Perelli Bonding...?

Question

I adopted my OTTB from a racehorse adoption program where there was another horse who was terribly badly behaved, he nipped and reared and bucked all the time. The lady that adopted him did a few Perelli Games and lessons with him and now he can be groomed and ridden by 5 year old children. My horse is a considerate soul, but he can be a butt sometimes! I want to know what this woman did to quiet this horse so much, so that i can try it on mine, any suggestions?

Answer 1

Parelli training is a good tool when used along with other training methods. Here is their site:

http://www.parelli.com/home.faces

Answer 2

alot of horses are wild souls at heart. Much like a child when they have been told to go wild since they were little they will be a pain when older. My advice, is to start round penning him. This is something hard when you don't have a round pen, or lunging area. You want to connect with your horse. Sometimes though you have to be paitent with them, even when they are being a pain you have to ignore their behavoir. Much like a child it depends how the mother sees fit to react to their fits. A touch of sweetness never escapes a horse, they are a quiet type, sometimes you just need to pet them alot even hold conversations, even though that sounds strange, it does sooth their souls. Alot of other bad behavoir can be fixed by simple tasks, tell me somethings he does and I could give you thinks to fix them ^-^

Answer 3

I have trained horses for 30+ years, and have never seen such a cult following of Parellis way in my life, He is a showman and an excellent marketer. NH is nothing new, communicating with your horse instead of forcing had been the way since Indian times. Parelli, Monty Roberts, John Lyons, Clinton Anderson, Craig Cammeron, these are all commercial trainers that are out to make a buck off you, to get you to buy DVDs and products to make you believe that you cant achieve results without them and a carrot stick and a special halter, Its just not true. You can achieve fantastic results with a roundpen, a plain halter and a long, soft cotton lead rope. If you would like some direction and would like to choose a commercial trainer then go with Clinton Andersons, ground work training. You can get a used DVD off of Ebay Its concise, and gets to the point....No seven games which can be repetitive and boring. Good Luck

Answer 4

You don't need "parelli-training" to make a horse well-trained. Any method of training will do that for you if done properly. Parelli is just common horse sense blown out of proportion and marketed so you think anyone can train a horse. Get yourself an actual trainer to help you and get a wide variety of training books to read.

Answer 5

My preference is Clinton Anderson, who teaches natural horsemanship but with a more results-oriented approach than Parelli. It all shares the same concepts: gaining the horse's respect by using his natural communication. It also takes hard, CONSISTENT work. However, after working with my horse for a week, he showed dramatic progress. A year later he's a perfect gentleman. Sometimes people go to a Parelli clinic, lose interest after a week, and then claim it doesn't work... then other people say natural horsemanship is bunk. That's why I like Clinton Anderson: it's no frills and results-oriented. And he's hilarious ("Mrs. Elbow" prevents biting). However, Parelli is useful for beginners where you need a very easy starting point. Don't get too caught up in the "games," they're mostly good to get you started.

Answer 6

I do Parelli, and love it.  It is amazing!!!  If you really try and get into it, you are guarenteed fantasic results.  Don't listen to the people who say it doesn't work.  They obviously no nothing of it, or have not really tried it at all.  I know that everyone who really gives it an effort will love it, and it will help their horse sooooo much!!!  She probably did the 7 games with him - the foundation of everything Parelli.  This would have quieted him down, and made him more respectful.  He will also learn to 'want' to do things instead of you having to 'make' him do them.  It helps you with every aspect of groundwork and riding.  If you get really involved, you can join the Savvy Club, where you get magazines or DVD's every month and access to their website, which will help you a lot.  Here's the link to their website, also links to the Level 1 home study program (a great way to start out and learn), and the Success Series (Parelli, for those who don't really do Parelli).  I would reccomend both, but if you're only going to get one - the Success Series.  They're both rather expensive, but well worth it (I have both).  Parelli has also recently come up with their 'Horsenality' profile which really helps you understand you individual horse, and therefore, how to deal with him (this is all in the Success Series).  All in all, Parelli, is a way for you to bond with your horse, while gaining respect and confidence on both sides.  It's a step-by-step program, for some one who's never touched horses, or who is experience but has problems with them, and everything in between.  Please e-mail me if you have any questions at all about Parelli.  Good Luck!!!

Answer 7

Parelli is a wonderful training aid that teaches the horse to respect you at the alpha horse. It starts with 7 basic games that help the horse learn that YOU are in charge. I would suggest you buy the first level kit that includes the special halter, special lead line, and a few other things. Parelli will not 'fix' a horse, but it will teach the horse to use the other side of it's brain, not the fight or flight one so much. I used Parelli on my ex racehorse and it helped us a lot. It helped me be more in tune with him and it helped him not be so pushy, like most racehorses can be. I can now ride and jump him bareback. Parelli is just like training though, it needs to be consistent and it needs to be fun. The seven games can get repetitive after awhile, so you need to vary and change them a bit, because the horse will just start going through the motions instead of actually comprehending what you are asking it to do. I would also suggest you try and bring your horse, or just go yourself to a Parelli convention, you can find all the information on that in a place near you on the Parelli website.

Answer 8

it's PARELLI with an A.

and it sucks, don't use it you'll just have a horse with no manners , likes to walk all over you, but can load itself.

i knew people that used parelli all their horses were buggers of things, bucked kicked reared etc etc but they just walked onto the float. and they always just talked about how they could load themselves and i was just annoyed at the fact that they weren't rideable and yet could walk on a float. argh parelli people annoy me, horses are not people, let us stop anthropomorphising ok

Answer 9

One of the things that natural horsemanship groundwork did for my former show circuit Arab gelding was to teach him how to live better inside his skin.....he is a completely relaxed animal, and bears no semblance to the once high strung nervous nelly that was.  Before I owned him, he was shown at halter and they used whips shaken alongside his face to set him up.  When I got him, the sight of a whip had him in an adrenalin overload.   All of that is gone.  He is respectful of my space, safe and calm around grandchildren, dogs, cats, chickens, pigs, calves, goats....they can actually lie down and nap undneath him and he just stands and is careful not to step on them.  

The trainer I worked with started out working with the Parellis and later worked with other Natural Horsemanship trainers, so her methods were a combination of them....if you want your guy to be like mine, you definitely will benefit from the Parelli methods.

ADD....I think there is a lot of confusion about Parelli training.  It isn't meant to be riding instruction...it is meant to enhance trust and communication between you and your horse. Many of us using it came into it with years of experience in riding and training horses.  I think the experiences some of the opponents have had are with novices who have worked on developing that bond of trust, but  don't have the experience or education outside of watching the videos.  Of course, one also needs riding instruction in addition to the Parelli training when a discipline is chosen. When a person needs riding instruction, they need riding instruction.  When a person has any issue with respect or cooperation between him/her and his/her horse, I suggest natural horsemanship training.  This question involves a situation that Parelli method will help.  My experience is opposite to some I read here...the best mannered horses are the Parelli (or other natural horsemanship) trained horses.  Maybe when an actual certified NH trainer is not involved, and the person using the videos lacks prior training experience, the problems the opponents have seen are the result. Certainly watching a video doesn't make you a horse trainer.  It must be combined with experience in dealing with horses and understanding one's own limitations. When people are advised to try NH, it should be qualified by adding that the videos will be one  part of the total eduction needed to develop as a horseman.

After a lifetime of work with horses, I still worked for four months alongside a certified NH trainer with my gelding before I felt ready to go solo.

Answer 10

What your lady friend did was probably a lot more than "a few" games and lessons.  Training a track horse is a huge task and can be dangerous.  As far as being a "butt", all horses test you constantly no matter how well trained they are.  They do this because they are horses, but you have to know how to manage their little tirades.  You have chosen to help this horse, and that is great, but it can take a lot of time and patience.  Parelli is excellent in that the entire first level is dedicated to tasks that insure safety.  The techniques are about teaching people to understand and communicate with their horse so they can develop a good basic relationship with their horse and build upon that to any level of accomplisment you desire.  You are on the right track.  Be safe.

Track horses are not accustomed to domesticated horse life.  Biting and kicking and being pushy is all they have ever known.  They have been forced to tolerate so much abuse in their lives so they are constantly on guard and trying to protect themselves.  You will NEVER be able to lunge or "tire" this horse out enough to "make him safe" and to attempt such a ridiculous thing is just heaping more cruelty on him.  You have to learn techniques that he understands to change his behavior.  Also, he may be kind but he is dominant and disrepectful, and as long as he feels superior, you will continue to have behavioral and safety issues.  I have a TB that was considered a dangerous horse.  People told me I was crazy when I took him, that he would kill me.  Well, he didn't.   Now I can stand on a mounting block and point for him to come in front of me while I climb on him bareback.  One of the first tasks I completed in his re-start was to get him to put his head down.  It was an unbelievable moment to see him trust so much that he could let go enough to do this - it was a really big thing for him.  Does he still challenge me at times - of course - he is a very dominant horse with a lot of stallion-like behavior - he is definitely my herd leader and he does a good job.  Every time I reinforce my position in the herd, it just reinforces his confidence and makes him more comfortable - just like he is saying "OK, I was just checking".   I can move him around with the look on my face and the movement of my body.  A horse's primary method of communication is body language and you have to learn that to be as successful as you can be.   I would urge to to keep an open mind.  This is about helping your horse.   People who are critical of natural horsemanship usually have a narrow view of anything that is not in line with their own thinking.  NH takes dedication, time and effort and a lot of people are not willing to invest that in their horse.  If it takes more than 5 minutes, it doesn't work.  Ridiculous, but that is human nature.  You decide what you  want for your horse.  Ignore the negative peanut gallery.  Success speaks for itself.