Page 40 - ST November 2013

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“That’s why I feel my role is so important. If we can “I was a bit alarmed at the sound of that, so I said,

show that there are good horsemen all over the world ‘Now, let’s think on this for a minute. I don’t really
who are treating their animals with respect and know the geography here, but Death Valley does

dignity, that horses under their care truly enjoy their not sound like the most inviting place. Perhaps we

lives, then hopefully we can prove to the world – par- should reconsider.’
ticularly the groups that would outlaw horse owner- “‘Oh no, it’s ine,’ Pat said. ‘I mean, yeah, it gets a

ship – that our lives are enriched by horses, and visa little warm, but if we cut through there, we’ll save an

versa. We don’t want the world to lose that wonderful entire day on the trip!’
interaction between horse and human.”
“So we start traveling toward the valley. It’s about

It goes without saying that Neil is more than quali- 400 feet below sea level, so to get down there, you

ied for this role. He was among the irst four Parelli descend and descend and descend. And meanwhile,
Professionals chosen by Pat Parelli in the early it’s getting hotter and hotter. Suddenly the motor

1990s, and his background as a successful business- home starts shaking a little, and I asked Pat if every-

man allows him to open up a dialogue with a wide thing was alright up there.
range of people (“maybe it’s my accent,” he ofers). “‘Oh yeah, everything’s ine,’ he said. ‘It’s just the

And he certainly has spent plenty of time with Pat brakes overheating a little.’

over the years.
“Remember, we’ve got a full horse trailer barreling
Now, we could probably ill an entire magazine down behind us on this dusty, winding road. And it

just with Neil’s recollections of life on the road in the turns out the brakes weren’t overheating; they were

early days with Pat and Linda. (Ed. Note: Don’t think completely gone. So Pat ended up having to run the
we haven’t considered it). But for the sake of brevity, side of the motor home into the dirt bank just to slow

let’s focus on two: the aforementioned Death Valley us down. Of course, he was yelling, ‘Everything’s

trip, and the Parelli performance for Her Majesty, ine!’ the entire time, as both sides of the motor home
the Queen at Buckingham Palace, which took place are scraping along the bank.

10 years ago this month.
“Finally, we make it to the bottom, and by this

point it’s not just the brakes - the motor is starting
Bishop Mule Days & Death Valley
to pack it in as well. Pat said, ‘We’re gonna have to

“We were driving around the Southwest - Pat, lighten the load.’

Linda, myself, and my wife at the time,” says Neil. “So we got out, took the horses out of the trailer – I
“We were in this beat-up motor home, towing a had a couple, Linda had a couple – and Pat started

trailer behind us with the horses and the dogs. It was slowly driving the motor home along with us, and it’s

like a band; we felt like The Beatles in Hamburg – making this awful ‘chug-chug-chug’ sound. In Death
throw the equipment in the back, drive to the next Valley, mind you.

show, set up, perform, tear down, and head of to the “Eventually, it started sounding a bit better, so we

next show. Sleep in the van, and so on.
quickly loaded the horses back into the trailer, and
“Anyway, one day Pat announced that we needed jumped into the motor home and headed of. And we

to get to Bishop Mule Days, a huge mule fair in Cali- did in fact make it to Bishop Mule Days. just as the

fornia. We were a ways away, and Pat said, ‘We’re last trailer was pulling out. We’d missed the whole
running late, so the only way we’re going to make it thing.”

is if we cut through Death Valley.’
Her Majesty, the Queen

“It was September 2003, and the folks that were

managing our brand in England at the time received
a call from someone very important. They said, ‘The

Queen’s birthday is coming up, and we’d like to invite

Pat and Linda to do a private demo for her. But don’t
tell anyone!’

“We accepted the invitation, of course, but logis-

tically, there was a lot to get sorted out in a short

38 | Savvy Times November 2013