Parelli horsemanship and other methods that promote the idea of 'winning' and dominance do a great disservice to both horse and rider in their care.

Winning Every Training Session

“I had broken the contract. I had let personal feelings dictate my actions every time we encountered. Not once did I ever turn and simply ride off, without first giving chase. My father, bumbling and slow as I thought of him when it came to herding cattle, had almost corralled her and, except for the antics of a well meaning hunter, would have. She had fulfilled her part of the contract, She had, in spite of her wildness, given me a calf every year. In fact, as I learned the next day, She had renewed her end of it, for she had been pregnant. I, in return, had caused her death simply to show her who was boss. I sure enough showed her.”

Horses mature skeletally slower than most equestrians or vets commonly believe.

Download : Dr. Deb Bennett on Horse Maturation Rate

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If you’re unfamiliar with the article, I cannot recommend enough that you read it cover to cover to better understand the true rate of skeletal maturation in the horse. Also why it is a bad idea to start 2 year olds under saddle.

For those who are already familiar, this is an updated version of the old, original article. You could also print out a few copies to have on hand to share with other equestrians who question why you haven’t “just started” your horse already.

Equitation can have several meanings depending on your education background, from a competition style to principles to guide your approach to riding and training the horse.

What is Equitation?

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“Here should be inserted a word especially for equestrians, because the above truth, which is perfectly obvious to all other animal trainers and utilizers, most often seems to escape riders. At least, they generally behave as if they were unaware of it. Since they are in direct physical contact with the horse and communicate tactile sensations to it through the use of their muscles, they are easily taken in by the utterly false illusion (which is all the more convincing to them because it seems to be verified by certain superficial effects), that they act directly on the horse’s body through force, and thereby obtain a sort of mechanical response.”

Every facet of the horse industry, where motivated by money, exhibits widespread horse abuses.

No Really, Can We Stop Excusing Horse Abuse?

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Is there really any viable reason for abusing a horse? According to the Parelli’s there are several. But hey, we all make beginner mistakes out of frustration and emotion; and it’s what we do with those mistakes that defines us; and the Parelli’s have chosen to make excuse after excuse and then invite us to watch a demonstration of their “edutainment”.