Linda Parelli video, working with one-eyed horse...

w c

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I'm sure that horse was fine to ride. She just was not handling the horse correctly. The local pony club instructor could do a better job than that.

I think where the Parellis went wrong is they tried to tap into the sport horse market. That is one market where they are out of their league. But they wanted the money, you see. Everybody who gets a load of what some sport people pay for training and horses wants to get in on the deal.

The horses are bigger, more active, stronger and they are trained different, though the bottom line is that the P method just doesn't work with that type of horse, that is a type of horse that needs to move and go and be forward, they don't understand that concept and can't ride well enough to do them how they need to be done.

I think the P's need to stay where they've been successful for so many years - with smaller, quieter, less strong horses that are easier to intimidate. But they are a little high on themselves and they dearly want the money, so they won't admit they're over their heads, so you will see a lot more scenes like this.

Parelli's are always telling everyone everything has to be done on the ground. The way I see it, that's because of their own limitations with riding.

Most sport horses would do the exact same thing when treated like that, it would really confuse the heck out of them. I think the horse would be fine with someone that handled it better.

Perhaps someone had bought that horse that wasn't ready for it, messed it up, didn't give it enough exercise for a couple months, then handed the lead over to Linda P, I don't know. But the horse didn't look at all difficult.

Like the horse who 'couldn't be bridled' that Pat had the video dustup with. I think the same little 83 year old, stove up, withered old standardbred trainer that I learned to bridle from could put a bridle on that horse(if he was still livin'). He'd just be standing there perfectly still letting the horse chill out, holding the bridle, say, 'now, now' a couple times, and all of a sudden the bridle would be on the horse. He'd say, 'atta boy', lead him away on a loose, flapping rein and 'ain't no one gonna have no trouble again'.

People should get a look at a couple regular old horse trainers at work, expending 1/10th the energy, taking 1/100ths of the time, stressing the horse out a whole lot less, and getting a whole lot more done.

I feel the Parellis make a huge stink out of issues like trailering and bridling and leading that could be worked out briefly, with a whole lot less drama.

Aside from that, from the look of the horses and how they act, I don't think I've ever seen them take on a horse that was really at all dificult to load, for example. Every time I see a video of them 'mastering' some horse that won't load, it looks like a horse that has been loading for about twenty years without any problems and they are just running it around and trying to get it hurt for no reason. I never have seen them take on anything even remotely 'vicious to trailer' as the old saying goes.

The main impression I get when I look at the Parelli's, is, 'why are they making that horse so nuts and causing such a big drama?' To me, they just don't look like they know what they're doing.

But I guess I ain't drunk the koolaid.

I think the best trainers work with the horse, not so against it.

A horse always tells you every day what he needs. If he's having a day where he's restless and can't stand still, then sure, that's a great day to pick a collosal fight with him and try by force, screaming and/or yanking to make him be absolutely immobile when he comes out the barn, and not even move an ear or look over at something. Great idea? Nope.

If he's restless it's probably because the owner hasn't been doing his job and getting the horse out and working him, that's not the horse's fault. If he's restless at a new place, well then what do you expect? He's only got one good eye, he needs to look around and be sure he's safe where he is.

Or maybe it isn't his eye at all, maybe he just hasn't been off his home farm routinely and isn't used to it. Well you aren't going to make up for someone not doing their job and not getting the horse out for years by yanking and picking.

Further he's a type of horse you don't just ride once a month when you feel like it or just quit giving him exercise and then take him somewhere strange and expect him to stand there like a dead head. There are 'family horses' and 'kid horses' that are just dead quiet flat footed when they go to a new place and this one just ain't that.

So what? He's a fine horse for someone who wants to ride and is going to keep at it. He is a type of horse that needs to work, stretch out and move his muscles all the time. The more you pick and fuss at him and don't let him get moving the worse you are going to make him.

If someone doesn't want to ride every day and ride actively and work, and give the horse something to do, then they shouldn't get that type of horse. A lot of people think, 'ooh, how pretty' and they get over horsed. That isn't the horse's fault. The horse tells you every second who he is.

First of all, I would get the horse away from all those trees where he can trip or run into a tree and more importantly can't see things he needs to see with his good eye. He needs a line of sight.

If he's not used to the place he can be worked to a lot more benefit over where some other horses are, you can't fix everything in one session(Parelli sure can't either, look at what is going on). If he's partly sighted he relies on sense of smell more, and he will act better if he's some place where some other horses have been worked, so he can smell that it's a safe place where other horses are willing to hang around. They don't have to be right there at that minute, they just have to have been around there.

I'd put him on a longe line, let him look around all he wants, call, and kick up his heels a little bit. Not for too long, he shouldn't be worn out before riding. There are two kinds of horses you can't train on, a tired one and a fresh one. Once he was a little loosened up in the back, get on, let him move, let him canter, let him have a good time. If he looks at something just get him turning and bending a little (not to extremes) and get him back focused, and mostly, go the heck forward, stop fussing and picking and just let him move. Keep him moving forward and praise him for being good. That type of horse, you want to solve a problem, just about any problem, you get them moving....but not with the reins flapping, up into the bridle.

Then get the heck off and let him relax, if he was worked right he will be better the next day. Then you can let him stand still and praise him, how about standing still for one second, then put him away and be done with it without getting all freaked out about what he is doing.

The more you yank and jerk and punish and pick pick pick and make a huge production out of it, on a horse like that (on just about any horse), the more problems you have.
 
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