I want to know where this horse’s owner is? What this person watching this? Have they seen it - do they think there is something wrong with the treatment of this person’s horse - I would hope so. I am ready to strangle this person, without reading all the posts is it Linda Parelli? How old is this clip?
The owner took him to a ‘clinic’ he is still defending the method…interesting read on the pepperoni site…
Any knowledgeable horseperson who watches those videos can see that the handler has made a mistake. A large mistake. The horse got more upset. There is the first clue.
“GOOD CLUNK” she says when the leadline snaps the already high headed horse in the head… That’s the second clue.
IT DIDN"T WORK- there is the 3rd clue
But the parellis will never admit that. CLueless but fabulously rich because they feed on those who are even more clueless than they are.
Sad really. What the hell is W. Zettl doing mixed up with these people?
Yeah, I am still wondering what there is to teach to a horse, holding his head up higher than a giraffe with continued ‘wiggling’ - rather violent shaking of the lead rope…
and then some more shaking 
Riding skills was said very tongue in cheek. I forgot my winking smiley, sorry.
Well sadly, you can no longer post comments at the LP blog.
What the hell is W. Zettl doing mixed up with these people?
Nobody has figured that out yet.:no:
Perhaps he’ll go the way of the O’connors…slowly walking out backwards so nobody will notice.:winkgrin:
Well sadly, you can no longer post comments at the LP blog.
wonder if you have to know the ‘savvy handshake’:lol:
Nothing to add to the discussion except a big ol WTF. In the past, being unfamiliar with their actual methods except by way of bad reputation, I was willing to give the Parellis the benefit of the doubt. But this was honestly some of the worst “training” I’ve ever seen. Really painful to watch. If that had been my horse, I would have stopped her after the first 30 seconds. Who hits a horse in the face repeatedly like that???
I cannot recall how many years ago it was that I went to watch one of his clinics in Cloverdale. I think it was pre-LP days. At that time they had brought an unhandled Welsh Cob from the prairies for him to train. He did not get anything done at all - the horse was too stressed after being caught, haltered, trucked, boxed and then let into an arena with 200 people watching with the loud speakers, etc. But, give him his due, he did not lose his temper or do anything that I really disagreed with. What I did disagree with was putting a horse in a time frame to prove his prowess with a horse - each horse is different and takes its own time. It was unfair on the horse.
So I came away with the idea that he was pretty harmless, if cultish, and so be it if beginner adults want to worship him.
As the years have gone by it seems the program has gone completely awry - losing itself to the larger God of making money. Several trainers who started out with him have distanced themselves, the more so if they are good trainers.
LP has come to the forefront and her demo videos of her riding don’t help earn her any respect.
So thank you to the OP for offering the proof. While the PP’ites around here are annoying with all their rope swirling, I have to admit I just let them be as long as they let me be. Now I am spitting up Kool-Aid.
Well, looking at the comments on Linda’s blog was an enlightening trip into Never Never Land.:lol:
I learned that: 1) riding horses is abusive:eek:; and 2) parelli-ites feel sorry for poor horses who aren’t parelli-ized, because any other “training” method is inherently bad for horses.
It really is a cult-like following, isn’t it? I’d heard y’all say that, but I never really realized the extent of it until I read those comments.
Wow. Neat set-up. Prey on the uninformed, then create an whoever-isn’t-with-us-is-against-us seige mentality to keep the customer base loyal. I guess they have to do that, because if they encouraged their followers to acquire knowledge from other sources, they’d run the risk of a loyal customer figuring out what a sham their method is.
I used to think, well, what’s the harm. Now I know!:eek:
I left a comment on their site…let’s see what happens-this is what it said after I sent it…
Your comment is awaiting moderation. :lol::lol:
gee…wonder if it will show up :no:
Looking forward to reading your comment – and their reply.
Can someone explain what their levels or phases are…the posters on the blog keep talking about how this was fine because it is part of phase 4?
“NOT EVERYONE LIKES TO SEE A PHASE FOUR PATTERN INTERRUPT”
“It is a structured program and things are more simple at level 1 than level 3. If we all started trying to do level 3 before we could do level 1 there would be alot of confused horses and people out there.”
“The first time I saw it I merely thought it was an excellent example of Phase 4”
I just about needed a new monitor (Spew alert) when I read the ‘raise your hand if you love Linda’ comment on their new site for leaving comments. She must be the new messiah, LOL, to engender such idolatry. (not)
http://www.todayshorse.com/Articles/LanguageofHorses.htm
go down to the “circling game” part (it is NOT lunging! I repeat, NOT lunging!) and there’s mention of it there. It has something to do with the different cues that are part of the “circling game” (ok, on re-read, there is a “phase 4” in various “games”. I don’t get it. would take more time for me to learn the terminology than it would to teach 10 ex racehorses to LUNGE, but it has to do with increasing the pressure of the “question” you are asking the horse if he doesn’t respond to the lightest - aka “phase 1” question)
Another thing - it says to smile - while I get smiling can relax the rest of our body into non-threateningness, is there any indication that horses understand smiling as anything other than baring our teeth?
I believe " phase four pattern interrupt " is the savvy way of saying: "beat the snot out of that SOB ".
I hope I’m wrong.
Your key to success is that you had prior experience with horses, and understanding of horses, and thus intuitively knew which tools could help you, and why. And that is a great thing, and really, we all do that in working in horses- there are a gazillion tools out there and you use the ones that work for the particular rider and horse. I know lots of people who have successfully used ideas they got from Parelli to solve problems. But- again- they all had some background and experience and thus could see ‘how’ to use that tool, and know that it would work for them.
I think that the biggest part of the problem is that novices, and some folks who rode in their youth and then want to get back in after years to decades, just get started wrong and things go downhill from there. First step should be taking lessons from a good local instructor, on a variety of good old reliable lesson horses. Next step should be getting a SUITABLE horse as first horse- an older, tried and true packer and teacher. When you’re learning to drive, you start with the basic driver’s ed car, not a Formula 1 race car. Honestly, though I have always taken advantage of the best available instruction wherever I’ve been over the years, it’s the horses themselves that have the most to teach you, but you for sure can’t learn anything if you are paralyzed with dread and fear. Riding is supposed to be fun.
The Parelli demographic seems to be novices that get the ‘pretty’ but unsuitable horse, or want to do good deeds and rescue some unknown horse. Everybody knows green horses and green riders don’t mix. But when that happens, for goodness’ sake people, if you know nothing from the get go, even the best available ‘how to’ DVDs are no substitute for hands on training, first for the horse-separately, with a good professional-and concurrently for yourself on a reliable lesson horse- and then, your reliable local trainer having gotten the horse going, puts the two of you together and you learn how to do it that way.
Really, the market for all that ‘games’ and ‘level’ hoo-ha does not appear to be people who aspire to improve their horsemanship. Instead, it’s for those who think ‘what can I do with this expensive horse that I am too afraid of to ride.’
Last year, I loaned my 4 yo mare to an acquaintance for a trail ride, because her niece was riding her steady eddy. At the trailhead she asked me, ‘so, what do you do to get the horse ready before you get on?’ I’ve observed over the years that she typically twirls her own horse around on the lead shank before she rides. Her jaw dropped, mildly, when my response was ‘I tighten the girth and get on. And make sure she stands still when you mount, please, she knows she’s supposed to.’ I conclude from that experience that more and more people seem to think you need to ‘do stuff’ so the horse will ‘accept’ your getting on and riding. Nonsense. The whole point of training a horse is to be able to get on and ride it. When you do it right, with empathy and trust and communication, yeah, the horse recognizes that when you get off the trailer and saddle up, it is time to go ride without any muss or fuss. And guess what, they like it!
Sorry, this is long, but one more pet peeve related to the current fad of bringing in ‘unbroke/unhandled’ horses and voila, instantly creating the trust and training and bond necessary to get on that horse and ride. This isn’t just Parelli, seems like the ‘in’ thing to do. And it’s more nonsense- nothing more than the condemned ‘cowboy’ way of ‘breaking’ horses in years gone which ‘natural horsemanship’ and its variations are supposed to be an improvement on. Really, think about it- how different is snubbing a horse to a pole, slapping a saddle on it, and getting on and riding out the bucks, compared with bringing in the same unbroke horse, working the snot out of it ‘at liberty’ around the arena, and then, ostensibly, ‘gently’ teaching it to accept saddle and bridle. Victory is declared because the horse is not ‘resisting.’ Well, BS, the horse is to danged tired and stressed out to resist. Really, seems like every televangelist, I mean tv horse trainer, I see on RFD (Clinton Anderson comes to mind first) seriously overwork the horse relative to its age and experience. You see an allegedly ‘relaxed’ horse that is breathing like a horse that just ran the Kentucky Derby- and then it’s asked to go on and do something else.
nope…that’s pretty close! If they don’t do what is asked from going from phase 1 (please, pretty please will you do it for me, huh??)to phase 4 (eyes bulging out, horns growing out of head and steam coming from nostrils screaming-do it now you sob-linda said this would work!!):lol:
The problem I see in the video was the absence of “going to neutral” after the horse responded correctly. But it was not clear what the correct response would have been. At least, neither I nor my wife could figure that out.
And we, or at least my wife, are smarter then any horse:D
P.S. I’m not going to spend several hundred dollars to buy a DVD from Parelli, especially since this video was part of a training DVD.
So, I just showed this video (not the whole thing, mind you) to my DH, a TOTAL non-horsey person, and his response…WTF is she doing??:eek::eek: Seriously, I never really knew what the whole “parelli” thing was about, only that the people who follow it are seriously “cult like” and very adamant that it is their way or the highway. I always though it seemed strange, but now, after that video, I am just at a loss for words…what a crazy arm waving, rope shaking, chicken wingnut!
That poor horse!
