NEC BIRMINGHAM

4th & 5th August 2007

They called it the largest "International Natural Horsemanship Celebration" and they weren't wrong.

FRIDAY
Adrenaline mounting Dawn Amour and Julia Bye arrive at my house and at 6.30pm we set off for Birmingham and our hotel "The Travel Lodge". Chatting away during the entire journey we miss our turn off and we travelled another 10 miles before we realised despite having Sat Nav.

We do a U-Turn and finally arrive at our accommodation. Hoppy, Catherine, Carole and Sue (Carole's sister) have already arrived and come down to our room for a good old natter.

It was while chatting that Hoppy took out the tickets she had that I suddenly realised.. I've forgot my ticket. OH NO!!! The others think I'm kidding but I'm not I've really forgot my ticket. I blame Carole saying its because she reminded me to bring my passport, so I was concentrating on that instead of my ticket. I had to blame someone LOL.
I phoned Brian who was in London and he said he'd collect my ticket from the house and bring it up for me. The gutted feeling in the pit of my stomach was replaced by rumbling reminding me I was hungry, so time to eat.We head off to McDonalds or was it Burger King? Anyways grub in hand I head off for a coffee, turn around and the group has disappeared. Catherine finds me and soon we are all munching away. "Hey Catherine! Did you scoff all the onion rings". Says Hoppy "Oop's" says Catherine..

Suddenly we realise all the chairs had been tidied and the staff seemed to be just waiting for us to leave to close shop.
We get up and go. after all we'd finished eating and were just gossiping. Brian turns up with a smile on his face and gives me my ticket. Phew! I am so grateful to Brian for doing this as he himself is shattered. Brian stays for 5 minutes then heads off back home. It's guesters like this that mean so much which is one of the many reasons why I love him so much.

SATURDAY
The talking stopped at 12.30am but I didn't fall asleep until 2am. Julia's phone alarm goes off at 5.15am and bleary eyed we all scramble out of our pits. Luckily we'd showered late last night so a quick wash and at 6am we meet the others and go for breakfast.
At 7am we pile into the cars and reach the arena for 7.30am to find the doors don't open until 8am. No worries we queue up and say hi to a few people that we know while Mark Weiler the President of Parelli chats away to everyone. You can feel the excitement in the air, everyone talking and laughing. None of the usual pushing and shoving you see at other venues, only considerate and smiling Parelli students from all over the UK and abroad.

The doors open and we head inside, we check out the merchandise and I can't decide to buy a shirt or not, I decide not to. The conference is scheduled to start at 9.30am and all too soon it is time to locate our seats and get sat down.
The music starts up and on the big screen is the advert that is regularly seen on TV. People became aware that the conference is about to start and look expectantly for Pat and Linda making their entrance. Suddenly there is a cloud of smoke tinted orange with the lights. This is the first time Pat and Linda have brought their horses to the UK and to a huge applause Pat and Linda enter the arena with Casper and Remmer

While Linda is talking Remmer follows her and then Casper picks up his headcollar and walks around with it in his mouth offering it to Remmer. What a hoot. That is until Casper and Remmer were intrigued at seeing themselves on the big screen.

Pat talked about Safety, Comfort and Play and so much more, at one point Pat laid down on the floor and Casper mirrored him and also lay down. His black gleaming coat was soon covered in a layer of sand as he enjoyed rolling on the arena surface.

The next session was with a 4year old horse called Quintana and her owner Ashley who was 15 yrs old and never used Parelli. Quintana was totally RB which was expected, all those people, smells, noises and sounds to contend with. Quintana was led in on a very short leadrope giving her no room to breathe. Kevin, Ashley's father was obviously concerned for his son as he seemed reluctant to hand the horse over to him. Pat asked Ashley to attempt certain tasks but it was obvious they wouldn't be able to do them, not in the time limit Pat had given him.
Pat then took Quintana and explained to the crowd he wasn't talking for our benefit but for the horses. So that the horse could relax and so Pat could play with the horse getting her relaxed and more confident and trusting even though it looked like he was just wandering around aimlessly. Very soon Pat had Quintana walking over the tarp, Jumping barrels, going through a tight squeeze and having the Parelli ball on her back.

Linda then worked with another mare that had problems being loaded into a trailer. She showed how you don't make the trailer the object but play with other props and keep coming back to the trailer now and then. Some great improvements were seen with the horse going into the trailer on her own.

A break for Lunch and time for the presentation of the "UK Book of Thanks"Now I can relax, so off I go shopping.
Do I buy the Success Pack. yes ..no.yes..no. It looks to be aimed at those mainly on L1 and into level 2 with some info on L3 tasks but only a little. Is it really worth buying? Can I justify spending £180 on something which may not benefit me? Finally I decide to buy it thinking if I don't I may regret it and buying it later will incur tax and importation costs and the fact I loose the intro price. I wait until Sunday morning as the queues are never ending and I'll have more time to queue up without missing the demo's.

2pm and the conference resumes with Pat riding Magic into the arena while long lining Casper. Pat talked about sensitivity and partnership with the horse (49%) and the human (51%).

Then we had the team enter the arena, Silke, Berni, and a few others playing with their horses. One horse started bucking while with no headcollar on and the lass did great to stay on board. Other horses broke free and took time to return to their human. so nice to see that these horses still have a mind are not programmed like robots.

All day Pat and Linda filled us with so much information as well as making the day fun and entertaining. The first day over we headed to the Holiday Inn where a meal had been arranged for around 50 Parelli fanatics. The meal was superb and only wish I knew who the others were as there were no introductions. Back at the Travel Lodgel we chatted about the day and totally exhausted at 12 o'clock we finally fell asleep.

SUNDAY
Another early start but not quite as early Saturday, we arrived at the Venue for 8am and the doors were already open. I made a bee line for the queue to buy my "Success" pack expecting to find a handful of people lining up. Ha!! I underestimated the attraction of Parelli merchandise and found the queue already a mile long. Well it seemed a mile long. I got chatting to a woman in the queue who just happened to be a Geordie and chatting helped pass the time till it was my turn to get served.
9.15am I hear the crowd cheer. WHAT'S HAPPENING!!!!! . Has the show started early.? I'm still in the queue and now eager to get back to my seat. I get served and rush off, find my seat and start enjoying the show.

The Team are in the arena giving a magnificent display, I watch Alison Jones driving her horse from zone 5, Hmmm! How interesting.. wish I could remember the other instructors names. Then they are told by Neil Pye not to leave the arena but instead to stand by the sides. He then introduces Silke who comes in with Biko and a grey mare. Silke wow's the crowd with her display and finishes with her driving a figure eight around her two horses as they lay on the ground. The team then carry on playing for a little longer.

I'm thinking to myself. has Pat and Linda slept in so the Team are keeping us entertained till they arrive LOL

Then Pat rides into the arena to the sounds of Horse Church music, after all it is Sunday, Pat rides around telling his stories and his jokes and has the crowd in roars of laughter. What a guy...

Okay this is where I'm all a blur of the sequence of things, but I do recall that Pat brought Ashley and his horse Quintana.
back into the arena to carry on from the day before. His dad Kevin had Quintana in a vice like grip, and Pat patiently told Kevin about 5-6 times to give the horse to Ashley. Kevin seems very reluctant but eventually handed the horses over. Under Pat's guidance Quintana soon settled and by the end of the demo Pat had himself and Ashley sitting on a pedestal playing the circling game with a very relaxed Quintana. What a transformation..

One part of the conference I found fascinating is when Pat is riding Magic and Casper is at liberty, Pat takes the large Parelli Ball and places it on Casper's back then rides around the arena. Casper doesn't seem to mind the ball being there and then Casper and Pat jump the barrels together and Pat manages to keep the ball on Casper's back.

There is so much to remember and I can't remember it all, which I didn't help myself by being absolutely shattered.

The last session of the day was with Linda and Remmer talking about fluidity, I'd seen this before but it's still interesting. I looked over to see Pat standing on the sidelines watching Linda and scanning the crowd to see their response. As the end drew near Linda had to shout over the deafening applause and cheers of the crowd. Pat walks into the arena and Linda thanks him breaking into tears as she says "Thank you darling"

It's all too much for Linda and she slowly rides out of the arena wiping away her tears as Pat tells the crowd "Didn't I tell you, I married the right woman"

The conference was a huge success with 4500 people attending; Prizes were being won each day ranging from Caps. T-Shirts to complete Kits and even a 2 weeks Course in the USA.

Bags packed, all in the car we set off on our journey home. True to form we (Dawn A, Julia and I) get lost. Stop the car...!!! I grab my Sat Nav out the boot, and we set off again this time on the right road home.

The conference as expected was exhilarating, mind blowing, entertaining and a life time experience made even more special by being there with a great bunch of mates.

Will Pat and Linda be back.? You betcha..