by Pat Parelli, Kathy Swan
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Product Description
This book chronicles the first fifty years of Pat Parelli's life. From a kid growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area suburbs watching television Westerns to becoming a young bronc rider, and from a typical horse trainer trying to make a living to an internationally renowned figure who has helped hundreds of thousands of people develop a partnership with horses, he has made a long and rewarding journey.
In his book, Pat describes the early experiences that shaped his life and reverently talks about the mentors who've influenced his thinking and helped him become a horseman. He details the struggles he's had to overcome on the long road to success, and explains how he created an unparalleled program to help other people accomplish their goals with horses. Along the way, he fondly portrays the special horses who've helped him grow into the extraordinary horseman he has become. Also, readers gets a glimpse into the future with Pat's vision of where he thinks horsemanship is headed.
Pat is famous for his riveting way of making a point through the moral of a story. This book contains hundreds of his stories, from his earliest remembrances to the fabulous experiences and opportunities he has enjoyed in the last decade. As a bonus filtered throughout the chapters, readers are treated to People's Perspectives on Pat--anecdotes in which Pat's many friends, all well-known and respected in their fields, tell stories about him.
Having been able to break through the discipline barrier, Pat has touched every aspect of the horse world--English, western, racing, all breeds and activities. It's been his passion to share his hard-learned knowledge with everyone who seeks excellence with horses. His dream and life's work unfold on the pages of this book.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Fact-filled, but frustrating, 2008-11-14
This book is full of fascinating information, for those willing to go digging for it. Motivated readers will learn:
* Parelli's unique use of the word savvy came from a mildly violent lesson taught by his father.
* The Parelli study kits were inspired by first wife Karen's home-schooling their kids during endless travelling.
* The levels in the Parelli system occurred to Pat while he was studying martial arts with Tony Ernst (alias Kung Fu Tony).
* Tack sales took off after a student showed up at a May 1986 Yucca Valley clinic with a unique lead rope. Parelli researched the rope manufacturer and started making his halters and lead ropes out of the high quality yachting braid.
* Liberty training, Parelli's unique emphasis on ground work without physical restraint, originated from a chance meeting with Swiss circus trainer Fredy Knie
I found the book fun and interesting, but also frustrating. The chapters are laid out like magazine articles. Although the book begins with Parelli as a child and ends at the time writing was completed, the chapters are organized more by theme than chronology. Readers trying to construct a mental timeline will spend a lot of time skipping back and forth. The number of names and lack of an index exacerbates the problem.
Zero to Hero is written as a first person autobiography, but it seems more like an authorized biography, written by an admiring Kathy Swan with the cooperation of Pat and Linda Parelli. A writer for Western Horseman, Swan co-wrote Natural Horsemanship, Parelli's first book, 15 years earlier. She makes no secret that she is a fan. The book also includes more than a dozen first person inserts of Parelli admirers, from legendary trainer Ray Hunt to champions of rodeo and the Olympics.
Reading Parelli's story, it's easy to see why he is respected. Parelli's life represents the intersection of enormous talent and ambition with enormous opportunity. Parelli was a horse-crazy kid growing up in the midst of a thriving horse industry. By the time he was in junior high he was already getting paid to exercise horses, start colts, and help at shows. His rodeo career started when friends at his agricultural high school introduced him to the challenge of riding a "bucking barrel." He wouldn't rest until he had bested all his friends. He went on to acquire a mentor, train diligently, and enter as many rodeos as he could. In 1972 was named West Coast bareback rookie of the year.
For the next eight years Parelli pursued horse training and bareback riding at the same time. He did a seven year stretch of rodeos without a single fall, rode 98% of his horses to the buzzer, and rode horses that had never been ridden. At the same time he worked long hours as a trainer, first for a high-volume horse dealer who demanded rapid results, then for Troy Henry, who mentored him in more advanced training for competitive cutting and reigning. Henry pushed Parelli to grow from a mechanic to a horseman.
In 1979 Parelli won fame doing a bridleless reigning demonstration at the NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity. A year later he was dragged and trampled in a Las Vegas rodeo when his bareback rigging slipped. He had an epiphany and decided to concentrate on horse training.
By that time Parelli had already trained more horses than most horse folk would touch in a lifetime. In spite of that he struggled to find a way to make a living on his own. He found some success by arranging to start colts for 30 local trainers. By that time he had impressed Dr. Robert Miller enough to get his techniques featured in Western Horseman magazine. His association with Miller opened more doors, and Miller helped him organize and promote his first successful clinics. In 1985 he recorded his first video.
One of the biggest criticisms I hear about Parelli is about money -- the training tools, the tack, the DVDs, the seminar prices, etc. It gave me a new perspective to realize that he pushed himself to the limit (and perhaps past it, in the case of his first marriage) for 20 years before his efforts began to pay off in more than subsistence income.
In 1987 Parelli made his first trip to Australia with Miller and Bob Berg and netted $100 for the entire group. He went back anyway, drawing audiences with the challenge that he would pay $500 to anyone who could bring him a horse he couldn't ride. During his 1989 visit he met Linda, who promoted his Australian visits for the next three years. Somewhere between that 1989 meeting and their 1998 wedding, Parelli ended his first marriage to Karen Rivers. Zero to Hero provides no details. I suspect some future biographer will overcompensate for that shortcoming.
For his part, Parelli has nothing negative to say about Karen, and insists that she has now found happiness as he has. Karen is to be admired for keeping such a low profile - she endured the rodeo and clinic travel years, living out of a gooseneck trailer or staying home with the kids, never knowing if there would be money to pay the bills. Then just as the kids were grown she stepped aside to watch the new trophy wife enjoy the fame and fortune she suffered so much to make possible.
Parelli has somehow developed a rabid camp of detractors, particularly among the British dressage community. Do a web search on Parelli and dressage and you'll find forum threads that go on page after page, lavishly vilifying Pat and Linda for everything from the tack they sell to the way they talk. It's a curious phenomenon that isn't mentioned in the book. Neither is there any hint of the current emphasis on "horsenality," bits, and patterns - developments all too recent for the date of publication.
Raise Your Hand if You Love Horses is a factual, if uncritical, account of how Pat Parelli rose to international fame. Parelli followers and anyone interested in the modern horse clinician trend will find it a very interesting read.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
raise your hand if you love horses, 2008-04-12
i am a big fan of pat parelli.i enjoy most everything i've read from him and his wife linda.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 Loved it!, 2008-02-08
I'm a Parelli student, and have been for many years now. I really enjoyed reading this book and learning the in-depth story behind Pat and his journey to *now*. You get a sense of his life when he chats during his demos and seminars, but this book, with pictures, really helped me understand the chronology of his life and experiences. It's a quick read, and for anyone involved in natural horsemanship, and Parelli specifically, I think this is an interesting and fun book.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Zero to Hero, 2006-10-28
Very interesting reading, especially if you've ever attended a Pat Parelli
savvy clinic, or are familiar with his work. He basically trains people in
horsemanship as opposed to training horses. The book describes in interesting fashion how he got to where he is today. More informative
than educational. Would recommend if you're already a Parelli fan.
0 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Raise your hand if you love horses., 2005-10-24
I have followed the Parelli training methods for a couple years, so this book was interesting.
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