DressageArena.org

I like him, although I agree with other people on the price of things, ouch!

I don’t think ANY of the people that don’t like him, have ever used it on a horse. I had a horse that was so bad, he was headed for a slaughter market, as he was so bad, he was unsellable (the owner before had abused him so bad, he would flinch and run when you tried to touch him). We stumbled upon parelli, and now I can run and jump on his butt! It’s amazing. But we had to totally retrain him using parelli, it took a long time, but the wait was worth it!

I don’t think people get the goal of parelli either. It’s not to make you look good, it’s to form a bond and overcome fears and obstacles.

But, I only use it for ground work. I do dressage and I use dressage on him. I keep in mind some parelli techniques, so that I don’t freak him out but dressage in saddle, and parelli on ground.

I don’t.

Let me guess 10 thumbs down for this?!

I like his basic ideas but I don’t like how he pushes you to buy stuff that is way overpriced. You don’t need anything special to train a horse.

The outline of his work is great though. It’s the basic foundation for good training and I’ve seen first hand the awesome things that people can get done if they apply the lessons correctly.

I’m NOT a fan of his….I’ve seen him ride a top 10 reining stallion AQHA, Sailing Smart, and almost lose his seat in a spin more than once. Almost came off the horse in a sliding stop. He also did NOT have either skid boots on the stallions’ rear fetlocks or protective boots in front on the horse which is just unforgivable. Burn that stud’s fetlocks just one time on a stop and you’ll end up with NO stop on a world champion.

http://www.craigjohnsonreining.com/stallions.html

See for yourself……………..

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://enews.parelli.com/images/2008/March/21_sailingSmart.jpg&imgrefurl=http://enews.parelli.com/2008/breeding.html&h=335&w=500&sz=50&tbnid=F5i3Hm1EHxXT1M::&tbnh=87&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsailing%2Bsmart%2Bquarter%2Bhorse%2Bstallion%2Bphoto&hl=en&usg=__6dx3TCbWDXd9l64d55whSMDqS6k=&ei=az3RScfTGJTstgO24eHVAw&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=1&ct=image&cd=1

"Do as I say, not as I do".

He has yet to convince me he’s any kind of horseman…to many other great top ten trainers out there make him look like a complete novice. To say nothing of the master of "Natural Horsemanship", Ray Hunt.

Edit: "cat dirt"…love this; great expression!!

Not me.

I REALLY DON’T LIKE HIM. Here are my reasons: I sat at one of his sessions and I swear he had a carrot sticking out of his pocket. 2) I learned absolutely nothing. I just watched him show-off what his horse can do. I was bored to death.

I have seen his techniques in action, and they are great! I just don’t like the program in general. PLEASE don’t mark me as in-humane or something…..Just voicing an opinion.

Im not.

I dislike Parelli with all my heart!

i like him:)
my aunt’s a personal friend of his,
and he’s trained all her quarter horses
all turned out to be champions
I haven’t met him, personally, But i think if you can afford him, he’s amazing.

I pick and choose what techniques I use. I use a lot of Parelli when I want to understand the way my horse thinks (finding out that she was a left-brain introvert, and needed a very strong leader really helped), or when I want to play with my horse. I also use, however, Monty Roberts, Richard Shrake, and many others.

I honestly know no pros to Parelli. I’ve ridden a few who are Parelli-trained, and they are a nightmare.

If you want to train your horse to be a dog (yes, I said dog), and act like they are in a circus, then by all means, train your horse to be one.

However, if your goal is to eventually compete/show/ride, then I would not recommend it at all. Having a horse that could mistaken a que and suddenly lay down with you, or someone else on it, is a safety hazard. I like being able to walk up to my horse, and ride it. I don’t want to spend over a year (no joke), doing levels 1-5 and THEN get to finally ride my horse for five minutes.

Look at all the BNT (big name trainers) out there. NONE of them use any of these methods. I don’t see eventers, barrel racers, dressage, jumping, western pleasure, etc. doing these methods and WINNING.

Honestly, everyone who markets "natural horsemanship" is just that – a marketing scam. Because honestly, horses are not stupid enough to consider us part of their herd. If they did, we’d be bruised, broken boned and bleeding from how they would treat us. And really, there is nothing "natural" about being around a horse. Paddocks, stalls, riding, etc is not natural for a horse at all. So please, don’t give into the "natural" cat-dirt that they try to convince you to buy.

Sorry I have seen the man ride. Or try to because he can’t. And I have had to retrain too many horses which have been trained with his methods. But as long as there are people that use his methods at least I will have another job to fall back on.

His number one problem is that he encourages so much time on ground work that trainers using his methods get very little ride time. The main training is when the horse is under the saddle not on the ground.

His second problem is the cost. Come on. The carrot stick is a cattle training prod for showing cattle. That is ALL it is. Cost less than $10. What is he selling it for? Go to the nearest feed store and buy one.

But that is OK I only train full sized horses for kids as young as 5 to ride and lead on the ground. Nothing special about that. No reason for anyone to believe me.

As far as using his techniques to ‘get inside the horses head’ that is nonsense. I have a master’s in biology and I can tell you that Parelli knows very little about animal behavior not even as it pertains to horses. His training techniques tend to create horses that are fine and lovey dovey as long as they are not asked to do what they do not want to do. Then when you insist they do something they don’t want they can explode at a moments notice. Old timers used to call these horses outlaws, and considered them too dangerous for any but the most experienced handlers to work with. Parelli’s techniques have produced a large number of these.

I really like his groundwork