If they ever deigned to speak to me, I would have asked! :lol:
I don’t know if they were extremist Parellis or not, but they never rode in a bridle. One girl would trot her Mustang around in the round pen in a halter. Oh, bareback of course. My horse wears a bridle and a saddle, hence their instant dislike.
It’s interesting how cultish some of them seem.
I love it that they carry big orange “Newbie” indicators. Much easier to detect!
I’m sure not going to run out and buy a “Parelli Trained” horse for funsies.
Its interesting how Parelli people and the stick training method people are always EXTREMELY vocal about training methods. Most of them don’t have a clue.
My favorite is when a parelli person is watching someone ride or work with their horse and they say “That horse there is a right brained extrovert” Good grief.
I was lunging my young horse once and the guy who pissed me off yesterday came up and said “Oh your one of those boring english people who makes their horses go in endless circles… You should have him canter, and then STOP him real fast and send him in the other direction! Then stop him again and send him the other way. That way he gets to thinking. When he turns his face to the inside to change directions, he’s paying attention to you.”
Or there’s the lovely “Do you notice what he’s doing? He’s making smaller and smaller circles around you. That’s his way of saying ‘Im tired, let me stop’”
Ugh, I have these boarders at my barn.
My dear, you just said it all. Your place, they are boarders! I suggest you invite them to leave! I did the same thing last year, never felt better!
I was lunging my young horse once and the guy who pissed me off yesterday came up and said “Oh your one of those boring english people who makes their horses go in endless circles… You should have him canter, and then STOP him real fast and send him in the other direction! Then stop him again and send him the other way. That way he gets to thinking. When he turns his face to the inside to change directions, he’s paying attention to you.”
What did you say in response? :mad:
One weird thing the P girl did at my barn was have her horse face her while he was in a halter with a long lead, then run in the opposite direction really fast. Stop, go towards the horse and do it again. I don’t know what that was training him. She’d also longe two horses at a time, like she was a Maypole. She’s lucky they were both very placid horses.
I run the other way when I see an ad for a “Parelli-trained” horse.
they learn…eventually
A person who I know from work bought a horse from a well known trainer in the area, and then proceeded to tell me for MONTHS about how the horse wasn’t properly trained but she was doing it the right way now with the parelli games blah blah blah. I kept my mouth shut, although I did mention once or twice that she was the only one I had ever heard of being unhappy with a horse from that trainer, long story short the horse got sick of having to pretend that his handler was a horse too speaking to him in “horse language” (I figure this is like speaking really loudly to a person from another country and then finding out they do speak english) and ended up with a broken back (not permenant damage luckily) I haven’t heard a thing about parelli since!
I don’t care how they ride their horses… each to their own. But the OP raised a really good point, about how the NH people completely utterly desensitized their horses to the stick/whip and a stick with plastic bag. Now please understand my horses are not crazy, and they are not frightened by the sight of the whip… but I do teach them to move away from the whip, and I hope that is not such a crazy and out of ordinary expectation that the horse do move away from the whip, especially when you point it at the horses or wave it around. Their horses are obviously dead and you couldn’t shout loud enough at them… but please the rest of us do have responsive and obedient horses.
The devotees can be sooooo irritating. Their name brand horsemanship - what’s the deal?
Used to be just plain old riding, or triming - now it is ‘Natural’ horsemanship, "Parelli method’, ‘Barefooot’ trimming. Reine Klimke managed to earn respect without name-branding himself or copywriting certain ‘majical’ words. Besides, few of these johnny come lately guys can take a person/horse past the colt breaking (er, sorry, colt starting) stage.
Had to smile. On the weekend we came over the brow of a hill in our riding park and saw what looked like an attempt to mimic the wild horse saddling at the Calgary Stampede.
About a dozen people with sticks, whirring ropes, and horses straining at the other end of a long rope with their hapless handlers leaning back trying not to get pulled all over the place - 'twas a Natural Horsemanship clinic! They were a long way from being saddled.
That being said, I have met some Western people who incorporate roundpenning, etc. into their work an have learned an awful lot from people I respect and who can see eye to eye with me. But they can also take a horse further than I can in their training.
Think of it as desensitizing your horse to idiocy.
I got the plastic bag at the end of a stick thing from a fellow boarder. My poor mare took one look at that thing and wanted to head for the hills. Told him to take his stick elsewhere. He gave me the evil eye but I didn’t care. My mare would go anywhere I asked without argument, ground tie, stand like a lady, you get the picture. He said I should teach her to accept it. I said “Why? How many plastic bags on sticks is she going to encounter once you leave?” He never did have an answer.
What’s scary is how they all manage to find each other and are almost like religious zealots. They will try to convert anybody close whether they need it or not. Their way is the only way. How they can believe centuries of tradition is all wrong is more than my mind can handle.
PS: I love the noob indicator. I will never look at one of those orange sticks again without cracking up.
[QUOTE=Saidapal;4215821]
I got the plastic bag at the end of a stick thing from a fellow boarder. My poor mare took one look at that thing and wanted to head for the hills. Told him to take his stick elsewhere. He gave me the evil eye but I didn’t care. My mare would go anywhere I asked without argument, ground tie, stand like a lady, you get the picture. He said I should teach her to accept it. I said “Why? How many plastic bags on sticks is she going to encounter once you leave?” He never did have an answer.
What’s scary is how they all manage to find each other and are almost like religious zealots. They will try to convert anybody close whether they need it or not. Their way is the only way. How they can believe centuries of tradition is all wrong is more than my mind can handle.
PS: I love the noob indicator. I will never look at one of those orange sticks again without cracking up.[/QUOTE]
A few years ago at the Columbus, OH Equine Affaire the “magic wand” was a flexible rod with what looked like a tennis ball at one end. There were a lot of starry-eyed NH people walking around, proudly carrying their purchases.
They really do “stick out,” in a crowd don’t they?:winkgrin:
[QUOTE=Equestryn;4214748]
Ugh, I have these boarders at my barn. They’re very nice and very willing to help out and do things and such. Anyway, they’re HUGE Parelli/Clinton Anderson fans and they run their horses around the ring with their sticks with plastic bags tied to the ends. I’m all for using plastic bags and tarps and scary things when training but this just tops it all…
I was at the farm yesterday about to teach a riding lesson to a beginner on a horse who is half arab. Now, my half arab is NOT dangerous in any sense, takes the word ‘Whoa’ absolutely literally and is a saint, however… he’s still half arab and can get excited. My boarders show up with their Clinton Anderson sticks and start waiving them around while walking to the pasture to get their horses. My half arab FREAKS and takes off running circles around his paddock while my student is standing there watching. She was on her way to catching him to tack him up for lesson. Anyway, he’s running, bucking, farting everywhere and the boarders and just beboping across the farm with their stinkin sticks!! Arg!
Well, the Arab calms down and she catches him and tacks him up. She rides, all is well with him and her.
After lesson I decide to catch my young gelding whom I have been working with for the last 4 months trying to put weight on (he was a rescue) and in the process of breaking. He lives with the boarders two horses in the big pasture. They’ve already caught their horses and are “playing” with them in the ring. All that Clinton Anderson stuff with the sticks, long ropes, games and such.
As a side note, I totally understand that the “Natural Horsemanship” stuff kinda makes sense. I understand the concepts behind it, but I have a different way of achieving the same results without the sticks.
Anyway, they’re swinging their ropes and bags and such and my horse who had come up to me at that point takes off. I stood patiently til he ran it out for a minute and he came back. But by then he’d figured out that I was going to work him and he stood within 5 feet of me, but wouldn’t let me get close enough to catch him.
The boarder came out into the field with me and said “Horse Catching One oh One” and I snapped back “I know how to catch horses, thanks.” That’s where I dropped the attitude and just sort of ignored his “I’ve seen Clinton Anderson catch a wild horse in a 35 acre field in 15 minutes” comments. GRRR!!!
Then he makes comments about Dressage as that’s what I’m going to be training my gelding to do. “Oh, you don’t want to put saddles on them until you can walk trot and canter bareback with a rope halter” “Dressage is so unnatural, you force the horse into that shape, force him to do tricks”
Where do Clinton Anderson, Chris Cox and Pat Parelli followers get off thinking that they know everything?? Just because you WATCH VIDEOS of people training doesn’t mean you know it!! You have to do it, nothing replaces time in the saddle! Two years of video watching versus 17 years of riding and training…
Oh and the boarder comments on how my horse hasn’t been put through the seven games so I shouldn’t be sitting on him at all! Oh, and my horse is a paint and has that traditional “crazy eye” due to the white scelera (sp?) around his eye and the guy says “Clinton Anderson would tell you to sell this horse immediately, he’s got the wild eye, he’ll never be a good horse.”
Wow, this is longer than I thought it’d be. Sorry! Thanks to those of you who continued to the end…
I definately feel better now.[/QUOTE]
what rules have you------ if you dont like it do an up date on your rules
as and when they can play silly buggars ie not out in the field paddocks or anywhere near paddocks ie in an arena or schooling and only if no one else is using it
a horses field paddock or stable is his space as in resting space eating space
only to be brough in took oout or cleaned not for trying out parelli skills etc
if they are then it could cuase an accident or an accident waiting to happen then whos liable not them and doubt if they would pay – it a hazzard and a liablity
so change your rulings and post them on the notice baord as – something like as with effect from the 31 july 2009 the stable yard rules have been updated
etc etc and end with if not complied with you will be asked to leave with imediate effect
there easy peasey tha will make them tow the line
your the barn owner ------ and have a responsiblity to keep all humans and all animals as safe as you can
not only that will say no one ever gets to stage 3 video by then the horses are gits and then havent got a clue how to re trian or sort them out or have a clue as to how they got like it
then the horse is the one that suffers and is pushed from piller to post
[QUOTE=Petstorejunkie;4215424]
back in the day noobs were difficult to spot from a distance, now they carry bright orange indicators that they are noobs… i kinda appreciate the alert symbol so i know who to avoid :lol:[/QUOTE]
OMG! ROTFLMAO! That is the BEST one I have read in a LONG time.
So sorry to the OP. I have lived it too! Boarder in a h/j barn (I am an eventer) barn got sold to someone who wasn’t going to change anything. next thing we know, NH clinics every other weekend. I put my CCI** eventer in one with my husband. Was trying to be supportive. My horse was so bored he started doing some of his strange behaviors - he is a comic. NH trainer had my husband come get me because the horse was freaking him out. They are fun to talk about, that is the nicest thing I can say.
I have stuck my foot in my mouth while looking at a few sale horses. “Those damn carrot sticks…” then noticing the carrot stick in the corner.
I have friends who ‘used’ to do parelli/natural horsemanship, they became disillusioned at some point and have turned away from it. I have to say, when one of their horses is in my barn, handling is child’s play. They are well behaved on the ground.
While they were into this stuff, I had lunch with my friend and a “parelli” friend of hers. The friend tried to impress with “the talk” and sez to me, “Wouldn’t you like to ride a cross country course with NO bridle?” My eyes grew to saucer size as I said while shaking my head slowly, “No.”
OK, now she scares me…somebody’s going to get hurt.
So, getting back to your quote, yeah, its fun to listen, you hear all kinds of weird things. Some of these folks get so into it, its like an addiction. If I’m going to be addicted, it would SURELY be something LOTS more fun.
[QUOTE=paintjumper;4215213]
that he rides best with a rider that is buck naked…can’t get more NATURAL than that!!!
And then run and hide!!![/QUOTE]
Well, this is Nude Recreation Week, you know! I heard it on KOA this morning.
I told him that all my horses were just fine when lunging. He went on to say more but I was busy lunging and paying attention to my horse to care what he said.
I’d ask them to leave but my barn is new and I’ve only got a couple boarders and can’t afford to loose any of them. Once I get a few more boarders, I may ask 'em to leave. We’ll see.
Aint that the truth!! The two groups of people who I know who do the Parelli method religiously both have horses that are unrideable due to being spooky. It’s probably because the horse is so afraid a stick with a bag on it is going to jump out from behind the riders butt and smack 'em on the head!
How do they do that?? Find eachother? It must be the sticks. I dunno but they flock together in large groups.
I was introduced to Parelli many years ago… I think Pre-Linda and he was pretty unknown at the time. The woman who introduced it to me was A: an absolute idiot anyway and B: Told me that the “Carrot Stick” is orange so the horses will love it, the same way they love a carrot. My wack-o radar went off and I avoided her and Parelli ever since.
Now I’ve got boarders and a lady who lives on the property who does it. I can’t get away from it!!
My boarders are extreme Natural Horsemanshipers. The lady who lives on the property just wants to enjoy her horses. That’s fine. She suggests different videos for me to watch and I oblige but when someone comes into MY field while I’m trying to catch MY horse and tell ME how to do it… no no no.
Oh… I know the group you mean (CVP??)… it frightens me…
but not as much as the guy who rides around the park with nothing but a neck rope. No halter, bridle, saddle… nuthin’…
No, you do not have a way of achieving it, because if you did your horses would not be “freaking out,” over a plastic bag in the end of a stick…
I do have different methods. I haven’t introduced him to “Idiot” yet.
Oh my gosh, there’s nothing more unbearable than beginners with a guru. I include beginners that have been “working” with horses for several years.
Parelli I dismissed as a complete jack*** when I went to a clinic before he was a big name. He had a whip, a chair, an arab mare with halter and lead and a horse trailer parked by a wall. He proceeded to sit in the chair on the non-wall side of the trailer, held the mare’s lead and whaled on her when she tried to run his direction. She was drenched, had completely lost her mind and never did get in the trailer. I heard later she would no longer even go near them. I have pretty good luck with patience and carrots, but I guess that’s not Natural Horsemanship.
I was at a horse expo-type thing once and was at a Richard Shrake booth. There were all these weird bridle gimmicks with different names, but were basically nerve lines and draw reins. I struck up a conversation with an older guy also looking at the devices and we discussed classical horsemanship methods to achieve the same things as the gimmicks. I believe I did call them “gimmicks”.
Well, later in the afternoon during the arena presentations, Richard Shrake was to do a demonstration. I’d never seen him before and wanted to hear the justifications for the gimmicks. Guess with whom I’d had the conversation? Imagine my surprise when I’d learned I’d been talking to Richard Shrake at his booth. :o
I did go back later and say while I didn’t agree with his methods, I did enjoy our conversation. He laughed and said so did he. He was a nice guy and maybe I taught Richard Shrake something. 
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