Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

I do belong to the Bay Area Savvy Players.... a Parelli "church".  I agree with everything that has been said both good and bad about Parelli.

 

At our BASP playdays, we strongly discourage horses at liberty unless it's the group consensus to do so.  And there are one or two members that constantly push that particular envelope and they are the most "rabid" of the Parelli-ites in the group.

 

I'm not crazy about the way they teach riding balance.  I always encourage any Parelli person if they want to do endurance to learn to ride balanced elsewhere outside of the program.

 

I guess my Buddhist upbringing has made me pretty tolerant of different "cults."  There are those died and woolly Parelli-ites who think that you will absolutely die and go to hxxx if you don't do the seven games before you mount your horse.  And the certain Centered Riding people I know think that the Parelli's are the devil too, because they don't wear helmets and ride in a chair seat.

 

However, I am fascinated by what they did to the program and the mechanisms they use to teach the program.  There's a lot of good information there if you can get beyond the whole church facade...  It's like Jesus is really a cool guy if you can get beyond his followers telling you will burn in hell if you aren't Christian (which being a Buddhist, I occasional get even here in California!).  Afterall, Jesus probably learned his stuff from some yogi in a loincloth to begin with anyway.

 

I was fascinated by their latest "Horsenality" information that is being published this year.  Linda Parelli had developed a marvelous chart that you can check boxes with your horses behaviour issues to figure out if your horse is a left brain introvert or extrovert, or right brain interovert and extrovert.

 

And I am doing all this because I have a horse that has some severe "horsenality" issues that make him not real fun to be with on the trail.  We have seen a lot of improvement - just because I have been spending more time with him creating communication, rather than just getting on and riding like I do with my good old endurance horse. 

 

It was Becky Hart who is responsible for my involvement with Parelli Natural Horsemanship!   She taught some Parelli along with my Centered Riding lessons years ago.  She also brought a Parelli trainer to give clinics and lessons to the former Lightfoot Stables and encouraged all the boarders to take lessons, especially newbie horse owners.

 

K.

 

 

 

> -------------- Original message -------------- 
> From: "rides2far@xxxxxxxx" <rides2far@xxxxxxxx> 
>
> > >>No one with any SENSE would allow a loose horse on public trails. 
> > >>Especially not Parelli. I am trying really hard to not be offended >>>by the 
> > Parelli slam. It's like knocking my religion, 
> > 
> > I have the Parelli tapes, I have used it to help with ground work, *however* the 
> > local person around here who has probably gone the farthest in the program is 
> > the only person I have ever witnessed riding with a loose horse behind her that 
> > she specifically brought with her to condition that way. It was on private 
> > property that was to have an endurance ride, but there were 5 or 6 other riders 
> > on horses there to ride and help clear trails that day...such fun to have a 
> > horse stop to gr
> aze, then gallop past you to rejoin it's buddy. I didn't ride 
> > with them long. 
> > 
> > The number one reason I hesitate to mention that I like to use Parelli tapes for 
> > training is that people try to turn it *into* a religion. It's a great guide to 
> > body language, pure & simple. 
> > 
> > Angie 
> > 
> > 
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