01.15.2022_WorldWide Slide

FEATURE STORY

January 15, 2022 6

REMEMBERINGSHINING 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

Carol and Shining Spark.

Photo by Cam Essick.

The story of Shining Spark always begins with two other stallions – the first was Zan Parr Bar. Owned by Carol Rose, the threetime 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.

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 his ass and broke in the loin and stopped.” Carol and her crew were dumbfounded.

IT WAS HIS FIRST RIDE. HE WAS TROTTING AND MOVING BEAU- TIFULLY, BUT WHEN THEY STOPPED RIDING HE JUST DRUG HIS ASS AND BROKE IN THE LOIN AND STOPPED.

Carol Rose

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

Carol continued, “It was his first ride and he was still barefoot and they were not pulling on him – that’s when I really started watching him.”

But she had some serious misgivings about Shining Spark. She recounts some of those based on the breeding environment and biases of the day. She said, “I had to have another stallion, but who would want to breed to a palomino?

It bothered me – I didn’t want people calling him Trigger. At that time there were hardly any palominos showing in performance classes.”

Despite his color, his wonderful talent kept him on top burner and led to discussions of what to do with him. Reined cow horse competition had been a passion for Carol in her youth. “But the cow horse events then were still in the west – there were not really any major events in the southwest,” she explained.

That left cutting or reining. “I thought about cutting but didn’t think the cutters would take his bloodlines seriously. His sire, Genuine Doc, was a good cutting horse but not a great one and the Blondys Dude side was not really cutting bred. Plus I didn’t think they’d like the color.”

The only place to go with him was reining so Carol set out to find a trainer. Top picks Tim McQuay and Bob Loomis were wanting to concentrate on riding the get of their own stallions – Hollywood Dun It and Topsail Whiz – so they were not that interested. “But Bob finally agreed to take him and did a great job. He finished 6th at the NRHA Futurity and reserve at Lazy E,” Carol said.

Shortly after that Carol purchased an outstanding mare named Walla Walla Wanda and she remembers that all the stallion owners wanted to breed to her. When she said she bought her to breed to her own yellow horse, they responded, “Yellow horse, what yellow horse?”

According to Carol, people thought he was by Topsail Whiz because Bob was riding him. “It was time to make a change because I wanted people to know who he was, so I talked again to Tim because I thought he’d fit him beautifully,” she said.

“Tim said he couldn’t ride him because of the Hollywood Dun It babies the same age so I asked if he would ride him and I could show as a Non Pro. He said no to that because of Mandy.”

Just a few days later at the ranch longtime employee Gabriel Gonzales was riding Shining Spark when Tim and Colleen McQuay walked in. Gabriel had seen Tim ride a lot and starting riding in his style and imitatating Tim. Tim asked him what he was doing and he said, “I’m riding like you!” Tim said, “Let me ride that horse.”

He rode him for five minutes before saying, “I’ll take him.” It was a perfect

pairing. At the AQHA World Show that fall, Tim rode him to win the 1993 AQHA Junior Reining World Championship.

In 1994 the reining world took even more notice of Shiner. The rest of the universe might have been mesmerized by the O.J. Simpson Bronco chase that week in June, but in Oklahoma City at the NRHA Derby, people were watching Shining Spark.

Carol remembers, “That whole year we had been breeding him. If the next day was a breeding day, we’d pick him up in the afternoon at McQuay’s. He’d come home and spend the night and we’d collect him the next morning, and then take him back to Tioga. We started calling that rig the Shinermobile.”

It was a schedule that would only work for a stallion with an amazing mind.

At the Derby Tim showed Shining Spark and qualified for the finals on Saturday night, and Saturday was a breeding day. “Tim schooled him at the show on Friday evening then he was trailered home. He spent the night in his own stall, and they collected him Saturday morning. Then Gabriel brought him back to go in the finals,” Carol recalled.

January 15, 2022 8

Tim McQuay and Shining Spark teamed up to win the NRHA Derby. Photo by Shubert.

She added, “Sally Brown had come down to the ranch to look at some horses and saw Shiner in his stall. She was blown away that he was there and was going to show that night.”

When Shiner won the Derby with a score of 230.5 the world watched and took notice. Well – most of the world. Carol had to make an emergency trip to the hospital for a gall bladder surgery and missed the finals. She remembers, “Gabriel, Colleen, and Mandy came in and brought the trophy and the flowers. I didn’t get to see the run, but I got to see the prizes!”

Shining Spark would also finish as reserve champion that year at the Lazy E Reining. Of course, as a 5-year-old in those days, his derby opportunities were over, and it was time to focus on breeding. Carol said, “Right off, the public loved him, and I began to believe he could be a formidable sire.”

Proof came quickly. Sheza Shiny Mixer out of the Goldseeker Bars mare Miss Donna Seeker was his first show horse. Carol remembered, “Shawn Flarida had bought her out of the NRHA Futurity Sale for one of his customers, but we got her back and Jeff Petska showed her to a top 10 finish in the Futurity. She was Shiner’s first show horse, and the rest is history.”

The passing of Shining Spark December 27 at the age of 32 did signal the end of a charmed life but thanks to modern science a whole new generation of Shining Spark foals have been born or will be born in future years. (Having been born before an AQHA Rule modification which limited

the length of time foals of deceased stallions could be registered following the stallion’s death, he is still a viable option for breeding.)

Certainly, his legacy lives and as Carol Rose has often said, “You just never know where the next champion will come from.”

SHINING SPARK NRHA HALL OF FAME LIFETIME EARNINGS $62,674

NRHA $4 MILLION SIRE NRCHA $4 MILLION SIRE

TOTAL FOALS (INCLUDES APHA) 1,331 1,291 PERFORMERS 811 MONEY-EARNERS 718 TOTAL EARNINGS $10,433,299 AVERAGE EARNINGS $14,531 594 POINT-EARNERS 39,051 POINTS EARNED 508 ROM AWARDS 224 SUPERIOR AWARDS 48 AQHA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 37 AQHA RESERVE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

SHINING SPARK HAS HAD WINNING FOALS IN REINING, REINED COW HORSE, CUTTING, BARREL RACING RANCH, HALTER, POLE BENDING, BREAKAWAY ROPING, HEADING, HEELING, RACE, RANCH SORT, ROPING, TEAM PENNING, AND STEER STOPPING.

NRHA FUTURITY

SIRE OF 1 L4 OPEN CHAMPION 1 L3 OPEN CHAMPION 1 L3 OPEN RESERVE CHAMPION 3 L3 OPEN RESERVE CHAMPIONS 1 L1 OPEN CHAMPION 3 L1 OPEN RESERVE CHAMPIONS 1 L4 NON PRO RESERVE CHAMPION 1 L3 NON PRO RESERVE CHAMPION 1 L2 NON PRO RESERVE CHAMPION 1 L1 NON PRO CHAMPION 1 L1 NON PRO RESERVE CHAMPION 3 PRIME TIME OPEN CHAMPIONS 4 PRIME TIME OPEN RESERVE CHAMPIONS

MATERNAL GRANDSIRE OF 1 L4 OPEN CHAMPION 1 L4 OPEN RESERVE CHAMPION 2 L3 OPEN CHAMPION 4 L3 OPEN RESERVE CHAMPION 1 L2 OPEN CHAMPION 1 L2 OPEN RESERVE CHAMPION 2 L1 OPEN CHAMPIONS

PATERNAL GRANDSIRES OF 2 L4 OPEN CHAMPIONS 1 L4 OPEN RESERVE CHAMPION 2 L3 OPEN CHAMPIONS 3 L2 OPEN CHAMPIONS 2 L1 OPEN CHAMPIONS

NRHA DERBY SIRE OF 2 L4 RESERVE OPEN CHAMPIONS 2 L3 OPEN CHAMPIONS 4 L3 RESERVE OPEN CHAMPIONS 1 L2 OPEN CHAMPION 3 L2 RESERVE OPEN CHAMPIONS 1 L4 NON PRO RESERVE CHAMPION 2 L3 NON PRO RESERVE CHAMPIONS 1 L1 NON PRO CHAMPION 2 L1 NON PRO RESERVE CHAMPIONS

MATERNAL GRANDSIRE OF 2 L4 OPEN CHAMPIONS 2 L4 RESERVE CHAMPIONS 2 L4 NON PRO CHAMPIONS 2 L4 NON PRO RESERVE CHAMPIONS 1 L3 NON PRO CHAMPION 2 L3 NON PRO RESERVE CHAMPIONS 2 L2 NON PRO CHAMPIONS 1 L2 NON PRO CHAMPION 1 L1 NON PRO CHAMPION 3 L1 NON PRO RESERVE CHAMPIONS

PATERNAL GRANDSIRE OF 4 L4 OPEN CHAMPIONS 1 L3 OPEN CHAMPION 1 L3 RESERVE OPEN CHAMPION 1 L2 OPEN CHAMPION 2 L2 RESERVE OPEN CHAMPIONS 1 L1 OPEN CHAMPION 1 L3 NON PRO RESERVE CHAMPION 1 L1 NON PRO CHAMPION 2 L1 NON PRO RESERVE CHAMPIONS

January 15, 2022 9

SHINING SPARK TOP 5 MONEY EARNERS

SHINING N SASSY (Sassy O Lena, by Doc O’Lena). $259,262: NRHA Open Futurity Champion, NRBC Primetime Derby Champion. SHINE BY THE BAY (Metermaid To Order, by Doc O’Lena). $178,699 and 516.5 AQHA points: AQHA World Show Most Valuable Working Cow Horse; AQHA World Champion Working Cow Horse twice; AQHA World Superhorse; World’s Greatest Horseman Reserve Champion; NRCHA Open Stallion Stakes Champion, etc. A SHINER NAMED SIOUX (Docs Sulena, by Doc O’Lena). $161,891: AQHA World Champion Junior Working Cow Horse; NRHA Intermediate Open Derby Champion and Open Co-Reserve Cham- pion; AQHA World Champion Junior Reining Horse, etc. MISS REY O SHINE (Miss Rey O Lena, by Doc O’Lena). $159,715: split 4th, NRHA Open Derby; top 10, NRHA Open Futurity

Bob Loomis and Shining Spark at the Laze E in 1993.

Photo by Waltenberry.

SHINING SPARK MATERNAL GRANDSIRE TOP 5 MONEY EARNERS

SHINERS CHIC (Smart Chic Olena). $306,795 and 214 AQHA points: AQHA Reserve World Champion Senior Reining Horse. CD DEE VEE DEE (CD Lights). $290,347 and 102 AQHA points: NRCHA Open Stallion Stakes Champion; AQHYA World Champion Cow Horse; 2021 NRCHA World’s Greatest Horseman Champion Youth. SHINE N SPOOK (Smart Spook). $231,871: NRHA Open Futurity Co-Champion; AQHA Reserve World Champion Jr. Reining Horse. BLIND SIDED (Peptoboonsmal). $224,945: NRCHA Open Futurity Reserve Champion; NRCHA Open Stallion Stakes Champion. WHIZKEY N DIAMONDS (Topsail Whiz). $222,619: NRHA Open Derby Co-Reserve Champion; AQHA World Champion Sr. Reining Horse.