title: Legends, Vol. 7: Outstanding Quarter Horse Stallions and Mares
author: Western Horseman
description: <DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman"><DIV>Excerpt: from the chapter Rugged Lark<BR><BR>It was like living with Elvis. <BR>So says owner Carol Harris about the life she led with the extraordinary Rugged Lark. His achievements in the show ring and as a sire were enough to put him in the record books. The 1981 bay stallion was the American Quarter Horse Association's first repeat winner of the Superhorse title (awarded to the champion all-around horse at the AQHA World Show) and is the only Superhorse to have sired not one but two Superhorse offspring along with a reserve.<BR>But it was Rugged Lark's other career, that of touring equine goodwill ambassador, that turned him into a crowd-drawing superstar. His 10 years' worth of bridleless freestyle performances, set to music and guided by rider/trainer Lynn Palm, delighted thousands and brought tears to the eyes of even the most hardened horsemen. In venues ranging from the 1996 Olympic Games to sessions of the Special Olympics, he drew people into his aura and made them appreciate and want to own an American Quarter Horse.<BR>Along with earning titles, siring champions and winning fans, Rugged Lark had the ability to dispel myths. He was, for instance, his dam's first foal, defying the widespread belief that first foals don't amount to much. Sired by a Thoroughbred racehorse, out of a predominately western performance mare, and sometimes called a hybrid because of it, he won English and western events alike even as skeptics may have doubted his ability to do either. He was a stallion who spent enough time in the breeding shed to have sired more than 370 foals, yet could be trusted with children and indeed seemed to seek them out whenever a crowd of admirers hemmed him in.<BR>Palm's memories of the horse include these.<BR>Lark just loved people, and he loved to perform. After every performance, he'd have a crowd around him, and he always put his nose down to touch little kids. He'd be standing at the doorfront of a stall, surrounded by so many people that we couldn't even get to him, and it'd be the little kids who had his attention. He was such a personable horse, always looking up into the crowd when he performed and happy to be petted and loved on by strangers when he was done. I was so blessed to be part of his life  he was a great, great horse.<BR><BR></DIV></FONT></DIV>
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  _Title : #02 : Swords Of The Horseclans_
  
  
  _Series : Horseclans_
  
  
  _Author : Robert Adams_
  
  
  _Location : Gillian Archives_
  
  
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  Chaper 1
  
  
  Briskly, the column of horsemen trotted onto the long, ancient bridge, steel-
  shod hooves ringing on the worn stones. Behind them, an oncoming dustcloud
  heralded the advance of their army; before them, across the width of the
  river, the empty road wound into the dark density of a forest, beyond which
  rose the mountains that sheltered their foe, King Zenos of Karaleenos.
  
  
  Leading the column, astride a tall black stallion of the Middle Kingdoms’
  breed, was a flashily attired man of uncertain age but of obvious Ehleenoee
  antecedents. His three-quarter armor was plated with gold, silver, and
  burnished copper, and his lobsterback helmet bore a nodding crest of bright
  red plumes. The small buckler on his left arm was also gold-plated and bore
  th