Parelli Natural Horsemanship

Parelli Natural Horsemanship (also known as Parelli or PNH) is a program of natural horsemanship, created by Pat Parelli.

Program

Parelli Natural Horsemanship is a program that uses an approach to communicating with horses based on natural equine behaviors, to achieve trust and respect in the horse/human relationship. PNH methods are similar to the ways that horses act with one another within a herd.

PNH allows for thresholds, boundaries and fears for both horse and human, and encourages issues to be worked through, using mutual communication, leadership and love. Key components in this are attitude, knowledge, tools, techniques, time and imagination. In the program, it is recognized that both the horse and human have responsibilities in the partnership.

One aim of the program is to preserve the dignity of the horse by continuously watching for subtle cues in the horses posture, movements and facial expressions. Building on the idea of horse personalities, it encourages riders to take the horse's individual characteristics into account. The program teaches people to interact with horses through communication consisting of the seven types of interactions that horses have with one another. These are referred to as the "7 games".

Pat and Linda Parelli developed a home-study program that defines various skills: on the ground On Line, at Liberty, Freestyle, riding with little or no contact to the horse's head or mouth, and Finesse, riding with close head/mouth contact. These four areas of horsemanship are known as "The Four Savvys" within the program.^[1]

Several noted members of the mainstream equine industry, such as Craig Johnson (reining),^[2] Leon Harrel (cutting),^[3] Walter Zettl (dressage), Louis Lucio (dressage), Luca Moneta (Jumping),^[4] Julie Krone (jockey hall of fame) Lauren Barwick (olympic gold and silver medalist) , Karen and David O'Connor (gold medalist) (eventing, dressage),^[3] have utilized similar methods in their own horsemanship and said assorted positive things about Parelli's methods. Dr. Robert M. Miller, a veterinarian, speaker and author, has been a supporter of Pat Parelli for decades.^[5]

The program uses a concept, marketed as Horsenality^[6] to assist students in "reading" their horses during working sessions. A trait identification system (both positive and negative traits or behaviors) and index provides a picture of the characteristics of the horse and provides related strategies for managing behaviors and strategies for achieving success.

The system borrows from parallel concepts in human psychology derived from Analytical psychology, Personality psychology, the concepts of Four Temperaments, and the more modern Keirsey Temperament Sorter. No independent clinical studies verify or disprove this theory as applied to horses.

Criticism

There has been criticism, sometimes scathing, of the Parelli program and similar Natural Horsemanship programs by the mainstream equestrian world. The primary criticisms are the programs are cultlike, gimmicky, sell overpriced materials, and charge "exorbitant" prices for clinics, particularly to obtain "certification" as a Parelli practitioner.^[7] Parelli is criticized for renaming traditional training techniques such as longeing, and rebranding standard horse training equipment that he sells for premium prices, when in reality the Parelli and non-Parelli versions are virtually indistinguishable.^[8]

By marketing of horsemanship information that, according to critics of Parelli's tactics, is widely available and has been passed down for generations and considered to be common sense by those knowledgeable of the horse, critics of Parelli consider his methods to be inappropriately described as exclusive to the Parelli system.^[8] That said, Parelli agrees that his methods are not particularly new,^[9] and credits those from whom he learned.^[10] Concerns are also raised that Parelli's methods may be "problematic" when used by less experienced horse handlers,^[9] though he agrees that people can't learn his methods simply by watching his videos.^[11]

Criticism of Parelli is partly due to his showy performances, described as having "the excitement of a circus, [and] the emotion of a Pentecost revival..."^{[12] [13]} Other criticisms focus on Parelli's disparaging remarks made against mainstream equestrian training methods, equestrian sports and events. There is also criticism that his training methods are marketed towards inexperienced horse people who should not be training a horse without direct assistance. Parelli supporters argue that this criticism is due to the boldness of his demonstrations with some of his own horses, and possibly in part to the fact that he charges a premium price for his materials.^[14]

Finally, because some training techniques result in horses that do not respond to traditional horse-handling commands, when the horse is sold it may require either retraining of the horse or the new owner may need to learn (for a price) Parelli methods. Other horses, who have been marketed and sold as being trained using the Parelli method, have turned out to have training flaws and behavior problems which cause the animal to become dangerous towards handlers and are in need of retraining. The program, in fact, encourages sellers to sell their horses only to other Parelli users.^[15]

Training Video Controversy

In March 2010, a video^[16] entitled "Natural Horsemanship the Parelli way!!!!!!!!!!!!!" was uploaded to YouTube, showing founder Linda Parelli showing a student how to be effective with a rope. Some criticized Parelli for pulling hard on the horses halter and accused Parelli of handling the horse in a rough manner, hitting it in the face among other things. The video was composed of small edited excerpts from a long-format copyrighted video originally featured in the Parelli "Level 1" Pack which depicts an unconfident student with an unpredictable horse in an unfamiliar situation. Linda Parelli later issued an explanatory statement to address detractors.^[17]

Another video^[18] was posted on YouTube in mid-2010 where Pat Parelli is shown working with a stallion using a gum-line and holding up the horse's front leg with a rope. Some have publicly criticized this method as abusive and not "natural". Parelli asserts that the horse was a risk to his handlers and an extreme example of equine behavior.

This video prompted another, more formal, written statement^[19] to the public where he says "First and foremost, I would like to apologize to the audience members that were confused by the demonstration methods that in the moment I chose to use on a horse that proved more difficult than anyone ever expected." The video continues and presents a veterinarians report from the British Showjumping Association that states that the horse was found to be fit and well.^[20]

The owner of the horse, Robert Whitaker, said he felt the situation had perhaps been blown out of proportion.^[21]

References

External links

• Parelli Home Page