I recently took a lesson from a Parelli Certified trainer. I rode my green horse(I started very slowly the last 2 yrs working on our relationship).I do barefoot trimming, Barefoot treeless saddle with my AB sidepull. I have been using an AB side pull with success on another horse i started. Well, the trainer asked me to do a few Parelli games (which i know since I started to incorporate them in my NH training(knowledge gathered for the last 4 yrs). Thing is he was being alittle bracy(not much of a warm up and a new place with no introduction) I usually talk to him in a smooth voice and might bump him alittle (he is a Right brained extrovert but goes introverted if he thinks you are thinking "I'm going to make you"-he has a long abusive history. Well, the instructor wanted me to use a rope hackamore and Parelli gear. She also was set in teaching me basic Parelli Back up like wiggle finger, ect. I had my own way but she didn't like that my horse responded to verbal cues w/ my body language(alittle head toss-like a mare says to back up). I explained to her that when I saved the horse he had lost vision in one eye and I had to train him by feel and voice(he has since regained vision with injury healed). He knows my cues and to change them makes me not consistent. She just smiled and didn't say anything. The lesson wasn't much but it did remind me of things which I already knew but from someone elses eyes a good reminder and refiner. I like Parelli(I have a the DVDs and Savvy member now) but so many seem to follow it like a religion and nothing else can corrucpt its steps. Its better than alot of the horsemanship training that I have learned in past-I especially like the Horseonality info-hudge help. But I see how much Parelli has taken from others that he used in his program, he is always advancing as a horseman and marketing it, but he doesn't allow his students to advance on their own but only following his system. That's just what you have to do for a system to keep everyone in sink. I have never been one to follow imperfect man- After 2 yrs with Parelli-I would like to say Thank you very much-I have learned alot, some things he still teaches is old school-not really natural-but as a horseman I would like to move on and keep learning from other Horseman worldwide-collective knowledge. I just need to put into practice what I learn. Sometimes too much knowledge can weigh you down-I like to keep it simple-think like when i was a kid-go with your intuition, sence of feel, and believe anything is possible, be a horse w/ your horse and enjoy the relationship you have with your horse. Get away from technic and think it out.

Yours
Wendy Clark
Chewelah, WA

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