I meant to finish this story over a month (or two) ago, but time got away from me.  That happens routinely to me.  Part of the reason for that is I have NO free time.  I am either traveling to teach, trying to spend time with my horses or chasing things- like Reed or Scout.  Yesterday, I ended up chasing Scout through the Wagener High School hallway with the ROTC trailing me to help corner her.  I did catch her and decided at that moment when Scout ever dies I am just going to get another Mastiff.  They don’t move near as fast and have a short flight line.  And since it is almost Halloween I thought I would entertain you all with this picture of Scout!

So the story that I am going to finish is about how this whole Parelli thing started.

After the friendly Parelli person whose name escapes me helped me finally get my horse in the trailer, I decided that I needed to:

1. 1. Go out and buy an orange stick- they obviously had magical powers to get your horse in a trailer, and I needed all of the help that I could get.

2.  I needed some lessons with this Parelli lady.

At the moment that I was planning all of this, the lady that owned the facility where I boarded and trained came rushing out- almost as wild as the dust devil that ripped George’s run in shed away- and told me that THAT woman was not allowed at the facility.  Apparently, Pat Parelli was the anti-Christ, and if I wanted to stay there, I couldn’t work with her.  Then I explained- and this is when I got officially kicked out- that she was the only one that could help me.

Luckily, there was a facility close by that would take me- and I could ride George there (since I didn’t have my magic orange stick yet or a lesson).

My Parelli gal came over several times to help.  I was finally able to wave my stick around and get him in the trailer. I felt like I was now some kind of a genius, an expert at Natural Horsemanship, and no longer needed anymore lessons- I could take it from here.

Then, on that same day, this newsletter that said SAVVY UP showed up at the barn.  It had a picture of Linda Parelli jumping a picnic table with a halter- which I thought was really cool.  I opened it up and there were the O’Connor’s- eventing royalty- and their students and Parelli students jumping HUGE jumps!  The difference between the Parelli students and the eventers was that the Parelli students were doing it all bareback and bridleless.

Needless to say, I was impressed.  I couldn’t even get my horse around some of those jumps with a mechanical hackamore!

Well, of course, now I needed to learn how to do THAT.

The lady that I was working with explained that THAT took awhile- I wasn’t even level one yet!

Soon after I received the newsletter, my mother received a postcard about a Parelli clinic in Orange Grove, TX.

At that point, I had moved back to Corpus Christi, my hometown, to teach.

My mom didn’t know why anybody would want to go to Orange Grove for anything- but oh well, she thought I might give it a shot.

Since I could now load my horse with a wave of my stick, I bundled him up in the 100 degree weather (it is always hot there), complete with bell boots, shipping boots, fly mask, and his short bus helmet.

We arrived, popped out of the trailer, and headed to the arena.  The “arena” was a fenced in area with hard, black, clumpy ground.  There was no way I could put George in there- he might injure himself, I thought (even though he was an eventing horse, I was VERY cautious about footing which I know sounds crazy!!!)  So I decided to watch for a bit.

There were people already in there “playing” with their horses.

It all looked very alien to me.  Here were these people, walking forwards, and there horses were moving away from them in what seemed like a half circle.  The horses had their ears pricked forward and their eyes were bright.

“What are they doing?” I asked.

They explained that they were doing the Falling Leaf pattern and their horses were looking like that because they were asking them a question.

Ok, now I felt really bad.  My horse had NEVER looked at me like that.  I just ordered him around!

Now I had to learn THIS to!  When would this ever end!

More to the story, later……………

All this writing has made me really hungry.  Since the story is based in South Texas, I thought an enchilada recipe would be in order.  I am actually going to teach my Canadian friends to make it this weekend- they can get all of the ingredients there.  Sorry there are no pics- I promise they are REALLY GOOD!

First of all, you have to make the sauce- it is sooo good:

¼ c of canola oil

¼ c of all purpose flour

½ tsp of black pepper- or a bit more if you want

1 tsp salt

1 ½ tsp powedered garlic

2 tsp of cumin

½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp dried oregano

2 T chili powder

2 Cups of chicken broth- I use low sodium

Directions:  Heat the oil in a skillet on medium.  Stir in the flour and keep stirring until it’s a light brown.  Add the rest of the dry ingredients and cook for about a minute- constantly stirring.  Add the chicken broth and stir until the mixture thickens.  Turn the heat to low and let the sauce simmer for 15 minutes.  You can add a bit of water if you want to adjust the thickness.

Put the sauce to the side and get everything ready to assemble the enchiladas.

You’ll need:

3-4 T of canola oil

10 corn tortillas (or more if you make really skinny ones)

4 cups of chedder cheese- I like sharp and I grade it- its better that way.

1 medium onion diced

-Have a bunch of paper towels ready

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

-In a baking dish- around 7”-9”, put ½ cup  of the sauce on the bottom

-In a small skillet, heat a tablespoon or two of the oil. Get the oil really hot.  Put your tortilla in for just a few seconds, til it is soft, then flip it and do the same.

-Put it directly on a paper towel, then blot off the oil with a paper towel on top.

-Put the tortilla in the baking dish and on the edge of the tortilla, but a tablespoon of onion and ¼ cup or less of cheese there.- roll it up and lie is seam side down.  REPEAT until they are all done, and then put the rest of the sauce on top- you can top the enchiladas with onion and cheese or whatever!

Bake for 15-20 minutes until bubbly- don’t over cook, they will get crusty!


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