IN MEMORIUM

RK PARATROOPER

"Troops" was the horse who put us in the sporthorse business in 1994. He was the fourth foal from our wonderful old Trooper Seven daughter, Miss Super Trooper, and he was our last from her. The pictures you see on this page were the same ones that I showed to Judy Hedreen, owner of Sylvan Farms in Arlington Washington. Judy was wowed by this colt's presence, and she literally shoved me into learning to show in hand, so we could take him to the 1994 Northwest Sporthorse Breeders Classic show.

Going in as rank amateurs to the biggest year-end show of this region, we were up against some of the premier sporthorse breeders in the northwest and their best youngsters. We were blessed to show before judge Hilda Gurney, who is one of my heroines. She was kind enough to explain to us just how she would like to see him shown. She placed him as Reserve Champion for Dressage Breeding weanling colts - and the points he earned then gave him the Reserve Champion Horse of the Year in Dressage Suitability for 1994! Needless to say, we were on Cloud Nine for weeks!

 

These pictures were taken at four and a half months of age. Sadly, we lost Troops to colic at sixteen months of age. His loss was a crushing blow to both of us, but particularly to Rick, who loves him still. We will always remember this colt, and are fortunate to still own his older full brother, POCO POR MI AMANTE, our senior stallion.