DressageArena.org

My biggest problem with Parelli is that they are no longer concerned about the horse, but about making money. It turned from a fairly decent training regimen into a money machine. My next biggest problem is the idea of your horse being your "friend." This in and of itself is dangerous. Your horse doesn’t want to be your equal – that’s not the way it works in nature; horses use a hierarchy and live by it. They need a consistent leader (you). Being your horse’s "friend" puts you in a dangerous position, because if you don’t establish yourself as the top dog, your horse will, and that’s a situation you don’t want to be in.

Another thing is, Parelli does not advocate helmets because (and I don’t remember a direct quote, but it was something along the lines of…) "by the time our trainers are ready to get in the saddle (which is three years, by the way), the horse is so well trained, the rider doesn’t NEED a helmet," which is wrong, wrong, wrong! I’ll admit, I don’t wear a helmet every time I ride, but to flat out say, "nah, you don’t need one" is just messed up.

I’ve worked with three horses trained by "Parelli Instructors", and every single one of them has been ruined. Case No. 1: Diamond. My instructor’s mare was sent of to a 4 star certified Parelli instructor, because my trainer was pregnant with her first child and was too far along to start the mare. When Diamond came back, she was spooky, would not let anyone near her in the field, attempted to climb out of the round pen, and only feels comfortable around people when they’re on the other side of her stall. Case No. 2: Friday – MY horse. He was trained by a local woman who is NOT certified Parelli before I bought him. He seemed okay, but he’s extremely hard to train, always looks around under saddle, ignores you, get frightened immensley by whips and crops, will not lounge at all without throwing a fit. Case No. 3: Spiderman – a walking horse trained by a Parelli follower (I’m not sure if they were certified or not). Spiderman was afraid of you if you waved your arm. Would not be caught in the field, and bolted at the slightest movement of your body (but was okay with tarps and hula hoops, at least!). I had to retrain him for a university class, and it was a nightmare. By the end, we found trust in eachother, unfortunately the person who bought him suffered from a broken leg caused by Spidy, and I think, but don’t know, that he was sent to slaughter.

On the flip side, I saw a young Parelli enthousiast train a horse at the same university with a mixture of Parelli and cowboy techniques, and he turned out beautifully. Just, I’ve not had good experiences with Parelli. Maybe I just got to know the three worst Parelli-trained horses ever, but it seems like an odd chance that the only three I know are basically crazy.

EDIT: Also, I know for a FACT that Parelli doesn’t always abide by his own techniques. He came here for a clinic and I saw him behind the arena working with his stallion. Instead of being passive when he misbehaved (which is what he preaches), he got onto the stallion and shanked him and gave him proper discipline. That, to me, justifies the fact that he doesn’t care about what he tells people as long as he gets paid.

its not bad. i went to a clinc about 3 years ago but i was 7 so i dint pay attention. its only bad if u donnt no what ur doing cause u can get hurt. i dont hit or whak the horses but i givr them some taps on the butt. people dont havre the patince 4 that kind of horsemenship. this is just ranmdom but my sister is waering a parilli shirt

When natural horsemanship techniques are done correctly they are wonderful. This is not the case with Parelli. He breeds a cult-like mentality amongst his followers, which are moslty inexperienced or first time horse owners. He charges outrageous prices for average quality tack and training equiptment, along with his rediculously expensive DVD sets and clinics, leading these inexperienced people to believe that if they shell out enough money their problems will be fixed and their horses will be magically trained, complete with some mystic bond above and beyond what any non-Parelli follower will ever have with their horse. He is not shy about telling people his way is the only way and all others are wrong, which is beyond arrogant. He is also a mediocre trainer at best and the methods he panders are not the ones he uses to get results with his own horses, this is pretty much common knowledge to insiders in the NH industry. He leads people to believe that with an expensive DVD set and $5,000 worth of his tack they can be a horse trainer just like him even though they have NO experience with horses and have never worked with a real trainer, which results in a lot of well-meaning but misguided people ruining otherwise good horses. He convinces newbies that perfectly trained, safe and sane horses need to be retrained "his way" for the sake of lining his pocket. His wife is no better, and I have seen her videos. She is a terrible rider and an even worse trainer. They are all about marketing and making a buck, not the horses. Parelli was once quoted as saying this about his success: I had the product, Linda packaged it and marketed it.

He is a scam, a sham, a fraud and a charlatan. He is a disgrace to true natural horsemanship trainers.

Here is another little gem they lead their worshippers to believe: They can train away a horse’s natural instincts, thereby elliminating the need for helmets and other safety equipment. They started spouting this rediculousness when his wife came under fire for jumping bareback over picnic tables with no helmet. Now you tell me, what responsible trainer advocates new riders on sometimes inexperienced horses to work or ride their horses with no safety equipment? Or is arrogant enough to lead people to believe they can make a horse 100% safe so there is no need for said equipment? What about laying out the facts, being honest and letting people making their own decision instead of fostering a false sense of security and making promises you can NEVER deliver on? Sorry, but the Parellis really get in my craw!

My biggest gripe with Parelli is him. (not too fond of his 2 ex wives either) He is a very slick business man, and I suppose some of it is just envy, cause he’s not that great a rider.

The "games" he has are simple, and basic; no big deal to any thinking trainer. Boy is it expensive to see the videos or go to clinics! While the games are supposed to be done in order, they don’t seem to build to anywhere as I am used to the Dressage Training system to be. I have watched and taken private lessons from former and present Olympic riders for less than a lesson or clinic with 500 Parelli people.

It seems that all the practitioners of Parelli never canter. He shows it, but his army of "professional trainers" (who pay thousands to get certified and stay that way) back off from canter and do all this bridleless and bitless riding stuff. I do that with all my colts, but I’m done with that when they are about 5 and start working on collection–a really bad thing to have any collection or half halts if you are a Parelli person.

As a basic handling system, I have no problem with it. (With a strong exception about the hard hat thing; I don’t get that other than just egomania) all those games are mostly just busy work and make for more money. It is not the final training however, it is just the jumping off point. It is often seen as a "finishing" for the horses. I’m over it with my training very early.

Parelli is the snake oil salesman of the horseworld.

The second I heard him say "A well-behaved horse in the show ring is not trained, only submissive and spiritless" I wrote him off as a "my way or the highway" d-bag.

Kind of like hardcore PETA people.