The Horse Tamer Series Blog – Episode 4: Leslie & Solo Tu

“When horses are very well-bred and very well-fed but under-exercised mentally, emotionally and physically, this is when you get behavioral cancers.”  Pat Parelli  

Anyone who loves horses starts by dreaming a dream – a dream of riding into the sunset or winning ribbons or climbing mountains together.  For many, this dream quickly fades into a nightmare.  

But here at Parelli Natural Horsemanship, we aim to find out why this is happening and help horse owners learn how to fix it.  No one should have to give up on their dream, but so many do because of what Pat Parelli calls the 5 F’s: Fear, Frustration, Feeling like a Failure, lack of Fun therefore lack of Funds. 

Thankfully in this episode of The Horse Tamer series, Leslie didn’t give up; she reached out. 

And what she received in return was hope and empowerment.  

In September of 2024, Pat Parelli released his expertise to an even broader audience with the launch of The Horse Tamer, a series now streaming on Tubi, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV+. In this captivating 8-episode season, Parelli works one-on-one with horse owners facing significant behavioral challenges, offering insights and techniques that highlight his four-decade commitment to building love, language, and leadership between horse and rider.

Each episode in The Horse Tamer introduces a unique partnership in need of Pat’s guidance.  Over the next few weeks we’ll be introducing you to our cast and crew, the special horses, owners and trainers who make up the beloved characters in this one-of-a-kind equestrian series.  

Episode 4 brings us the story of Leslie and Solo Tu, a high energy, playful 6 year old mare who developed nervous habits like pacing, pawing at the ground, kicking her trailer, and bucking while in training.  Now she has become so jumpy and unpredictable that riding is out of the question. 

Pat explains it this way – when horses are very well-bred and very well-fed but under-exercised mentally, emotionally and physically, this is when you get behavioral cancers.  And behavioral cancer reveals itself in a variety of ways: some horses kick, some horses buck, some horses pull-back, and some horses kick the trailer.  

We begin re-programming this by looking for functional and dysfunctional behavior and by rewarding curiosity and connection.  Connection is King.  We want horses to be Confident - Curious - Sensitive - Responsive.  Everything starts in the heart, goes through the mind, to the body, down the legs and to the feet. 

The opposite of this connection and understanding is a horse reacting to her training out of fear.  A horse who is afraid has altered chemistry and is functioning on adrenaline and cortisone – this is when horses get dangerous, and Solo Tu is the perfect example of this.  

Part of our job as horsemen is to help horses understand pressure and realize that it’s not a bad thing; it’s a part of everyday life.  Responding appropriately to pressure is the Parelli definition of respect.  And how do we teach this to horses?  By using body language and long body logic, which are natural for horses.  We also teach skills such as backing up and going sideways so that we have a language to communicate a variety of requests to our horses.  And to top it all off, through all of this, we ask our horses to stay connected to us.  

Once our horses are yielding appropriately – with connection – then we can apply these skills to real-life situations like the trailer.  After playing a variety of other games with Solo Tu, Pat meanders over to the trailer and very quickly shares an important truth – it’s not about the trailer.  It’s about her trust in her human and her confidence in herself.  

As Pat reveals here with Solo Tu, it’s imperative that we learn to play with our horse’s nature.  It’s more natural and typical for humans to want to control, micromanage and dictate to our horses.  Instead, to win our horse’s trust and build connection, we learn to become the Ambassador of Yes vs. the Minister of No.  We can stay safe, have fun and re-program dysfunctional behavior by learning how to play with our horse’s nature on the ground first.  As you’ll see in this episode, with the right ingredients and an appropriate response to pressure, both Pat and Leslie were able to successfully trailer load Solo Tu.  

To sum it all up, Natural Horsemanship is natural for horses. The Parelli Program helps humans understand how horses feel, think, act, and play using communication, understanding and psychology.  Natural Horsemanship was born using love, language and leadership in equal doses, and Parelli Natural Horsemanship is first and foremost a people training program. 

So share with your family and friends, whether they are horse owners, horse lovers or just looking for a good TV program.  This is clean, kid and animal friendly, edu-tainment at its finest.  Gather your two legged and four legged family close and settle in for some great Horse TV, now streaming live for free on Tubi and and also available on Amazon Prime and Apple TV+!

And, if you’re a horse lover who has given up on your dream, maybe today is the perfect time to take that first step back to living your best horse life through the Parelli Program.