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“I’m sorry. Who did you say it was who wants me to give a demonstration?”
“Her Majesty, The Queen.”
“Oh. (Pause.) Hey! That’s great!”
And so Pat Parelli, the world-renowned Natural Horseman, packed his Carrot Sticks, Savvy Strings and ropes, and he and his wife Linda were off to Buckingham Palace to see The Queen. Before he left, however, he was caught practicing his bow in front of the mirror prior to his November 5, 2003 royal debut.
Major Felix Wheeler, the Crown Equerry in charge of the Queen’s transport (with the exception of air or ship travel), had called to make arrangements for Pat Parelli to demonstrate his horsemanship skills for Her Majesty and the Queen’s Cavalry and the King’s Troop at the Royal Mews (the working stables at Buckingham Palace that also house State vehicles including the magnificent Gold State Coach used for coronations).
Over the past two years, Charlotte Dennis, David Stuart, Neil Pye and other Savvy Team members have presented over 50 demonstrations throughout the United Kingdom. At several demonstrations in London, members of the Kings Troop have been present. They’ve incorporated many Parelli Natural Horsemanship training techniques into their program and have actually touted the Parelli system to audiences during their performances. Even though it may not occur to us mere mortals that the King’s Troop would have challenges with their horses, they do.
Like most cultures throughout the modern world, the British too have inherited a generation disconnected from rural life; they have a number of young men in their troops who haven’t grown up with horses. And so they’ve turned to Pat Parelli and his curriculum for solutions and a plan for developing their horsemanship skills. “At our presentation at Solihull, England in October,” says Linda Parelli, “two young fellows from the Royal Mews were really inspired by what we presented. They shared their challenges about their riding and driving horses with Pat, and Pat gave them great suggestions as to how to solve their problems.
They were so excited that they took the idea of Pat coming to Buckingham Palace to Major Wheeler, the Crown Equerry.” When asked if he was nervous about presenting before The Queen, the Crown Equerry, Head of the Kings Troop, U.S. Ambassador to the UK (Will Farrish - who also owns Lanes End Farm in Lexington, Kentucky), mounted officers from the Royal Guard, officers from Scotland Yard, members of the Household Cavalry, members of the Kings Troop, and Master of the Horse Lord Vestey, Pat Parelli smiles and says, “I’ve taught my butterflies to fly in formation.
The only thing I was worried about was bowing, and then hitting The Queen when I came up.” Then he gets serious. “I usually ask myself whether something will benefit our mission statement, which is to help elevate the level of horsemanship worldwide. The answer to this situation was, of course it would. The mission is the important thing. Doing it for The Queen was a bonus.” It must have been a bonus for The Queen, too, since the planned 30 minute demonstration held Her Majesty’s attention for an hour and 15 minutes and was seen to laugh at Pat’s jokes.
It’s safe to bet that Pat’s cowboy hat stood out among the dignitaries at the High Tea hosted by the Crown Equerry preceding the presentation. It’s also safe to bet that Pat’s mother, Doris Parelli, was bursting with pride as she and Linda Parelli accompanied Pat that day. Prior to High Tea, the three of them were given a tour of the Royal Coaches, including the Gold State Coach, the remarkably ornate coach built for King George III, now housed in the Royal Mews. “It was unbelievably beautiful!” says Linda, adding that Pat played the Porcupine Game (Game #2 of the Savvy System) on one of the fabricated horses hitched to the coach. “The insurance premium to take the coach out only one time,” Pat adds, “is two million dollars. They even have to dismantle part of the building to get it out. It was incredible.” Now it’s time to go to the riding hall, added in 1764 by King George III when he changed the name of the stables to the Royal Mews Pimlico. For most of the year the Royal Mews stables are home to the working horses that play an important role in The Queen's official and ceremonial duties. The horses are mainly Cleveland Bays, the only British breed of carriage horse, and the Windsor Greys, which by tradition always draw the carriage in which The Queen is travelling.
When asked where she wanted to sit, Linda (rarely known to be shy) replied, “Right behind the Queen! I can’t sit in front of her — all the people in charge were in the front row. So if I sat behind her, I could answer any questions she might have.
“We all stood when Her Majesty came in, and she smiled her gracious, regal smile. Pat took off his hat, and believe it or not, Pat winked at her! When I asked him later if he realized that he had winked at her, he said, ‘Yeah, and did you notice that she winked back?’
After we all sat down, the Crown Equerry gave a little speech about our presentation and why communication and psychology with horses was so important. Pat followed with an opening commentary about what an honor is was to be there, that he wanted to present his program with his students, and that this was really about what we teach people to do with their own horses.” “It was a really short speech,” says Pat, “about 30 or 40 seconds. Maybe the shortest speech I’ve ever made.”
Neil Pye, Dean of the Parelli International Savvy Centres, then introduced the Savvy Team: “Her Majesty and Distinguished Guests...” How many times can you actually use that phrase in a lifetime? Neil smiles and says, “That’s exactly what I told my mother.” Neil went on to introduce the Savvy Team and the concepts of the Parelli program.
Even though Pat Parelli has been deemed “the Mick Jagger of the equestrian world” because of how he captivates and entertains an audience, his foremost thought is: “This isn’t about what I can do with horses, this is about what I can teach others to do with their horses.” In accordance with that philosophy, Pat had three of his students, Charlotte Dennis (UK), Silke Vallentin (Germany) and Ingela Sainsbury (UK), perform for The Queen before he made his appearance. “I wanted The Queen to see our ‘wow’ factor before I came on to demonstrate the ‘how’ part.” And a “wow” it was. One of the students, Silke Vallentin, was in a motorized wheelchair, her “legs” for the past 19 years since an automobile accident. Silke’s demonstration for Her Majesty caused The Queen’s eyes to widen in awe as Silke merely pointed to the horse trailer and her Friesian loped in — no halter, no lead rope. Ingela and Charlotte earned smiles from Her Majesty as they rode bridleless with fluidity and grace. “Because I was sitting behind the Queen,” Linda adds, “I could watch her body language.
At first she was sitting very primly, crossing and uncrossing her feet. And then Charlotte started doing some things at liberty, cantering alongside the horse, standing still and giving the merest hint to change gait, and The Queen leaned forward, captivated. Her Majesty was riveted from then on!
Another thing that truly captured her attention was when the Crown Equerry mentioned that we have an accredited horsemanship university. The Queen then leaned over to Ambassador Farrish and said, ‘Really!’
“I cried during the presentation, I have to admit,” continues Linda. “I was listening to the gasps in the audience during the performance, and I just couldn’t help myself. I think the liberty demonstrations really took these people by surprise. When Silke came on, she did a short presentation at liberty from her motorized wheelchair, and then sent the horse into the trailer on-line at the trot. Then she sent the horse into the trailer at liberty and then backed him in. Everyone, including The Queen, just about fell off their chairs! One of the dignitaries had been talking to me about trailer loading problems they’d been having, and I nudged him and said, ‘Would that be good enough?’ He looked at me with amazement and said, ‘I’ve never seen anything like that!’ Ambassador Farrish chimed in with, ‘Oh yes, Pat’s been playing with my stallion in Kentucky and doing all these things; isn’t it remarkable?’”
So what horses did The Queen have for Pat to play with? They provided a horse for Pat that was, according to The Queen, “quite dotty, really.” (Pat adds, “The Queen is quite a horsewoman; she really knows her horses.”) This particular horse was an Irish Draft/Thoroughbred cross (mostly Irish Draft and huge, according to Linda, adding that the horse made Pat look like a midget next to him). “This horse was really wired,” says Linda. “They said this horse spooked at everything and was unpredictable.” Pat had tarps and other challenges laid out, and initially the horse wouldn’t even go near them. He started playing with the horse, talking about his philosophy of love, language and leadership, and “doing his magic,” as many say. Quickly the horse relaxed and gained respect for Pat. “Pat was doing his Three Stooges thing around the horse during the Friendly Game,” Linda chuckles, “and at first the Queen could hardly believe what she was seeing, but then broke into laughter.
When Pat got a horse in his hands, he just started talking like he always does, about prey/predator relationships, telling his stories, talking about how horses are husbands — you need to leave them alone at the right time. The Queen really laughed at that joke.” “I started off by just throwing the lead rope over the horse’s back,” comments Pat. “This horse took off like a bullet backwards all the way down to the other end of the arena. He wouldn’t even let me get close to putting that rope over his back. I just kept playing with him as I brought him back to the other side of the arena. I sensed the horse thinking, ‘that didn’t work,’ and let him rest for a second. Then I saw the shift in attitude, and asked the audience if they saw the change in the horse. Then I proceeded to put the rope, bloop, over his back three times. “I did the desensitizing thing with the horse, too, asking the audience to clap and then stop when the horse relaxed and put his head down. Even the Queen participated, clapping along with everyone else! I don’t think The Queen is ever supposed to clap or applaud, but she did, even when I said, ‘give this person or this horse a hand.’
“I talked a lot about horse psychology, and about how even Olympic rider Andrew Hoy (Australian Three-day Eventer) had to stand on a box to bridle his horse and how I was able to bridle the same horse from sitting in a chair after I played the Seven Games with him.” “As he was telling about Andrew Hoy’s horse, Pat was sitting in a chair, using his hands to describe the story,” Linda remembers. “Then The Queen’s horse just went left brained and put his head on Pat’s shoulder. Pat just continued talking, stroking the horse’s head! This horse’s behavior was just the opposite of what we had first seen. People were so impressed! Pat decided to end the performance there. He said he knew the Queen needed to leave, and that there would be a break before continuing with the rest of the presentation. But the Queen was so riveted by what she had seen that she stayed.” “Her Majesty was supposed to stay 30 minutes to be polite, 45 minutes maximum. But she stayed an hour and 15 minutes,” proclaims Pat. “I think we made an impression, and I think she would have stayed even longer if she could have. But it was the perfect demo, and I think we’ll be invited back.”
After The Queen left, two other horses were brought out — one that couldn’t be clipped and one that couldn’t be mounted. Pat played with the one that couldn’t be clipped while Dave Stuart (Chief Instructor to the UK), played with the other horse. Of course Pat was able to quietly clip the horse in a matter of minutes. Not only did Dave get on the horse’s back without incident, but actually stood on the horse’s back. For those of us who have seen Pat and his top Instructors before, we are not surprised by the success of the moment.
But for this audience, now in awe, it was unprecedented. Just what does one give to the Queen as a gift? “Before the Queen left,” says Neil Pye, “Pat introduced Linda and Pat’s mother to her. Pat gave Her Majesty the pictorial book about Pat and Linda, “Keepin’ It Natural.” As Pat inscribed the book, he whispered to Linda, ‘How do you spell majesty?’ and then signed his name. He passed the book to Linda for her autograph. Linda dashed off her signature, at which time The Queen said to Linda, ‘My dear, is that how you always write?’” Neil laughs and says, “Pat can’t do cat scratch handwriting, and here the Queen was commenting on Linda’s signature (she usually has great penmanship), which now in the Queen’s book consists of an L, a streak, a P, and another streak.” Linda is now roaring with laughter. “The Queen launched at me when I signed my name. And Neil’s right, she said, ‘Is that how you always write?’ I quickly reponded, ‘Oh, only those words.’
What was Pat’s fondest memory of this historic event?
“Probably watching my mom and the fulfillment she got from it. “For Linda and me, it was a huge feather in our cap. It was almost surreal, like in a dream. Now we realize the magnitude of the event, and the possibilities of what can come in the future. I remember a quote from being a kid in Bible studies, something like, ‘If you master your trade, you will perform in front of kings.’ I never thought I’d be able to help fulfill our mission statement by performing for The Queen, but we did. If you can achieve something with excellence, then even kings and queens will take notice. So perhaps there is a perfect order of things.”
And Linda’s highlight?
“It’s now, realizing what we’ve accomplished. Being there was really cool, but it’s the looking back and understanding the significance of what we’ve done that’s important. It was a huge honor. Sitting behind The Queen was fantastic, watching her watch Pat. It was really a treat to watch Her Majesty’s reactions. Oh, and I have to add that Pat was even politically correct!” And The Queen’s parting comment to Pat Parelli? “I would have loved to have done this years ago when I was younger and had the time. Thank you ever so much”.
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