Dartblog

We live in a time where people talk endlessly about change, but real change occurs all too rarely. An exception is happening today in the world of horsemanship.

The shameful secret is that this is largely a failed sport. The majority of new owners sell their animals after a year or two, and the fate that meets these horses is not pretty. A relationship has failed, and the loser in the battle — always the horse — goes on to other failed relationships and eventually, as they say in the horse world, is processed. (The same word was used to describe a similar activity involving human beings during a much darker historical time.)

Like many innovators, Pat Parelli has combined an intuitive knowledge of his subject, a lifelong experience with the best in horseback tradition (in his case the vacqueros and cowboys of rural California), and an ongoing, intense study of the world’s various schools of horsemanship.

His core observation is that horses are at heart fearful prey animals, safe in a herd and happiest when under the generous protection of a leader. In such a situation, they will work happily and hard to please their protector. Parelli eschews the beat-it-out-of-them, kick’em-harder domination that lead leads to sullen, unhappy animals who eventually rebel against their owners, sometimes dangerously. By understanding the natures of different horses and working with the spectrum of horse personalities (“horsenalities” in the Parelli world), Parelli horsemanship can consistently establish the kind of warm rapport that horse owners swoon over when they see it in others, but rarely achieve themselves.

Parelli students work at length with their horses from the ground, playing a series of games meant to establish trust and communication with the horse. Riding comes later, using an entirely re-conceived range of equipment. For example, it is not until well into a student’s training that a bridle with a steel bit is used; for the lengthy early training period, only a rope halter is employed for riding, and the horse’s mouth is entirely unencumbered.

Other innovations abound, but suffice it to say that Parelli has creatively re-thought almost every aspect of a human actiivity that has been going on for thousands of years.

At this point in its evolution, most staid horsemen see Parelli horsemanship as a kind of cult. But as Parelli instructors spread the gospel the world over, attitudes are evolving. The suspicion is still there, but more and more erstwhile critics and riding instructors are becoming fence-sitters: they, too, claim to be using at least some of Pat’s techniques.

A hundred years from now, it is unclear to me that today’s political apostles of change will be remembered for much at all. But in the world of horsemanship, Pat Parelli’s philosophy and techniques will still be studied, and his ideas will continue to influence a devoted community. His is a true revolution.