Pat Parelli

Pat Parelli (born 1954) is an American horse trainer who practices natural horsemanship and founded the Parelli Natural Horsemanship program.

Early life and career Parelli was born in 1954 in Livermore, California. As a child, he worked as a stablehand for nearby horse facilities. He competed in rodeo during high school and then graduated from Fresno State University with a degree in agricultural education.

Personal life Parelli's first wife was Karen, and the couple had a son and a daughter. Their daughter was named Marlene. Karen was a co-author for Parelli's first book, Natural Horse-Man-Ship. Karen and Pat divorced; Karen remarried a man named Jim Hagen, and today the Hagens run a horsemanship program in California called Natural Hoofprints.

Parelli's second wife (now divorced) is Linda Parelli(née Paterson, born in 1958). She was born in Singapore and grew up in Australia. She met Parelli in Australia in 1989 while he was still married to Karen, after seeing his videos in a tack store. She helped coordinate and promote Pat's clinics in Australia and came to America in 1992. It is the second marriage for both. Since 1996, Parelli has been headquartered in Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

Linda Parelli Linda moved to Australia when she was a child, and soon convinced her parents to buy her a horse, and then two. When she was young, she competed in Pony Club and gymkhana. As an adult, she trained as an esthetician and became the education director for an Australian skin-care company. Wanting to return to having horses in her life, she bought a Thoroughbred horse with a goal of competing in eventing, but because the horse was very difficult to handle, she attempted to use dressage methods for training, even though she considered dressage “the most boring thing possible.” Unsuccessful with that methodology, she attended a Parelli clinic, as she had been impressed with his videos demonstrating bridleless riding, and found success with her horse using Parelli's methods. In turn, her skills in marketing and education turned around the Parelli program financially. He is also credited as the founder of his own program, Parelli Natural Horsemanship, although his former spouse, Karen Parelli Hagen, has stated that she worked with Parelli in creating the original program.

Famous Quotes "People usually don’t take the time to do things right, but take the time to do it wrong over and over again."