Parelli vs Anderson vs others?

Question

Who is your favorite trainer? I have seen Clinton Anderson and Stacy Westfall mostly, and a little of John Lyons, Pat Parelli, Richard Shrake, and GaWaNi Pony Boy. I was wondering whos methods I should look into more for my 17 year old riding horse with some problems, and a 3 year old who I would like to start.

Answer 1

Parelli 100% (it helps u bond with ur horse so u both have a bettr understandn of each other.)

Answer 2

I like Clinton Anderson the best out of the natural horsemanship trainers. I like the fact that he is willing to be firm with the horses. As far as the post that said that Clinton emphases seat sensitivity, that is something that I like. You won't end up on a run away. Your horses response will increase as you become more precise in your cues. That is the only way to get quite cues that are invisible to others.

Answer 3

I saw a Monty Roberts clinic and that man is amazing with horses.  He one of the ones they call the "horse whisperer".  I have his books and have used his methods and bit and they do work.  

His methods are about gentle training and learning to teach your horse to trust you etc.  He is an awesome trainer and I don't know if he still has clinics or not.  He does have some videos.   Anyway, Monty Roberts is the man I'd want to use to help with training.

Answer 4

MY favorite trainer is...well...me! Jokes aside, I have watched, read, and studied many methodologists and come to the conclusion that what you see is maybe 10% of what the trainer actually does, cause different things work on different horses. Glean what you can from all trainers and have several things in mind when working with your horses. I do like Clinton Anderson, he's amusing and not so namby pamby about being firm with your horse, some need a spank or two to get their attention. Parelli annoys me and reminds me of a used car salesman. Sylvia Scott has a terrific website with actual tips  and suggestions in her Q&A (FREE.) :) And if you run up against a brick wall, there's always Yahoo Answers!

Answer 5

Parelli might be your best choice since his program is set up to progress systematically, and would be easier to follow.

Answer 6

I have to disagree with the previous poster. Natural horsemanship is based on talking to a horse in the horse's language. Taking Parelli as one specific example (the others are not so different really) the techniques Pat Parelli came up with are based on how horses interact with each other. So its very effective and yes, it does work with all horses. You might have to fine tune things, for example using less energy with a spooky horse and more energy with a stubborn horse, but the fact is  horses all speak the same language.

What I would say is that Parelli or any of these other methods are really about is training yourself to talk to horses more effectively. What they teach you is how to communicate with your horse and a set of techniques that work well in training horses.

I have used Parelli quite a bit and gone to a couple of local clinics, and it was very helpful. I also like Clinton Anderson.

Where I live in New Mexico there is also a very good up and coming natural horsemanship trainer named Eric Bravo. I've been fortunate enough to be able to watch him in person. The thing I like about Eric is he has really mastered the use of body language to communicate with horses. You can read about him on my blog:

http://gentlenaturalhorseman.blogspot.co...

Another really good trainer is Buck Brannaman:

http://www.brannaman.com/

What I would advise is pick the one you're most comfortable with and study it hard and stick with it. But most of them are pretty similar in what they are teaching.

I do agree that groundwork is not a substitute for riding. That being said, riding without a serious investment in groundwork is foolish.

These statements are of course nothing more than my opinion.

Cheers,

David

http://gentlenaturalhorseman.blogspot.co...

Answer 7

My suggestion would be to take a little from each of these trainers (or people you know) and use what applies to your horse & situation. I have learned that one trainer will say something and I will try to use it the way the said an it didnt work so I had to modify it to make it work for me. Another thing I have learned id that what works for one person & their horse may not work for you. Hope this helps & good luck!

Answer 8

I am not a huge fan of any of them.  For one thing they have a tendency to think that their arena riding and trainig techniques can work wonders on the trail and many times the training tecniques they are pushing back fire severely.  

Paraelli pushes too much ground work and while ground work is good, it should not be used as a substitute for riding.  Parelli pushes ground work to such an extent that the rding suffers and in some cases horribly.

Clinton Anderson pushes seat sensitivity, without regard as to whether the rider is used to using those cue or not.  The result is that if the rider is not very careful they will have a run away.

But any good trainer will take what is good from every trainer he/she comes acrossed.

And Pat Parelli did not come up with any techniques.  He simply took old fashioned training techniques renamed them and spammed them off as his own ideas.  If you want to think differently go ahead, but I know better.

Answer 9

I, personally, have never used any of their method (knowlingly). I have just watched my horse and tried different ways until something worked. Because each horse has a different personality (likes, dislikes, quirks, etc.), you can't really count on something so wide-ranging to work on every horse.

I would suggest just working with your horses. Try different ways of showing them what you want until you find something that works for both of you.

Answer 10

I use Johnathon Field Techniques they are simple and effective without spending years playing games he has new dvds out that are fantastic, he uses a trained horse to show the finished product then shows you with green/unbroke horses to help you with any problems you may encounter.

Here is his website and if you go to the dvds there are excerpts from them to see if it what would work for you.  Well worth the investment!

http://www.jonathanfieldstore.net/index....

Answer 11

I like Parelli

Answer 12

Take the best from all of them.

Answer 13

My and my horses do Parelli.  It is presented in a very easy step, by step way, with measurable goals.  It works on all horses and any one regardless of experience or size can use these communication methods with thier horse.  I have 4-h kids that are very small who have large horses who were very disrespectful of personal space who now follow these kids like puppy dogs.  The respect that they acheive on the ground transfers to their riding.  Use Parelli and you won't be dissapointed. If you go to parelli.com you will find a place to become a savvy club member.  For 20$ a month you have access to unlimeted amounts of informations inclucing thousands of questions about specific training obsticals people have come up against and how to move past them. If you dont like it you are only out 20$ (pretty cheep in the horse world)  But remember to take the time it takes, so it takes less time. Google "parelli seven games" for information on the very basic concepts of communicating with your horse.  these seven games are the foundation of the parelli program.  They emphasize safety, mutual respect all the while preserving the horses dignaty.  You dont have to purchase the levels system to be a parelli student, you just have to have a genuine interest and love of horses.

Answer 14

PARELLI!

i live by it..

also, i like to teach my horse as if i was another horse.

learning how they communicate makes for less misunderstandings and bettter bonds.