan then she should be ok!
 
Feel, timing and release is very important when doing ANY type of work with a horse. If you lack any of those, you can really confuse the horse. It doesnt matter if you're doing Parelli, Rashid, Roberts, Dressage, Hunting or jumping.

That said, if a person is using Parelli on a horse and doesnt understand the importance on releasing the horse when its done right, yes, the horse can and will become very confused and can react badly.
 
That's particularly pertinent with Parelli in terms of the way levels of pressure are used compared with other 'systems' which possibly take a more low key approach. If you get that all wrong you could end up with an upset and resentful horse.
 
Echo Yann. I know of someone recently who got someone in to 'Parelli' their horse because it didn't load. It won't load at all now even though it had before! Let's just say that there's upping the pressure and there's upping the pressure.

Any system used wrongly or without understanding can be detrimental to the horse.
 
As people have said, any system misused can harm the horse, that includes every NH technique and BHS style training too. As Yann says the thing that is most often done wrong in Parelli is adding too much pressure and not recognising when you get a positive response (mind you this is very much the risk with join-up and others too - if you do not watch and 'read' the horse and keep applying pressure you will have a very upset and resentful horse).

Done without too much pressure you end up (well not end up, we are not finished by any stretch of imagination) with someone like this (there is no rope here, he is just following me of his own will..no food or other co-ercian involved :) ) mind you I have stolen a bit from a lot of methods, not just Parelli..I can assure you he is certainly not traumatised ;)

However you do need to be careful, these methods still need common sense and cannot just be applied without thinking.
 

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Very true, but Parelli is the only system I'm aware of where escalating the amount of force used on the horse is codified. This means someone could easily think 'my horse is not doing x, so I eventually need to hit it, then hit it harder etc. because the instructions say that's correct' even when the handler can be asking the wrong way or the horse just doesn't get what's being asked for. Having a big stick in your hand doesn't exactly help in this regard.
 
I don't know much about Parelli, but wanted to say that I think it is really important to understand any training system fully be it Parelli or clicker training before starting to use it.
As a big fan of clicker training (tho I've not used it with horses!) I know that without understanding the principles behind it you can inadvertantly train an animal to do things you don't want - and I assume that other systems have the same problem!

What Alex Kurland is saying is not a problem with the tecnique of clicker training but with what you deliberately train your horse to do (ie you won't accidentally teach your horse to rear), but if you do teach him/her to rear it might lead to problems.
 
Yann said:
Very true, but Parelli is the only system I'm aware of where escalating the amount of force used on the horse is codified.
Click to expand...

Codified, maybe, but like Esther pointed out, even Robert's methods condone ever increasing force on the horse. They're two different approaches, but you say Tom-a-toe, I say Toe-May-Toe.

Well said clicker.
 
I meant to add the point about all NH trainers using pressure, high levels of it in certain situations, the 101% thing, because that's pretty much the only way you are going to establish things with an animal that outwieghs and outstrengths us. As you say you will see any trainer, Parelli, Roberts, Rashid even, using strong pressure when a horse won't respect their space or stay with them.

The difference in a novice context with Parelli is that someone could do it wrong and end up bashing their horse about and making it nervous of them, thinking all the time they're correct. Getting Kelly Marks foundation exercises wrong as an example is unlikely to be nearly as detrimental. It's more important to get it right, that's all.
 
Good point.

I guess the moral of the story then is that any novice starting out on anything new should seek professional assistance (meaning professional observation as in a lesson) or else they risk damaging their relationship or health of their horse.

I read last night in the new issue of "Horse Illustrated" that some universities are adding Natural Horsemanship into their curriculum as an actual degree of equine sciences. Pretty neat.
 
Yann said:
The difference in a novice context with Parelli is that someone could do it wrong and end up bashing their horse about and making it nervous of them, thinking all the time they're correct.
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This reaction would have nothing to do with being a novice, In my book it would be classed as aggressive behaviour bought on by frustration. Anyone who resorts to bashing their horse must surely realise it's not the correct procedure whether they be a novice or professional!!

Parelli is given a raw deal by a few members on this board, yet it's the foundation for other NH systems that seemingly meet their approval. :rolleyes:
 
Have you seen "In A Whisper" Jacquie? The video where Parelli, Lyons and .... oh geesh, I can't remember who the other one is.... how embarassing.... go up against one another to tame wild horses in a specific time span.

Even I, a Parelli advocate, was a bit surprised at Pat's methods with his horse. And he certainly isnt a novice - but an uneducated observer might have written his actions off as "frustration".

Im just saying that having the 'savvy' to understand when and how to apply the phases is whats important. There is no way a novice or short tempered person could apply them the way they're supposed to be applied. The same goes for Join up. An instructor is crucial to judge whether you're being effective or if you're just speaking rubbish to the horse.
 
Yann said:
Very true, but Parelli is the only system I'm aware of where escalating the amount of force used on the horse is codified. This means someone could easily think 'my horse is not doing x, so I eventually need to hit it, then hit it harder etc. because the instructions say that's correct' even when the handler can be asking the wrong way or the horse just doesn't get what's being asked for. Having a big stick in your hand doesn't exactly help in this regard.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply's guys. I dont know what I think as I have only had him under a year and he really is a good boy I certainly dont want him ruined by doing this.
I mean if any of you had a sharer would you let them do parelli on your horse, my sharer thinks he is a bit cheeky and says it will improve his manners, but he has not got a bad bone in his body just gets a bit greedy with treats thats really all.
As Yann says what if she does not notice if he does it right and starts thrashing him!! :mad: :mad: I think NOT I know where the carrot stick would end up :mad:
 
Let her do some groundwork, but without a carrot stick if you aren't sure about it. That might be what she means anyway, getting a horse responding to you well on the ground can be very helpful.
 
Tootsie4U said:
Have you seen "In A Whisper" Jacquie? The video where Parelli, Lyons and .... oh geesh, I can't remember who the other one is.... how embarassing.... go up against one another to tame wild horses in a specific time span.

Even I, a Parelli advocate, was a bit surprised at Pat's methods with his horse. And he certainly isnt a novice - but an uneducated observer might have written his actions off as "frustration".
Click to expand...

Although I must admit to not seeing that particular video, I have watched most of Pat's teaching tapes, DVD's and also attended his last two annual conferences.

There where many uneducated observers at both conferences but I doubt any could have been left thinking he'd shown frustration by any of his handling methods (before the doubting thomas's step in.....yes, he did use none PNH problematic horses and achieved excellent results). ;)

It would be very interesting to watch the video your refering to Tootsie, because at present my opinion is that Pat couldn't portray frustration in his actions even if he tried. :)
 
done improperly yea it could do some harm. so could anything though. and if your sharer got the whole package (DVD's- pocket guids) it really is pretty easy to follow. i have known complet beginners to be able to go through the levals because it was so easy to follow. it really takes just a bit of common scence really.
 
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