65. Linda Parelli - the controversial video...

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/80925308/

I just received this video link by one of my readers and i am quite honestly shocked. Personally, i feel as though join up monty roberts style would have been a far better exercise for this horse... and feel the force Linda uses is completely unnecessary. I see this video as 'an attack' on a horse rather than a powerful and positive training exercise. It seems to go against all what parelli preach...i am confused to say the least. I hope linda provides her fans with an explanation for her behaviour as i aswell as many others are clearly mystified.

Julie Goodnights - advice for trying to exert control over a horse....

Often when people use circling work to establish more control over a horse, it is done with harshness and quick jerking movements. This will only serve to make a horse more anxious, not less; faster not slower. Speed and harshness will always exacerbate a horse’s emotions and may trigger the flight response.

With any circling or disengagement of the hindquarters, it is imperative that it is done calmly and quietly, encouraging the horse to slow down and soften. If it is done with fast, reactive movements, it will cause the same reaction in the horse. Remember, horses are programmed to mirror the emotions of the animals around them. Therefore, if we let our emotions (fear, anger, frustration) get involved in training, it will always cause more problems.... See More

Training with softness and with a calm and objective demeanor will lead to success in your horse. Also, when you are calm and objective versus reactive and emotional, it is easier to see the ideal moment for the release. Make sure that whenever you give a horse a cue, you release the cue the instant the horse begins to respond; do not wait until you get the finished result or it may be too late. Whatever the horse is doing when you release him, is what you are training him to do. When you are caught up in emotions yourself, it is almost impossible to have the right timing; and timing of the release is everything with horses.

To me this makes more sense than anything i saw linda do in the video...

I know from having my own right brain extrovert horse that matching her energy increases her stress and although eventually the horse may give in - it does so through fear and learned helplessness not trust or respect. It's easy to get angry at right brain horses but as julie goodnight says i think this often serves to exasperate the problem... At the end of the day...it's far easier actually just hitting a horse to make it do what you want it to do than use the appropriate cues body language/signals which is why i think many people result to these harsh training methods.

Here are a couple more uplifting videos i found...