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Nancy Slater is a Parelli Professional who has dedicated her life to making the world a better place for horses and the people who love them. Her self-less passion for educating kids as well as demonstrating how a real partnership with your horse can lead to competitive success is what makes Nancy stand out. We could not be more proud to be represented by Nancy as she helps us to teach horse riders, trainers and owners to use love, language and leadership to reach their goals with horses. Thank you Nancy!
Pat and Linda Parelli
me, (zone 1), which released all pressure if he tried to follow. 2 ½ hours passed, with Linda continuously coaching me! Josh pinned his ears when I was too threatening, swished his tail if I flicked too hard, and tried to find his way out of this new situation. He tried hard to not move his feet, and soon I had to be very quick with my timing, because allowing him to stand would be a release.
Linda saying, “Now! NOW! Don't miss it!” Then finally, Josh put his head down, blew out, ears came up, and he almost touched me as I walked past him towards zone 5. This being a huge positive change, I walked directly to the rail at Linda's cue and ignored him to talk with Linda as Josh came down off adrenaline - yes, he barely moved but he was full of adrenaline. 10 feet away he licked and chewed with lots of tongue (unusual for him), cocked his foot, yawned and yawned, inched closer, reached out to chew the fence in displaced behavior, nudged me, tickled me on the cheek with his whiskers (!), got his head between me and Linda, THEN, he pushed his big-ol- head heavily into my arms against my body! He'd never done that before. The feeling of connection was so strong… Josh was HAPPY. My goal became to improve upon my newfound communication skills. I have to say, the feeling was intoxicating when my unconfident mule said, “Hey, pay attention to me! The best was yet to come...
positive change, I walked directly to the rail at Linda's cue and ignored him to talk with Linda as Josh came down off adrenaline - yes, he barely moved but he was full of adrenaline. 10 feet away he licked and chewed with lots of tongue (unusual for him), cocked his foot, yawned and yawned, inched closer, reached out to chew the fence in displaced behavior, nudged me, tickled me on the cheek with his whiskers (!), got his head between me and Linda, THEN, he pushed his big-ol- head heavily into my arms against my body! He'd never done that before. The feeling of connection was so strong, Josh was HAPPY. My goal became to improve upon my newfound communication skills.
I have to say, the feeling was intoxicating when my unconfident mule said, “Hey, pay attention to me! The best was yet to come...
Look for Part II in the April 2019 issue of Sport and Trail Magazine!
Linda Parelli with Josh the Mule
Photography by Lyndsey Fitch