Bio of Sandra Vann

I was asked last week if my life long dream was to be a Parelli Instructor, I replied no- I am the same age as Pat Parelli so there was no Parelli Natural Horsemanship for me to know about when I was growing up.

My life long dream has been to have a horse, to play with horses, to be a partner to horses. I grew up without horses of my own but managed to always find horses to play with- I literally played hide and seek and tag with them. They were my best playmates. As an adult I was taught that horses should fear and respect you and if that wasn’t the case you probably were not using the right equipment. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend Equitana in Kentucky about 12 years ago. There I saw many clinicians and was wowed at what they could do with horses. The Parelli’s stood out from the rest.

There was something magical about the relationship between the Parelli students and their horses. I took home a vhs tape and booklet about Parelli Natural Horsemanship, I knew it was where I wanted to go in my horsemanship but I didn’t have faith that I could do the wonderful things I saw the students on the tape doing- riding bareback and without bridles, jumping barrels and catering around with their arms free in the wind!

I was 40 years old and wasn’t sure I could learn such things at that age. So I looked for different ways that looked much easier, some clinicians ran their horses around round corrals until the horse gave up and came to the humans for rest, others scared the horses so badly that when the human then offered anything to the horse it was glad to do it as long as it would not be terrified again, others rode them with tools that made them do what you wanted or rode them as punishment until the horse did the right thing. There are all kinds out there but none had the results I was looking for- a happy horse, a willing partner and a natural relationship.

So they say, everything that goes around- comes around. I made a full circle of observing “Natural Horsemanship” methods bringing me to RFDTV and there was Pat and Linda Parelli and Caton playing and cantering around an arena and probably a tour stop somewhere. One of them was dragging a tarp the others were trotting their horses and trying to get the horse to step on the moving tarp. They looked like they were having so much fun, while the horses were being desensitized and gaining confidence so were the riders. I thought if Caton can overcome all of the obstacles and challenges that were thrown at him, I should be able to do it too! That was it! I was sold! I went to a tour stop in Kissimmee and Ocala Fl, got my first Carrot Stick and halter, soon followed by the Level 1 and we have not looked back, only positive progression forward.

I am now a 2 Star Jr Parelli Professional and love introducing new students to Parelli and teaching and helping progress students along on their own Parelli Natural Horsemanship journeys.