Horse Sense with Pat Parelli

Pat Parelli is an American horseman with a philosophy of natural horsemanship which has won admiration worldwide.

In this segment Pat Parelli was introduced to Ness, a mare with an intense fear of being confined in a crush. A crush is the narrow one-animal-wide run in livestock yards used to contain an animal while it is receiving treatment.

Ness has a pathological fear of the crush and will rear up when contained. Pat Parelli was brought in to show how Ness could be trained not to be afraid of the crush.

Retraining

Pat Parelli says Ness's behaviour occurred as the right side of her brain, as with all horses, reacts instinctively to a situation. Horses that are prone to using the right side of their brain tend to panic when something sudden happens. To rectify her fear of the crush Pat had to first teach Ness to use the left side of the brain, which he calls the thinking side.

Pat demonstrated his technique by holding Ness on a lunging (long) rein while he jumped up and down. Initially, the horse was startled and backed away as much as she was allowed by the rein. Pat jumped up and down a few more times while still holding the horse firmly, and she gradually became more accustomed to his actions.

Continuing this exposure to unexpected situations, he loosely tied up one of the horse's forelegs and walked her around. She didn't like the situation but was unable to run away. She gradually became more accepting of the situation.

The next step was to expose her to the crush. She was held on a short rein and urged gently towards the narrow run. The short rein allowed only her nose into the crush before she was backed out. This 'yo-yo' action was repeated with the rein loosening and more of the horse entering the crush each time. Finally Ness was entirely within the crush and settled. The whole process had taken less than 30 minutes.

Pat Parelli said four to six sessions like the one we saw demonstrated on the television segment would see Ness perfect for the rest of her life. The technique is aimed at teaching her to be more relaxed, to be smarter and how to be human-oriented.

Further information

Pat Parelli's courses are run in Australia under local accredited instructors.

More information can be obtained from:

Parelli Natural Horse-Man-Ship
PO Box 2232
Gosford NSW 2250
Phone: 1800 627 404

Copyright CTC Productions 2006