At 09:58:23 on 29.01.10, PonyPower wrote:
Yes its true. Here is Jame's blog from the Shareparelli website: "Hi Everyone, Last year, myself and Rob Mcauliffe were given a difficult horse owned by Rob Whitaker to start. She was a mare bred out of John Whitakers top stallion, Gem of India. Jewel had been tried by several people to be started without success. She was a big challenge, but we took over, and after a period at Stoneliegh with Rob, she came to the JRFS to have her start finished, and a foundation programme started. She stayed with me for another 7 months before she went back to the Whitakers. Myself and Vicky put a foundation on her, and as you can imagine, she won a huge place in our hearts, and there were some tears when she left , as she had become part of my team of horses, and one of the family! Well, Rob Whitaker called me a couple of days ago to let me know how she was going! She has been perfect for them, and they still cannot believe how different she is. He also informed me they think she has the talent to be one of their super horses. She has shown huge ability over a fence, and very forward thinking. They are very excited about her future. Next week, I make the trip to Yorkshire to give Rob a weekend of coaching with another one of his top horses, and we have now developed a relationship to start more young horses for them." Interesting don't you think!!!

At 11:33:50 on 29.01.10, plodalong wrote:
thanks for sharing that news Ponypower, and well done to the whitakers for thinking outside the box.

At 11:41:52 on 29.01.10, PonyPower wrote:
Ahh...possibly missing some info. James Roberts was once a farrier. He learnt of Parelli when having to deal with horses that are difficult to shoe. Now he is a full-time Parelli instructor with a Foundation Station in Wiltshire. He runs courses all year round and takes in horses for starting...in fact its nigh on impossible to get him out of his place...not even with a crow bar (I've tried).

At 15:09:23 on 05.02.10, Flicka wrote:
Now that's what I call 'intelligent horsemanship'!! It takes really confident, good horsemen which the Whitakers are to see that horsemanship is horsemanship however it is dressed up and if someone has something to teach you then learn it!!

At 17:42:59 on 05.02.10, plodalong wrote:
at the risk of sounding evangelical. its another case of normal ways not working .lets try somthing different, well done again to the whitackers.

At 22:51:21 on 05.02.10, PonyPower wrote:
I find it interesting that a horse bred by the Whittakers..who must know what they are doing with bloodlines, temprament and conformation; bred a perfect horse which was unable to be backed by several unamed and most likely "traditional" horsemen/women. I do suspect they turned to Parelli as a last resort...like most people...when all the usual routes fail...try the unusual.. PS...someone thought they would give me a 1960's copy of a guide to keeping your horse...guess what I have done with it!!!!

At 12:39:20 on 06.02.10, Flicka wrote:
I think horses have a lot to teach us and good horsemen never lose the capacity to keep learning. Some people can go for years with fairly straightforward horses and they are successful and then along comes a really quirky horse who is there to widen their horizons as long as they are not afraid to have an open mind. Just over a year ago I went to a clinic with Kathleen Lindley and she appealed to me because she had been successfully competing in show jumping and working hunter classes and teaching others. However she got a new horse she just couldn't work out and a friend suggested she take him to a Mark Rashid clinic that was coming up. She said she went there thinking it was a waste of time and was so blown away by the changes he made to her horse, and his way of looking at things that she ended up studying with him for years.

At 17:47:23 on 07.02.10, PonyPower wrote:
He he you've got it Flicka...how many times do we think we are stuck in a rut, only to find the rut is of our own making becuase we have failed to make a subtle change to the way we do things that will bounce us out of that rut and back on track.