Legends, Volume 7 (Legends (Anthony Horowitz))
Excerpt: from the chapter “Rugged Lark”“It was like living with Elvis.”So says owner Carol Harris about the life she led with the extraordinary Rugged Lark. His achievements in the show ring and as a sire were enough to put him in the record books. The 1981 bay stallion was the American Quarter Horse Association’s first repeat winner of the Superhorse title (awarded to the champion all-around horse at the AQHA World Show) and is the only Superhorse to have sired not one but two Superhorse offspring along with a reserve.But it was Rugged Lark's other career, that of touring equine goodwill ambassador, that turned him into a crowd-drawing superstar. His 10 years' worth of bridleless freestyle performances, set to music and guided by rider/trainer Lynn Palm, delighted thousands and brought tears to the eyes of even the most hardened horsemen. In venues ranging from the 1996 Olympic Games to sessions of the Special Olympics, he drew people into his aura and made them appreciate and want to own an American Quarter Horse.Along with earning titles, siring champions and winning fans, Rugged Lark had the ability to dispel myths. He was, for instance, his dam's first foal, defying the widespread belief that “first foals don't amount to much.” Sired by a Thoroughbred racehorse, out of a predominately western performance mare, and sometimes called a “hybrid” because of it, he won English and western events alike even as skeptics may have doubted his ability to do either. He was a stallion who spent enough time in the breeding shed to have sired more than 370 foals, yet could be trusted with children and indeed seemed to seek them out whenever a crowd of admirers hemmed him in.Palm's memories of the horse include these.“Lark just loved people, and he loved to perform. After every performance, he'd have a crowd around him, and he always put his nose down to touch little kids. He'd be standing at the doorfront of a stall, surrounded by so many people that we couldn't even get to him, and it'd be the little kids who had his attention. He was such a personable horse, always looking up into the crowd when he performed and happy to be petted and loved on by strangers when he was done. I was so blessed to be part of his life — he was a great, great horse.”