01 December, 2013

Death Claims a Queen

That's what I called Rocky...The Queen of the Thoroughbreds. No one else called her a "Queen" nor was she recognized anywhere as a "Queen". There was a time when she was a formidable racehorse but that was a long time ago. Grazing in a pasture, looking more like a backyard pet, someone driving by would see an ordinary  grey horse and thereby, miss her greatness. But to me, she was every bit a Queen and more. I saw a side of her which was positively regal.
"It would be easy to be a princess if I were dressed in cloth of gold, but it is a great deal more of a triumph to be one all the time when no one knows it." —Frances Hodgson Burnett,  A Little Princess
It was our LITTLE secret...Rocky's and mine. A daughter of the Thoroughbred stallion, Rock and Roll, she was named Lady Rocker but I always laughed at her name because she was no "lady". She was the ultimate alpha mare, behaving more like a stallion than a mare. She was a huge mare, towering over 16.2 hands, powerfully built, with a big body, including a very deep heart girth. She was enormous. It was a humbling experience to stand next to her. Yet, for all of Queen Rocky's power, she was an elegant horse, possessing all of the characteristics for which this breed is so revered. Nothing was more beautiful than seeing Rocky in motion, stretching her body out, nose-to-tail,  in an earth shaking, thunderous racehorse run. Then, she would take my breath away and I would shout,
"GO QUEEN GO!"
Now, Rocky is gone and there is no more majesty in the pasture. I will really miss the Queen. As a kid, I watched the great Secretariat create history, never realizing that one day I would know his great-great-granddaughter, Lady Rocker, the Queen of the Thoroughbreds.