# Peter Campbell - RIP



## kewpalace

Just saw on his FB page, a post by his wife that said Peter died yesterday (3/22/17). No other details were given.

So sorry for his family's loss.


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## tinyliny

I'm sorry. while the name sounds familiar, I am not sure who he was. would you explain?


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## DanisMom

I just googled him. He is a trainer/clinician and was scheduled to give a clinic a few minutes from me next month. Although I don't know much about him I'm sorry to hear of his passing and I feel bad for his family.


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## kewpalace

tinyliny said:


> I am not sure who he was. would you explain?


 Peter Campbell was a natural horsemanship trainer who based his methods on Ray Hunt's method. He was a frequent/regular contributor to Eclectic Horseman magazine. I audited a clinic of his quite a few years ago in Tehachapi; I did not really care for him. But, as with many trainers, many people got a lot from him and he was pretty popular in the natural horsemanship world. I am sorry for his student's loss, too, and hope they can continue to find inspiration from other trainers.


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## jenkat86

What!? That's definitely unexpected. Seemed to really be in his prime- professionally.


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## kewpalace

@jenkat86, yea totally unexpected. I'm anxious to hear what happened. Someone I know who used to ride with Peter said he died at a clinic, but his website shows no clinic last weekend. It could have been a private clinic. Don't know if it was horse related or not. He seemed to be in good shape, but you never know. Just feel bad for his family & students/clients. He was not that old, I don't think ...


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## colleejoe

There is nobody that can carry the Tom Dorrance message as well as Peter Campbell did. He was the only one that tried to teach Tom's methods without watering it down or making it into something commercial. I have been riding with Peter for 13 years and I have slowly learned the difference between what he teaches and what everybody else does. Its apples, oranges and pineapples. But its like anything else, the more you learn, the more you realize that you dont know ****. 

Peter was about 52 years old and was in excellent health. We still dont know how he died but he was not at a clinic. He had just left a clinic in Kentucky a few days prior. That clinic never got listed on his schedule. 

Colleejoe


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## colleejoe

Also, Peter did not like to be considered a "natural horsemanship trainer". Those words made him bristle. He always said that he didnt know the first thing about "training a horse". He believed in getting a horse ready to do a maneuver and then the horse takes care of the rest. And he always said there is nothing natural about strapping a piece of cow hide on the back of a horse and climbing on top of them.



-colleejoe


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## kewpalace

colleejoe said:


> Peter was about 52 years old and was in excellent health. We still dont know how he died but he was not at a clinic.


Thank you for the info @colleejoe.



colleejoe said:


> Also, Peter did not like to be considered a "natural horsemanship trainer".


Most of the better horsemen don't like to be called a "natural horsemanship trainer". For the people who do not know who he was, it was a an "easy" way to explain what he did. Thanks for the added information for those who had not heard of him.


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## tinyliny

As soon as you mentioned "Ecclectic Horseman" magazine, I remembered where I'd heard his name before. I have dozens of copies of that magazine, so I ll go back and read what he's written.


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## QHriderKE

I am facebook friends with Peters brother, met him on New Years... I was a little confused by the caption of a picture he uploaded, and then saw the news posted on Peters page. 

It was so sudden and unexpected. He helped and touched so many people through his life's work preserving the vaquero tradition, may he rest in peace.


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## Hoofpic

This is very sad, I went to his clinic last Spring in 2016 and it was my first real clinic that I attended. Even though I only went for 2 days, I learned a lot from him as a horseman. Very strong but blunt character, who intimated many there.

He was a real leader with horses.


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## ponygurl51

Thank you for being kind, even though Peter was not your "cup of tea". I met him last year for the first time, and absolutely adored Peter.


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## ponygurl51

"Very strong but blunt character, who intimated many there."

I spent 4 days riding with Peter last year at my first clinic. He was certainly no baker, he didn't sugar anything. I don't think with horses you can. He was one of the kindest people I've ever met, and truly genuine. At my clinic, I watched many people blame or look for flaws in Peter, vs looking at themselves. I think that's what I respected the most about him, he told it like it was, and you could take his hand, and learn, or keep doing what you were doing, and getting what you were getting. Many decided to keep getting what they were getting. It was really sad to watch. 

Thank you for your kind words.


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## Hoofpic

ponygurl51 said:


> "Very strong but blunt character, who intimated many there."
> 
> I spent 4 days riding with Peter last year at my first clinic. He was certainly no baker, he didn't sugar anything. I don't think with horses you can. He was one of the kindest people I've ever met, and truly genuine. At my clinic, I watched many people blame or look for flaws in Peter, vs looking at themselves. I think that's what I respected the most about him, he told it like it was, and you could take his hand, and learn, or keep doing what you were doing, and getting what you were getting. Many decided to keep getting what they were getting. It was really sad to watch.
> 
> Thank you for your kind words.


I felt the same as well. Many (at the clinic) I audited, I could tell were too intimated by him and couldn't take his bluntness. 

He isnt' the showstopper that Parelli is, he has a very dry sense of humour (but it also doesn't mean that he doesn't have a sense of humour at all), and he's a no BS, straight to the facts, says it as is kinda guy.


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## Smilie

Never met the man, but he used to be around our area, and my friend had several horses started by him,way back when
Sorry to hear of his sudden passing


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