I'd like to play the devil's advocate here for a moment. A friend of the family used to be his farrier. He now has a policy of Parelli trained horses, he won't work with, unless they are Parelli's. He said too many people pick and choose what they want from his programs and end up in trouble. The friend said, you have to use the program in total... or it won't work.
So keep in mind the saying, "if something seems to be too good to be true, it probably is". We have had about seven various trainers to come and work with our one gelding... aka "Horsezilla". A man DIED of a heart attack trying to train him. I have spent hundreds on various types of training for this guy... six without any success and usually creating a dangerous situation with him wanting to kick someone.
Recently, I went out on a limb and took the boy to a local trainer's place for two weeks. After a week I went back to visit.... to make sure no one had DIED or anything really bad... (which I expected... ). Our boy was kissing all over the woman, and couldn't do enough for her. He was standing begging like a dog, and she gave him a dirty look, and he dropped and hung his head. She said she apologized for his poor behavior and he should know, how to behave. A week later we went to bring him home. I hooked him up to a cart to see how he drives... I couldn't believe it was the same horse!
Mag did four miles the first time out. He and I do about five miles a day, I get too busy to spend more time driving. Sometimes he has the two kids and I with him. (That's alot of weight of a mini). He stops at stop signs, he walks on one cluck, trots on two, I don't need to say a word to him, the least little noise and he's good to go. He "HOs" on a dime. I can't get over it. He doesn't mind traffic, full size horses, school buses, or large construction equipment. He even looks both ways at street crosing... it's so funny. Sometimes he grunts when he thinks it's good to go, and waits for the cluck... Lol..
I've looked into training for a long time, to reach this point. I couldn't imagine leaving Horsezilla with anyone , and especially for 90 days as most people have suggested to me. I've heard in hushed tones, the lack of quality in a 30 day wonder. Yet, here is the worst horse I've even been near, showing off something awlful. When he goes in front of large horses, you should see him lift his legs, as if he thinks he's doing some dressage thing or something! It took us a YEAR to even feel comfortable with less then four people to hold him, just to get his hooves done!
This is all from two weeks, with a really good trainer. I'm not sure if Parelli himself could have accomplished this much progress from Horsezilla in the same amount of time. Oh, we don't use a whip either... Our eleven year old drives him, without a problem. Who'd ever guess there was a nice horse under there???
God Bless,
Lynn W
