January 15, 2022
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FEATURE STORY
REMEMBERING SHINING SPARK Newsflash! Just as this article was going to press we were notified that Shining Spark will be inducted into the NRCHA Hall of Fame in 2022! Congratulations! by. Cheryl Cody
The story of Shining Spark always begins with two other stallions – the first was Zan Parr Bar. Owned by Carol Rose, the three-time AQHA world champion halter horse was also a performer and producer of the 1985 National Reining Horse Association Futurity Champion, Sparkles Rosezana, out of American Quarter Horse Association Superhorse Diamonds Sparkle. He was a horse that was sustaining Carol’s position as a breeder at the very top level of the industry. Zans Diamond Sun was a product of that same successful pairing and was born just at the right time. Zan Parr Bar had died unexpectedly and early of colitis, leaving Carol wondering what to do next. She decided that “next” would be Zans Diamond Sun and began to campaign and promote him to success. He became the AQHA High Point All-Around Champion, and was high point in Calf Roping, Heading, and Heeling as well. He also won the AQHA Reining World Championship and earned 356 AQHA points. The horse Carol called “Sunny” had pure star quality and the future looked bright for him and for her program. But that future
dimmed when he died with just one foal crop on the ground. ‘ The death of Zans Diamond Sun left Carol and her breeding program broadsided. How would she recover? How would she come back? As anyone in the horse world knows, losing a great horse and having all the hopes and dreams ruined is life-changing, but two? Carol was admittedly in limbo. It was during a fateful phone call with her mother, Elizabeth, that the new chapter would begin. “My mother said, “Raise another one,” she recalled. Raise another one? She’d just lost the horse of a lifetime! While they were talking, Carol was in the barn, looking over at Diamonds Sparkle with Shining Spark by her side as a foal. Maybe it was an omen. “When she told me to raise another one, I was looking at Shiner,” Carol said, remembering that moment. “Jeff Petska started him. On his very first ride someone called the office and said for me to come to the round pen. He was trotting and moved beautifully, but when they stopped riding he just drug
Carol and Shining Spark. Photo by Cam Essick.
IT WAS HIS FIRST RIDE. HE WAS TROTTING AND MOVING BEAUTIFULLY, BUT WHEN THEY STOPPED RIDING HE JUST DRUG HIS ASS AND BROKE IN THE LOIN AND STOPPED. Carol Rose
