Horse Sense: Pat Parelli

Pat Parelli has won international acclaim with his philosophy of natural horsemanship and his ability to teach other people what horses want and need them to know - savvy.

His theory is based on the prey-predator concept, that is, horses evolved as prey animals and their best defence against predators trying to catch and eat them was to run, in other words, the flight response. Pat says that if you can try to understand why horses act the way they do, you're on the way to knowing how they think, and gaining their trust.

Common horse problems include kicking, rearing and striking, bucking and refusing to go into a trailer. Debbie Eisenhauer asked Pat for help sorting out another problem she was having with her horse, which had been worrying her for a long time.

Pulling back (when tied up)

Whenever Debbie's horse was tied up, it would become anxious and frightened, and the slightest noise or disturbance would cause it to pull back, and panic. Pat explained that the horse was very fearful, claustrophobic and skeptical, and that when it panicked, this animal used the reactionary or right side of the brain, instead of the left, or thinking side. Pat said that the way to deal with this problem was to teach the horse to: overcome claustrophobia use the "left brain", and think rather than react yield

How it was done

The horse was attached to a long, strong lead rope, but instead of tying off the end Pat wound it around the fence, so that he could either loosen it or pull it tight. He attached a plastic bag to a horse whip, which he flicked in front of the horse, also hitting the fence several times. Debbie's horse was terrified and shied away, but the banging and racket continued. When the horse gave up, stopped pulling and jumped forward, Pat stopped the stimulation. This process was repeated until the horse became much more relaxed, and learned to think about the situation rather than just reacting. The idea was to subject the animal to much more pressure than it would ever face, so that under normal circumstances it would behave perfectly. Debbie was advised to go through this procedure with her horse each day for a week, then once a month for seven months, by which time the problem should be solved.

Further information

Pat Parelli's courses are now run in Australia under local accredited instructors. For details contact Parelli Natural Horse-Man-Ship, PO Box 2232, Gosford, NSW, 2250. Telephone: 1800 627 404.

Copyright CTC Productions 1999