>>>> I think this is the biggest problem w/ Parelli's method--that so few people have the cash to actually work WITH Pat Parelli. I've taken lessons with several Parelli trainers that are VERY different in their interpretations of the method. I think it can get so watered down that students are taught the wrong thing. Let's face it--there's only so much that you can learn from books and videos--there is no one there to correct you if you are doing it wrong/too hard/too much/too fast.
I have met a few Parelli trainers - one I like a lot, one who makes my skin scrawl and one that I thought just ok, but nothing special. I really like to go to the weekend tour stops though. I love to watch Pat work with a horse. It helped me that I have a core of local friends who got into NH about 1991, with another trainer. He does his own thing, not exactly Lyons, not exactly Parelli, but he's gentle and fair, and his methods work. I took 6-8 weekend clinics with him over a period of maybe 4 years, but my friends and I would get together and hash out things in between times. Two friends "apprenticed" with him for a couple of weeks, meaning they worked for free in exchange for some lessons. And, we've been blessed to have Shirley in this area to be a sounding board for us. So, we piddled around with the Natural Horsemanship, sort of "getting it", sometimes not, and we'd buy whatever other NH books we could find, by other authors. We never dropped a lot of money into any clinician's flavor of NH. I was mostly on my own, but I did have a support system. Anyway, a couple of years after that NH trainer moved away, Gracie developed her mysterious back problem and the vets at Virginia Tech suggested we restart her with Parelli. I was skeptical, since she'd been started gently anyway, and Parelli didn't seem that different from what we'd done. But, as it turned out, one of my neighbors had just bought the Seven Games video, and the original Level 1. I borrowed her Seven Games video, and thought immediately - I know this...but by golly, I've never seen it so organized! I could suddenly REMEMBER stuff that would never stick in my brain before. You know how frustrating it can be when a horse does something "wrong", and the "right" reaction just escapes you...? Well, Parelli put names on stuff, so I could REMEMBER! Oh happy day! I ended up buying the Level 1 kit myself, but the original one was only about $125 I think. I went all the way through Level 1 without going to anything more than one of Pat and Linda's weekend tours, which I think are about $25 per person, per weekend. Considering how many horses I've used Level 1 on, it wasn't expensive at all for me. (I did end up going to an Advanced Level 1 clinic, and wasn't thrilled with it. But, I don't feel the need to be certified or anything, so I don't care.) When I think about it now, I'm not sure so many people would recognize what I do with my young horses as "Parelli" because it's become my own way, influenced by Parelli, as well as the original NH I studied with, but also tempered with classically educated Shirley's style - she's my friend who graduated from VA. Intermont with a degree in horsemanship. Anyway, that was just my particular path. I think a lot of people can use parts of the Parelli program in many creative ways, without breaking the bank...and without "joining the cult." And it doesn't have to be ALL Parelli...or ALL Anderson, or ALL LYONS...and I'm sure there are some lesser known trainers of the genre that could be better than any of these. Karen Thomas [EMAIL PROTECTED] No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.484 / Virus Database: 269.13.2/985 - Release Date: 9/2/2007 4:32 PM
