///////// CIRCLE UP
EMPTY STALLS NRCHA $4 Million Dollar Sire Shining Spark laid to rest in December of 2021.
I
t is undeniable that when most spectators see a palomino horse in the reined cow horse or reining arena, they believe it could be a Shining Spark offspring—and most of the time, they are not wrong. The golden reiner was more than another stallion for the Western performance horse industry, he was a standard that many aspired to reach. At 32 years old, on December 27, 2021, his owner, breeder and caretaker Carol Rose made the decision to lay the stallion to rest. Shining Spark (Genuine Doc x Diamonds Sparkle x Mr Diamond Dude) reigned as the king of cow horse sires and is still the No. 1 broodmare sire in the National Reined Cow Horse Association. In October, Shining Spark and Carol Rose were both honored at the Snaffle Bit Futurity® for the 17-yearlong record of All-Time Leading Sire he held before being passed by Metallic Cat. When Rose sat down with NRCHA to discuss the stallion for the October presentation, she was clear in how she was identified: “I am the proud breeder and owner of the one and only Shining Spark.” She was candid about not knowing what direction to take the pretty, but palomino, young stud.
24 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | REINED COW HORSE NEWS
“When he was a yearling, he was fabulous,” recalled Rose. “He was so good minded and so easy to be around, and he just was a headlight in a group of 26 yearling studs. All through his training as a 2-year-old, he never had a bad day. We decided he was pretty enough to stay a stud, but the problem was he was palomino and who wanted to breed to a palomino at that time? I didn’t, and I didn’t know anybody else that did! I wanted to go cutting, but he was not bred fashionably on the bottom side for cutting. My second love was reined cow horse but I lived in Texas and it was still, at that point, a West Coast event. Finally, we decided to put him in training to be a reiner.” When he did step into the reining arena, he did so with gusto. In the show pen, his record helped him stand out, but in the breeding barn, he achieved legendary status. As a reined cow horse sire, he reached NRCHA all-time leading sire status first in 2003, and remained at the top until September of 2021. He was the first sire to reach Three Million Dollar Sire status in the NRCHA and is the Number One Maternal Grandsire of
Cow Horse Money Earners, according to Equi-Stat records. His highest money-earning offspring in the NRCHA is Smart Shinetta (out of Smart Hickory by Docs Hickory), a 2002 mare with $128,169.92 in the books. His second-highest money earner is Sparktilion (out of Cattilion by High Brow Cat), a mare that carried NRCHA $2 Million Dollar Rider Jake Telford to the co-reserve 2020 World’s Greatest Horseman and has $120,222.70 earnings. The stallion was memorable in so many ways, but for owner Rose, he was her best friend. The pair were together for his 32 years. The NRCHA offers condolences to Rose and all of Shining Spark’s connections. *earnings as of December 30, 2021
