>>> As far as trail riding or working a horse around other horses, high level Parellians do it a lot in their clinic/show thingys, where a group of hi level students take their horses in the arena and do groundwork w/ them or ride, nothing on the horse at all. And the horses stay with their handler, even w/ all the other loose horses around. And I've heard of other Parellians taking their horses bareback/bridleless on trail rides. It's definitely do-able.
I love watching Carol Coppinger work with her TWH gelding, Ranger, at the Parelli weekend tour events. At intermission, and sometimes as part of the main show, a bunch of the instructors will ride their horses, or play with them at liberty. Carol and Ranger seem to have a great relationship. Ranger, like a lot of "perfect" horses, is actually far from perfect. He's fairly pacey, like a lot of TWH. He's pretty agreeable to most of the things Carol wants to do, but he obviously prefers to play "chase the big green ball" over jumping the barrels...probably not surprising, considering that most pacey horses aren't really comfortable jumping. I've seen Carol ask him to jump, and you can just see his wheels turning as he starts veer off after the big ball instead...Carol never seems upset when he makes his suggestions about what he sees as more fun. It doesn't seem to matter to Carol that Ranger isn't perfect. They seem to be a super pair, and they are a hoot to watch together, very inspiring. Karen Thomas [EMAIL PROTECTED] No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.485 / Virus Database: 269.13.15/1002 - Release Date: 9/11/2007 5:46 PM
