Post by Casper on Feb 19, 2007 13:07:27 GMT -5
"If all I did was teach you to think like a horse and truly understand their psychology, you'd have the keys to be able to do whatever you want with horses, and to win their hearts." Pat Parelli
Born in California's Bay Area, Pat Parelli was obsessed with horses at an early age. When Pat was just 13, a horseman and trapper named Freddie Ferrera of Livermore, California, recognized Pat's talents with horses and took him under his wing. During the summers he would teach him valuable lessons about how to be more natural with horses, dogs, cattle, and with nature itself.
Pat's horse career began simply by working in stables from the age of 9. If there were horses, Pat would be there, enthusiastically helping with whatever he could, ears open for every drop of information. He even started to develop his own ideas about raising foals and training horses, an unusual thing for a young boy.
At the age of 17, Pat launched himself into rodeos, his favorite event being the bareback. A natural, with a good coach in John Hawkins, Pat won the Bareback Rookie of the Year title in 1972, his buck off average just 4%. Watching many rodeo athletes trying to move on, Pat was determined to find life after rodeo. A career in training horses seemed logical and he started a business that concentrated on starting colts (young horses).
However, like many trainers before him, it wasn't long before the normal pattern of both equine and financial frustration set in and Pat found himself on the verge of getting out of horses altogether. This was not how he wanted to have to train horses, by processing them like inanimate objects.
Then three significant events changed his life:
1. He met Tony Ernst, from Australia, who was not only a student of the horse but was a disciple of the Kung Fu martial arts and a master musician;
2. He began to work under the tutelage of Troy Henry, a master horseman from Clovis, California, who specialized in training and developing both horse and rider for competition using psychology and communication;
3. He took an interest in developing mules to be able to perform like horses.
Through Tony Ernst, Pat learned about inner power and the Kung Fu principles of discipline, body control, and mind-body mastery.
Troy Henry opened up a whole new world to Pat by helping him understand the horse's mental and emotional processes as a prey animal as well as the true dynamics of horsemanship and how they applied to performance horses. Mr Henry was intolerant of people who did not know how to think like horses but once he saw how invested Pat was in making the change in himself, he started to teach him what he knew.
The mules taught Pat the importance of reverse psychology, the principle of safety and comfort as the only real incentives, and developed in him more savvy on how to get a prey animal to "want" to perform. They also taught him about patience! In 1980, Pat founded The American Mule Association.
Being an intense student of horses and horsemanship, Pat had begun to develop his own style of teaching and expanding these principles. He also became interested in showing reined cow horses and was successful in reining and cutting events with both horses and mules.
He nearly won the 1983 Snaffle Bit futurity on a mule (Cissy) and this resulted not only in a training career boost but a rule change banning mules from the competition! Pat was invited back the next year to give a demonstration with a mule doing the same reining pattern but this time without a bridle!
One of the greatest frustrations Pat experienced in training horses was handing them back to their owners. He found that if the rider didn't have enough savvy, the horses would regress. After much soul searching he finally decided that he couldn't go on training horses to put up with their owner's lack of skills and understanding, instead, he had to find a way to help people become more savvy with horses.
Pat knew that horses were easy once you knew how they thought and why they would do what they did... and that if you could get enough mental, emotional and physical control over yourself and could use horse psychology to communicate your wishes effectively, you'd have fantastic results with horses. The challenge therefore, was to find out how to become a good enough teacher of people to enable them to acquire the kind of skills that made him so successful with horses.
He soon discovered that he had a natural talent in finding the right words to explain what he understood about horses. So he turned his attention even more to helping people instead of training. He began to give "lessons" but had no idea that one day he would be able to help people on a much larger scale.
In 1982 three close friends, Dr Bob Bradley and Jeff and Kat Hobson, convinced Pat to take his teachings "on the road" to spread his knowledge of communication with the horse's mind. He practiced for weeks to formulate his ideas into a presentable package. He was a natural at inspiring people to strive for greater things with their horse and he was able to deliver the information and identify the techniques with which to accomplish it.
More Mentors
In 1983, while performing bridle-less at the California Livestock Symposium, Pat met three men who were to become major contributors to his knowledge. Tom Dorrance, Ray Hunt and Ronnie Willis. Pat hosted several of Ray Hunt's clinics and spent time with both Dorrance and Willis, all masters that in one way or another became mentors.
A few years later the world's leading equine behaviorist,
Dr R. M. Miller, observed one of Pat's bridle-less demonstrations and quickly recognized that Pat's concepts aligned strongly with his own philosophy both on influencing the horse's mind and on foal imprinting. His prediction was that by the time Pat reached the age of 40, he would have become one of the best horsemen and teachers the world would have ever known.
Dr Miller authored a three part series on Pat's concepts in Western Horseman magazine entitled "A New Look at Old Methods." Realizing Pat's extraordinary talents as a natural horseman and a gifted presenter, Dr Miller encouraged him to go full steam ahead with his clinics.
Spreading steadily out from the American west coast, Pat responded to interest all over the USA. His continued collaboration with Dr Miller and an invitation from promoter Bob Berg took him to Australia. Canada, Mexico, Hawaii and Europe were the next destinations. With hundreds of clinics under his belt, his program had passed the test. Pat's systems proved universally effective for both people and horses.
From here, it became a case of the tail wagging the dog. People were asking for more - more information, more clinics, more supportive programs. It became clear that some kind of system was required that could help horse-people no matter where they lived.
This led to the development of the "Savvy System" for students to follow that would help them progress, one level at a time, to a point of great expertise with horses if they so desired. Pat also started developing, and continues to develop Instructors around the world to increase the accessibility of his teachings through qualified and reliable sources.
Thirteen years ago, nobody had heard of natural horsemanship. Today, Parelli Natural Horse•Man•Ship has become one of the most exciting revolutions in horsemanship, attracting attention from all corners of the industry, including the respected riding school, the Cadre Noir of Saumur in France.
It is becoming one of the most popular ways to develop expertise with horses and more and more people are making the change from normal to natural, no matter what endeavor they are involved in, for work, breed, play or to win. It is a completely non-denominational horsemanship program embracing both English and Western, from dressage to team penning, polo to cutting, jumping to racing, rodeos, shows, or for recreation. PNH provides the foundation for excellence in all horsemanship endeavors.
It is Pat Parelli's vision that one day the term "natural" will no longer have to precede the word "horsemanship." Horsemanship does not need to be mechanical. With enough savvy, horses and people can achieve fun, excellence, truth and results, harmony, and unity... naturally, through understanding, communication and psychology, rather than force fear and mechanics.
Born in California's Bay Area, Pat Parelli was obsessed with horses at an early age. When Pat was just 13, a horseman and trapper named Freddie Ferrera of Livermore, California, recognized Pat's talents with horses and took him under his wing. During the summers he would teach him valuable lessons about how to be more natural with horses, dogs, cattle, and with nature itself.
Pat's horse career began simply by working in stables from the age of 9. If there were horses, Pat would be there, enthusiastically helping with whatever he could, ears open for every drop of information. He even started to develop his own ideas about raising foals and training horses, an unusual thing for a young boy.
At the age of 17, Pat launched himself into rodeos, his favorite event being the bareback. A natural, with a good coach in John Hawkins, Pat won the Bareback Rookie of the Year title in 1972, his buck off average just 4%. Watching many rodeo athletes trying to move on, Pat was determined to find life after rodeo. A career in training horses seemed logical and he started a business that concentrated on starting colts (young horses).
However, like many trainers before him, it wasn't long before the normal pattern of both equine and financial frustration set in and Pat found himself on the verge of getting out of horses altogether. This was not how he wanted to have to train horses, by processing them like inanimate objects.
Then three significant events changed his life:
1. He met Tony Ernst, from Australia, who was not only a student of the horse but was a disciple of the Kung Fu martial arts and a master musician;
2. He began to work under the tutelage of Troy Henry, a master horseman from Clovis, California, who specialized in training and developing both horse and rider for competition using psychology and communication;
3. He took an interest in developing mules to be able to perform like horses.
Through Tony Ernst, Pat learned about inner power and the Kung Fu principles of discipline, body control, and mind-body mastery.
Troy Henry opened up a whole new world to Pat by helping him understand the horse's mental and emotional processes as a prey animal as well as the true dynamics of horsemanship and how they applied to performance horses. Mr Henry was intolerant of people who did not know how to think like horses but once he saw how invested Pat was in making the change in himself, he started to teach him what he knew.
The mules taught Pat the importance of reverse psychology, the principle of safety and comfort as the only real incentives, and developed in him more savvy on how to get a prey animal to "want" to perform. They also taught him about patience! In 1980, Pat founded The American Mule Association.
Being an intense student of horses and horsemanship, Pat had begun to develop his own style of teaching and expanding these principles. He also became interested in showing reined cow horses and was successful in reining and cutting events with both horses and mules.
He nearly won the 1983 Snaffle Bit futurity on a mule (Cissy) and this resulted not only in a training career boost but a rule change banning mules from the competition! Pat was invited back the next year to give a demonstration with a mule doing the same reining pattern but this time without a bridle!
One of the greatest frustrations Pat experienced in training horses was handing them back to their owners. He found that if the rider didn't have enough savvy, the horses would regress. After much soul searching he finally decided that he couldn't go on training horses to put up with their owner's lack of skills and understanding, instead, he had to find a way to help people become more savvy with horses.
Pat knew that horses were easy once you knew how they thought and why they would do what they did... and that if you could get enough mental, emotional and physical control over yourself and could use horse psychology to communicate your wishes effectively, you'd have fantastic results with horses. The challenge therefore, was to find out how to become a good enough teacher of people to enable them to acquire the kind of skills that made him so successful with horses.
He soon discovered that he had a natural talent in finding the right words to explain what he understood about horses. So he turned his attention even more to helping people instead of training. He began to give "lessons" but had no idea that one day he would be able to help people on a much larger scale.
In 1982 three close friends, Dr Bob Bradley and Jeff and Kat Hobson, convinced Pat to take his teachings "on the road" to spread his knowledge of communication with the horse's mind. He practiced for weeks to formulate his ideas into a presentable package. He was a natural at inspiring people to strive for greater things with their horse and he was able to deliver the information and identify the techniques with which to accomplish it.
More Mentors
In 1983, while performing bridle-less at the California Livestock Symposium, Pat met three men who were to become major contributors to his knowledge. Tom Dorrance, Ray Hunt and Ronnie Willis. Pat hosted several of Ray Hunt's clinics and spent time with both Dorrance and Willis, all masters that in one way or another became mentors.
A few years later the world's leading equine behaviorist,
Dr R. M. Miller, observed one of Pat's bridle-less demonstrations and quickly recognized that Pat's concepts aligned strongly with his own philosophy both on influencing the horse's mind and on foal imprinting. His prediction was that by the time Pat reached the age of 40, he would have become one of the best horsemen and teachers the world would have ever known.
Dr Miller authored a three part series on Pat's concepts in Western Horseman magazine entitled "A New Look at Old Methods." Realizing Pat's extraordinary talents as a natural horseman and a gifted presenter, Dr Miller encouraged him to go full steam ahead with his clinics.
Spreading steadily out from the American west coast, Pat responded to interest all over the USA. His continued collaboration with Dr Miller and an invitation from promoter Bob Berg took him to Australia. Canada, Mexico, Hawaii and Europe were the next destinations. With hundreds of clinics under his belt, his program had passed the test. Pat's systems proved universally effective for both people and horses.
From here, it became a case of the tail wagging the dog. People were asking for more - more information, more clinics, more supportive programs. It became clear that some kind of system was required that could help horse-people no matter where they lived.
This led to the development of the "Savvy System" for students to follow that would help them progress, one level at a time, to a point of great expertise with horses if they so desired. Pat also started developing, and continues to develop Instructors around the world to increase the accessibility of his teachings through qualified and reliable sources.
Thirteen years ago, nobody had heard of natural horsemanship. Today, Parelli Natural Horse•Man•Ship has become one of the most exciting revolutions in horsemanship, attracting attention from all corners of the industry, including the respected riding school, the Cadre Noir of Saumur in France.
It is becoming one of the most popular ways to develop expertise with horses and more and more people are making the change from normal to natural, no matter what endeavor they are involved in, for work, breed, play or to win. It is a completely non-denominational horsemanship program embracing both English and Western, from dressage to team penning, polo to cutting, jumping to racing, rodeos, shows, or for recreation. PNH provides the foundation for excellence in all horsemanship endeavors.
It is Pat Parelli's vision that one day the term "natural" will no longer have to precede the word "horsemanship." Horsemanship does not need to be mechanical. With enough savvy, horses and people can achieve fun, excellence, truth and results, harmony, and unity... naturally, through understanding, communication and psychology, rather than force fear and mechanics.