ROCKY'S ROAD -- By Robert Clark      In the summer of 1980 there was a 14 year old boy who wanted a horse so bad that he would have given up almost anything. You could say that he was Ahorse crazy A. That boy was me, Robert Clark. I learned about the Adopt-a Horse Program through an obscure article I had read in a magazine. It seemed almost unimaginable that I could get a horse for a mere $125. The idea of gentling and training a wild, untouched horse really appealed to me. The program was still fairly new and not too well known at that time so finding out how to adopt took some time and research. But me being the person that I was, dug until I learned what I needed to know. After a lot of work convincing my parents that I would not only be responsible enough to take care of an animal but that I could also train a completely wild horse, they finally gave in. A few weeks after getting approved for adoption I was the happy recipient of a red roan mare and foal. The mare that I named Shortcake turned into something special for me. There was a bond that developed between us that I will never forget. I did eventually sell her a few years later for a reason that I really can't remember. Even now, the one thing I do remember is that I never stopped regretting it. I found that by the time a person takes this totally wild, untouched animal and develops a bond and trust with it, letting them go is difficult. Along the way I had other horses and had become a pretty decent hand at training. However as I became an adult and started out on my own I couldn't afford to have animals. I could only wish and wait for the day. In September of 1999 the wait ended. I was the proud owner of an 8-month-old Quarter Horse filly. She was going to be my superstar. She was smart, good looking, well bred and she was mine. So what else was needed for her to be special? After a couple of months I kept thinking about the time it would take before I would be able to do much with her and I was really anxious to ride again. My thoughts kept going back to 1980 and Shortcake. I justified my thoughts by telling myself that I would just go down and pick up one of these old mustangs and he would keep me busy until my "Superstar" was ready. Then I would sell him. I was actually kidding myself. Truthfully my heart was with the mustangs. What can I say, I like challenges! On February 8th 2000 we arrived at the holding facility in Pauls Valley Oklahoma. It was a bitter cold morning but I hardly noticed because my heart was racing so much. The silent bid adoption was from 10am to 12pm. Right away I spotted this big, dark, sorrel stud in the very back of the pen. He had better conformation than at least 90% of the domesticated horses I had seen. He was a 3 year old about 15 hands tall with big powerful hips, short back and a nice front with a long sloping shoulder. Oh, he was rough looking. His mane and tail were nasty, his coat was about 2 inches long and he was very thin but it was obvious to me that he was different. It seemed my only obstacle was a woman that saw the same thing as I. We got into a bidding war. I wanted this horse so bad but she didn't seem to be backing down. Finally with about 5 minutes left on the bidding she decided he meant more to me and she conceded. I took home my new horse for a mere $255. I don't who she was but I'm not sure I ever thanked her enough. My first insight to this horse was when people from the BLM were loading him. All the other horses were haltered and loaded without any real incident. My new horse almost climbed out of the 6' tall loading shoot. He banged around and I was afraid he was going to hurt himself. Eventually they got my new horse loaded but by this time my stomach was in knots. I am definitely not one of the faint hearted but a little bit of fear set in and I wondered if I was up for this challenge. On the way home we named him Rocky. It seemed to fit him and I certainly thought it could be a rocky road with this guy. For the next few weeks Rocky's home was a 20X21 stall. He was truly horrified by me. In fact if I didn't know better I would have thought his eyes were totally white because that is all I saw for long time. In the beginning I spent lots of time out there with him. Once he was comfortable with me being in the pen with him I took a broom with a long handle on it and just laid it on his back. He would take off around the pen and I tried to keep holding the broom in place. This worked well because I felt the broom was like a barrier between us and I didn't think he was too likely to cross that barrier as long as he had another way out. As soon as he would stop moving I took the broom away. Soon he learned if he didn't move the broom didn't bother him. At this point I started to brush him with the broom and off he went again. I tried to keep constant contact and when he would stop I would reward him by removing the broom for a while. Eventually he figured out that the broom felt pretty good on his rough coat and he started letting me get closer. Each time he would go into panic mode I would go back a step or two and let him get comfortable then move forward again. Using this method of pressure-release, step back, go forward I was picking up his feet within two weeks. During this time he was gelded and I do believe that set his progress back. But we worked through that issue. A month later I had his feet trimmed for the first time and there were absolutely no struggles. My farrier was impressed and I was excited. Not bad for 30 days I thought. At about 60 days we started saddle training. Although he was a little more nervous than most, it went along as expected. He was sacked out with a blanket on a couple of different days and then I introduced the saddle. To my surprise he didn't make an issue of it. The surprise came later. Since I knew he was nervous we just saddled and unsaddled for a couple of days. All was going well so I finally put some weight in the stirrup and before I knew it I was sitting on him. I pulled his head around and he took his first step. I thought, Wow I had just ridden my horse for the first time. I tried to keep things simple and brief so I called it quits. The next day I went through the same steps but this time I saw "saddle bronc Rocky". Let me tell you this boy was powerful but I somehow stayed with him. Once he got through it he was all right. This happened a few more times over that first few months but in retrospect I have to say it was my fault. I would start to feel confident that he was ready, so I would move on too fast. Each time he would show me that I had over stepped my boundaries. I can't stress patience enough. My biggest problem in my training of Rocky was that I tried to compare him to Shortcake, the horse I had when I was 14. She was fairly easy. I was riding Shortcake bareback within about 90 days. I kept trying to move Rocky along at her pace and not his. Just like domesticated horses each one of these guys is different in the rate they will progress. Occasionally that got me into trouble. Rocky was never in any way a mean horse. But he was the ultimate wimp. He was literally scared of his own shadow and his way of dealing with fear was bucking, running or anything else that he thought would help him escape. Rocky constantly reminded me that we had to take little steps. Over the course of a year we made progress and by the spring of 2001 I knew that he was light, responsive, intelligent and the smoothest ride I had ever experienced but I still didn't trust him because he was so scared of everything that was beyond my home. Now I was at a cross-roads. I had title to Rocky and my filly was ready to go as a 2 year old. So according to my plan, it was time to sell Rocky. The problem was that I still didn't trust him completely and I couldn't pass my problem on to someone else. So how was I to sell him? At least I thought this was the problem I had with selling him. I have always had an interest in team penning so on the spur of the moment I made a decision to send Rocky to Jim & Zee Sikes, they are team penning trainers in my area, for 30 days just to see if he had any cow sense in him. I also thought Rocky would get a lot of other stimuli that might help him get over some of his fear. I was right. I started going once or twice a week to see Rocky and in no time I was holding cattle on him and doing lots of other things that I couldn't do before. All the new stimuli really worked. However I was told he wouldn't make a cow horse. Well I brought him home thinking if I wanted a cow horse this would be the time to sell him. Somehow I just never could put an ad in the paper to sell him. Somewhere along the way I got attached to this guy. O.K., so he wasn't the best cow horse but with a good handle he could do what I wanted. I had spent so much time with him that I formed a deeper bond than I thought I had. I just wasn't going to let myself regret another one like I did when I was a kid. Over the next few months I rode him in a grand entry at a rodeo, took him on trail rides. Even won a team-penning jackpot. Yes, eventually he ended up being a decent cow horse. It seemed as though I could try whatever I wanted with him. One thing was always constant.... He was FUN !!!!!! The fall of 2001 brought the 7th annual Wild Horse and Burro Expo in Henderson Texas. I decided to take him and see how he would do. Rocky has a really nice jog and moves beautifully at a lope so I thought he might do well in a show environment. When it was all over he had won the Halter class and placed 2nd behind a very nice horse in Western Pleasure. Not bad considering neither one of us had ever been in a horse show. Armed with the knowledge of what shows were like I set out to be the High Point Champion at the same show in 2002. We worked on our showmanship skills, trail obstacles, barrels and poles and tried to refine our work in western pleasure. I was thrilled to learn that the 2002 Expo was going to be a national show. The show was scheduled for mid November. Around the 1st of November Rocky was ready. He now stands 15-1 and is a solid 1,150lbs of muscle, he was working all of his events well and his coat was polished to a deep shine. So now with everything ready I started getting really nervous. I could tell that Rocky was affected by my nervousness so I had to work really hard on myself to keep my emotions in check. I guess I succeeded because when we finished showing, my Rocky was the over all High Point Winner in the adult division and my 8 year old daughter showing for the very first time had won 1st place in youth Halter. It was a day I will never forget and he is a horse that I will never regret selling because he has a home for life. Rocky became my "superstar". Incidentally, that little 8 month old Quarter Horse filly will soon be 4 and she is very special to a fine young man ( he is 18) who purchased her a few months back. It's funny how things work out. I don't know what's next for Rocky but something will come up that I will want to try and I am sure he will be up for the challenge. It was a long road that we traveled but I wouldn't trade a minute of it. However I think we are just getting started and I can't wait to see what is next.