Here's Rocket whom you heard mentioned on a couple of previous pages! (Registered name Hicks Rocket Bar. If any of you have any knowledge of lineage, Three Bars was his grandsire.) He was a Quarter Horse/Thoroughbred mix gelding. (I believe this is what's called an Appendix Quarter Horse.) He was 19 years old when Sandy got him! That's yours truly riding him in the photo. (My hands should be closer together!) Rocket was one in a million! I used to ride him SO often for lessons, then later on my own, that I developed quite a bond with him. One of the newer students at the barn one day saw me with him and asked if I was his owner -- I replied, "I wish I was!" She said she could have sworn I was his owner, because of the way he acted around me. I always used to tell him how special he was, and I know he understood me. Even when I was no longer riding him, I'd always bring him a carrot and would spend a couple minutes scratching his itchy spots. He was at the barn for 10 years. During his last few years, he developed Cushing's Disease, and nobody could ride him anymore -- so he spent his last years just being a horse. It was on November 9, 2001 that I learned he'd had to be put down sometime earlier that week. Sandy said he was getting depressed -- just standing in his stall with his head in the corner. She said he was obviously suffering, so she made the decision to have him put down. It was very hard enjoying my ride that night, and I cried for over an hour after getting home. I have a few more photos of Rocket to share, as I couldn't decide on just one!
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