In a career that encompassed more or less the first decade of the 21st Century, Rocky won $125,000 in prizemoney barrel racing. It is a sport not noted for its high prizemoney, certainly in Australia and at that time. This amazing accumulation comes principally from an astounding 130 competition wins, mostly with owner, rider and trainer Adele Edwards, and both claimed many titles and awards along the way. Rocky had it all going his way - breeding, natural talent and a rider and trainer that brought the best out in him, and this is Rocky’s tribute.
Adele Edwards from Nangus NSW grew up in Wagga. “I was born into the show horse world, as my mother was involved in that, and I grew up riding show horses and showjumping,” says decorated cowgirl, Adele. I then rode trackwork and got involved with friends who played polocrosse and rodeoed as well and I got into that, and it’s what I have been doing ever since I was 19.”
Rocky was bred by Mathea and Brian Usher at their Santa Rio Quarter Horse Stud at Tullamore NSW. He is by the great producer of barrel horses, Traditional Roc (dec) that was a Cutter. Rocky is out of the Morn Deck mare Morn’s Cleopatara. Morn Deck (dec) was inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame in 1999 and has been described as having: ‘unbeatable conformation, temperament, pedigree and a look at me presence’. Morn Deck and Traditional Rock progeny have dominated, particularly barrel racing, in recent times. Both Morn Deck and Traditional Rock were bred by AQHA Hall of Fame inductee, the late Robert Baldwin, and both stallions stood at the Usher’s Santa Rio Stud. Interestingly, the two stallions were brothers, as they were both out of the imported Doc’s Misty Morn, the most influential mare in the history of barrel racing in Australia and, according to Mathea Usher, ‘one of the greatest cutting mares ever to look through a bridle’.
“I bought Rocky from the Ushers as a two-year-old, and I liked his breeding. Rocky is the first Traditional Roc horse I had, but there have been so many good ones since then. I think it was the mare, Doc’s Misty Morn, the dam of both Traditional Rock and Morn Deck, that has made them such good horses. She is by Doc Bar, a running-bred horse that failed at that, but became a great producer of cutting horses. That’s where the progeny get their speed, as Doc Bar was by Lightening Bar that was by the Thoroughbred, Three Bars, and Lightening Bar was a very successful Quarter Horse runner.
“Rocky was a lovely type of horse, long and very athletic. He was only 15.1-2hh, but when he walked into the arena, he grew a hand, and everyone thought he was a huge horse. He was a very lazy young horse, and my husband Darryl said I was wasting my time, as he said Rocky couldn’t get out of his own way. He wasn’t hard to train, and he just took to barrel racing; he just enjoyed it. He was lazy up until the point he walked into the arena, and that was him his whole career. As soon as he knew the game was on, he was a different horse.
“Training a barrel racer is really not much different from training any performance horse, and that was my background. The barrel racer has to learn to go on a loose rein, be responsive to your seat and legs and be in self-carriage. All barrel racers go through a stage where they anticipate and turn too early. You have to train them to listen for what you want them to do. In barrel racing terminology, a free runner is a horse that does not anticipate. A push-button horse is one that does anticipate and you have to push them right up into the turn. With the free runner you have to sit down early to give them time to collect for the turn. Rocky was a free runner, but he was very turney. If you sat down one stride too early, you were likely to knock a drum over.
“He started novice competition as a four-year-old, and he won a couple of open barrel races at the end of his five-year-old season. A barrel racer can hit their peak any time between six and twenty years old. If you look after them, they can still be winning late into their teens. The first few years of Rocky’s career, I had another open horse, so Rocky didn’t go everywhere, just selected places. He was really my main horse from when he was eight years old until he was twelve, and then I had another younger horse I would ride as well. Rocky wasn’t travelled all over the country and started in everything; he didn’t run every weekend; he shared his duties.
“To win what he did was amazing because back then, the prizemoney was not what it is today, and he wasn’t taken everywhere. To win 130 races from the limited showing he had was amazing. He had a high success rate. I went to Queensland one year (2009) and did the circuit of the bigger rodeos, and he won five out of six of them. He won both rounds and the average at Mt Isa. That was the only time we went to Queensland; for the most part, we stayed around home.
“Mostly, Rocky was a gentleman, but he could be a Jekyll and Hyde. He was very lazy just to ride, but he could spot something and disappear from underneath you in one stride. He would give you a warning, but he was so athletic, and if he wanted to drop his head and hump and carry on, you had no hope. I used to gallop him twice a week to keep him fit, and if he got his head down when you were going fast, you were gone. He was a beautiful old horse; he just had a naughty streak in him.
“There was a strong g-force in his turns, and at one competition, just six weeks after my son Dylan was born, Rocky turned from underneath me, and I went flat on my back in the middle of the arena; I had the wind knocked completely out of me. I had to ride another horse for a while because Rocky’s turns were too strong. A few other people rode him over the years, and all won barrel races on him, but he wasn’t a novice ride. The g-forces in the turn are strong, and I know a lot of people think we hang on to the saddle horn because we can’t ride, but it’s more because we want to stay out of the horse’s way and stay on. I drafted him a couple of times, and he was very good on a cow. I got a couple of places on him at local drafts. I showed him in ridden classes and he liked being a show pony; he loved a crowd.
“He had foot problems his whole life (thin soles), and we had to manage that. When he was 16, we discovered that he had spurs on his coffin bone (pedal bone). We discovered them then, but they may have been there for some time. He was just such a stoic old fellow; he just moved through it. We worked with that for a couple of years and only ran him sparingly on good ground. He was still running well, but working him every day was not the best for him, so I retired him, and he became the foal babysitter, and he was great at that. He was always kind to them and wouldn’t run around.
“A few years ago, he got a touch of laminitis, and I had to lock him up, and because of that, he became crotchety with arthritis. It got worse and worse, and he was lying down more than he was standing up. It was the hardest decision for me, but euthanasia was the best for him. He was in a lot of pain, and I just couldn’t leave him like that. It was very emotional for me, but the right decision for him, and he was put down in October 2021. He was twenty-six years old.
“I was blessed the day Rocky loaded onto our truck. He has been the best horse I have ever had.”
Some of Rocky’s Achievements:
Gundagai 8 wins
Taralga 8
Narrandera 6
Deniliquin 6
Cooma 8
Warwick 2 from 2
Isa 1 from 1
Tumut 5
Multiple wins Wagga, Roma, Bungendore, Yass, Chiltern, Merrijig
2x ABCRA Australian Champion
2x APRA Pro Tour Australian Champion
Multiple ABCRA Southern Zone Champion
Multiple APRA Premier State NSW Champion
I won multiple All Around Cowgirl titles in ABCRA & APRA Pro Tour both Australian and circuit due mostly to his barrel race winnings.
Article: Anna Sharpley.
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