Parelli and their view on helmets

[aaussie_gal]

Cross-posting from the Welsh Mountain Pony list:

Forwarded from another list.
--------------------------
Parelli and helmets

I am sending this to a couple different groups as I feel it is important to get the word out to potential Parelli followers. As many of you know, I am currently recovering from a brain injury from a fall from a horse this summer. This was a green horse but he spooked while I was getting off, something any horse could do and the odds of a serious accident on a horse finally caught up with me. One thing I have noticed is an ad for Parelli and Linda is jumping a horse bareback and no helmet. Also while I was bedridden I watch a couple of his episodes and he had a a young person who was physically disabled riding without a helmet and it was obvious her balance was not good. I sent a letter to Parellis asking them to please advocate the use of helmets. This is their reply, which I think is totally STUPID coming from professionals.

Patti - w.wa

Hi Patti,

Thank you for taking the time to write us. We understand your views and concerns. As quoted by the faculty at our ranch:

"You are quite right - helmets are fabulous things and they save many lives. Tragically though, people who ARE wearing helmets also die or suffer serious head injuries in accidents with horses.

Our program is intended to address the safety problem at its root - which is behavioral - rather than address the symptoms of it. Our message is about developing the relationship with the horse, and the savvy level of the rider, so that unsafe behavior is addressed long before the rider gets on the horse - rather than allowing the unsafe situations to continue to occur and hope that the helmet, body protector, etc, will protect us from the consequences.

The reason you do not see our people wearing helmets is because we try to teach people that rather than be brave because they are wearing a a helmet to protect them, they would be better off not riding until their horse is behaving safely.

People have called us brave for not wearing helmets, but we say they are a lot braver than we are. We would not get on their horse until we had addressed the issues that cause it to behave in unsafe ways.

We hope this helps,

From the Faculty, Parelli Centers"


__._,_.___

[twofatponies]

I'll wear my helmet anyway.

[Woodland]

Obviously they are to brain damaged to realize their own stupidity. Now I'll just bet if Troxel or Charles Owens gave them a big fat sponsorship they'd promote them like crazy! The Parelli's are in it for the $$ only - if they aren't going to profit they aren't going to promote it. It is part of their business model.

[DressageFancy]

Even the best trained, calmest, most well behaved horse can fall down when you are riding. And, you can bet that the first thing to hit the ground will be your head should that happen.

[Kenike]

Originally Posted by DressageFancy

Even the best trained, calmest, most well behaved horse can fall down when you are riding. And, you can bet that the first thing to hit the ground will be your head should that happen.

This.

Obviously the Parelli's don't have a clue that these are animals who still have wild tendencies, think for themselves, and aren't afraid to employ the "flight" part of their instinct when they deem necessary...trained, bombproof, or not!

Makes me like these guys even less...and I wasn't sure that was possible...

[madoy]

Hmmmmm. Until now I had not had any particular problem with them as I have not witnessed any of their speeches regarding dressage. This one however does it for me! I hit my head very hard last year when my Grand Prix horse spooked and fell, I had no warning and felt very lucky to not have been seriously hurt. I am still not always the best at wearing my helmet ALL the time, but would NEVER advocate that others don't need to just because "their horses are well trained", and believe it is NEVER okay for a child to be on a horse without one. Just ridiculous.

[kdow]

Originally Posted by Kenike

This.

Obviously the Parelli's don't have a clue that these are animals who still have wild tendencies, think for themselves, and aren't afraid to employ the "flight" part of their instinct when they deem necessary...trained, bombproof, or not!

Makes me like these guys even less...and I wasn't sure that was possible...

To say nothing of the fact that incidents can happen:

Involving other horses (even if your horse is behaving perfectly, another horse in the area could spook and cause some kind of incident - with potential for it being really bad if you're on the ground at the time)

Due to a mis-step or footing problem.

As a result of a mechanical failure of your tack. (I know someone who came off because some part of the girth fastening broke and the saddle just basically slid off. The fault wasn't in a place easy to spot UNTIL it broke, so it was just kind of one of those freak things.)

To say "well, if you train your horse, you don't have to worry" just shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the whole concept of risk management and risk assessment. The training of your particular horse is only a small part of the whole picture of things that can go wrong.

(Leaving out the whole issue, as others have mentioned, that there's no such thing as a PERFECTLY trained horse. You never know when there's some weird little thing that might happen.)

[enjoytheride]

Parelli and helmets

I am sending this to a couple different groups as I feel it is important to get the word out to potential Parelli followers. As many of you know, I am currently recovering from a brain injury from a fall from a horse this summer. This was a green horse but he spooked while I was getting off, something any horse could do and the odds of a serious accident on a horse finally caught up with me. One thing I have noticed is an ad for Parelli and Linda is jumping a horse bareback and no helmet. Also while I was bedridden I watch a couple of his episodes and he had a a young person who was physically disabled riding without a helmet and it was obvious her balance was not good. I sent a letter to Parellis asking them to please advocate the use of helmets. This is their reply, which I think is totally STUPID coming from professionals.

Patti - w.wa

Hi Patti,

Thank you for taking the time to write us. We understand your views and concerns. As quoted by the faculty at our ranch:

"You are quite right - helmets are fabulous things and they save many lives. Tragically though, people who ARE wearing helmets also die or suffer serious head injuries in accidents with horses.

Our program is intended to address the safety problem at its root - which is behavioral - rather than address the symptoms of it. Our message is about developing the relationship with the horse, and the savvy level of the rider, so that unsafe behavior is addressed long before the rider gets on the horse - rather than allowing the unsafe situations to continue to occur and hope that the helmet, body protector, etc, will protect us from the consequences.

The reason you do not see our people wearing helmets is because we try to teach people that rather than be brave because they are wearing a a helmet to protect them, they would be better off not riding until their horse is behaving safely.

People have called us brave for not wearing helmets, but we say they are a lot braver than we are. We would not get on their horse until we had addressed the issues that cause it to behave in unsafe ways.

We hope this helps,

From the Faculty, Parelli Centers"

[SarahandSam]

What an idiotic and self-important response.

[equineartworks]

I am speechless.

[AiryFairy]

Idiots....they can only afford to be that arrogant because they haven't been sued yet.

[Old Mac Donald]

Ok, first post on here for the lurker...

Funny you should say this. A recent incident occurred at the Parelli place (mid July)
Dear friends,

We need to share with you an incident that occurred in one of our grassy Pagosa meadows, the good news - all will be fine!

Linda was cantering Remmer in a field when he tripped and stumbled for about 20 feet trying to regain his balance. At the end he fell and pitched on his nose. Linda was knocked out for a few minutes and under his feet when he tried to get up. So she was bruised on her body and legs and got 4 broken ribs. Remmer is fine.

Thanks to speedy attendance and good care at the hospital (plus the red light - photonic therapy), she was discharged home after the second day as she was recovering quicker than expected and could now walk by herself as well as get up and down from bed.

She is at home continuing her recovery and as you know with broken ribs, it will be some weeks before she can ride again. But she is in great spirits and not much pain.

If you are planning to come to Kansas City - GREAT! You will be able to say 'Speedy Recovery' to Linda, but please remember No Hugging!

Elizabeth
on behalf of Linda & Remmer

[WB Mom]

Who wrote that response? The grammar and composition is terrible and it makes no sense. Wearing a helmet has nothing to do with how well trained your horse is. The most well trained horses in the world can be victim of an accident, as well as their rider. You'd think they would have an intelligent 'canned response' to this type of question. Obviously not. Their PR department certainly makes them look like COMPLETE IDIOTS.

[Old Mac Donald]

Incident occurred mid-July. Yes, she got a serious concussion.

Dear friends,

We need to share with you an incident that occurred in one of our grassy Pagosa meadows, the good news - all will be fine!

Linda was cantering Remmer in a field when he tripped and stumbled for about 20 feet trying to regain his balance. At the end he fell and pitched on his nose. Linda was knocked out for a few minutes and under his feet when he tried to get up. So she was bruised on her body and legs and got 4 broken ribs. Remmer is fine.

Thanks to speedy attendance and good care at the hospital (plus the red light - photonic therapy), she was discharged home after the second day as she was recovering quicker than expected and could now walk by herself as well as get up and down from bed.

She is at home continuing her recovery and as you know with broken ribs, it will be some weeks before she can ride again. But she is in great spirits and not much pain.

If you are planning to come to Kansas City - GREAT! You will be able to say 'Speedy Recovery' to Linda, but please remember No Hugging!

Elizabeth
on behalf of Linda & Remmer

[ChocoMare]

Mouth agape, jaw on desk.

Nevermind the Kool-Aid. What are they smoking?

[JB]

A few thoughts here:

1. IF that reply is real (can any one verify, personally, that is is? I mean really, "from a list posted from another list"?) then it's unfortunate to say the least. However, they don't advocate *not* wearing one

2. Do you see Clinton Anderson or Pony Boy or Chris Cox or Monty Roberts wearing or advocating helmets?

3. Many of the idiots who follow PNH wouldn't wear a helmet even if the Parellis did, unless perhaps it was a special PNH helmet. There are smart, sane people who ride Western who, no matter who their mentor/god is, don't wear helmets. It's part of that culture.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying, in the least, that I am apathetic to the letter (if it's even real). But honestly, I think you'd have gotten the same response from any of the others I mentioned, and probably many others at the top of their Western-discipline game as well.

[Old Mac Donald]

I think one of this issues is that they deliberately push the whole "it's OK to NOT wear a helmet!"

I don't wear one (at times), but I would NEVER tell someone to not wear one.

Clinton and Monty I bet wouldn't advocate "oh, you don't have to wear a helmet, our program keeps you safe" - and YES, I've been to Parelli's shows and own some of their dvds, and this is exactly what they will say, in front of a crowd.

"You don't have to wear a helmet, we stay safe with our savvy!" (Yeh right Linda. How's that concussion going?)

Ray Hunt, on the other hand, would tell you that if you wore one, you were one of the smart ones, and that there is no shame in wearing one - you ought to wear one!

[trubandloki]

I thought they were pompous idiots before but they just proved they are even worse than that.

Wow, scary.


I can not believe ANY trainer would specifically advocate not wearing a helmet. I can see them having a blanket statement that they think helmets are great even though they do not personally wear them. And that they always recommend people wearing them but though they have them available for those who might want them and not have their own they do not require them at their facility.

It is stupid stupid stupid to say that 'we train horses so well that helmets are not required.

[Noctis]

They truly have smoked themselves fruitbatting retarded. No horse is well trained enough to not need a helmet! Sh!t happens! *shakes head* Just reinforces how kooky it all is!

[ChocoMare]

Hmmmm, methinks a few Shark-type lawyers are gonna have a FIELD DAY with the above now, very, public statement from Parelli.