Rowdy's Story

Rowdy Harllee September 1994-September 3, 2007

It was a hot sultry day as Ryan and I were loading the rig to go home.  He was loading the bar-b-que pit, any food that was left over, throwing the trash away and securing the generator and ice chest on the bed of our western hauler truck.  I was loading horses, buckets and dogs.  It was June 10, 2007 around 2 pm and we were on our way home from a long weekend.  We had been to Kossee Friday night and Saturday and Sunday in Waco at the Mary Greene Memorial Barrel Race.  Much to my dismay we were leaving empty handed.  And as most know this makes for a long trip home!  We stopped about 10 miles south of Waco at the Hewitt exit and that is when I realized Rowdy was not on the back of the truck.  I thought Ryan was playing a sick joke on me and when I realized he wasn't I began crying and freaking out.  Visibly upset I grabbed Pig Pen off the bed of the truck and put her in the cab.  We started back tracking north on I 35 - this was horrible because every piece of debris I would see in the road I would gasp and hope it wasn't Rowdy's lifeless body.  Ryan and I made the decision to pick his body up if we found him.  It was not right to leave my partner of 13 years lying in the road.  He was due a proper burial.  I called home to my parents and they were equally upset.  They were making the trek to Waco from Floresville Texas.  I thought it was ludicrous but once my Dad's mind is made up there is no changing it.  So be it.  In the meantime Ryan and I go back to the arena.  He unhooks the trailer and gets the horses situated while I go to the announcers stand and have them announce that I had lost Rowdy.  I was so upset!!  I had to find my baby!!  So we drive up and down Valley Mills Drive and holler for Rowdy.  We meet some really nice and helpful people along the way but no Rowdy.  My parents arrive at about 6 or 7 that evening and help us look some more.  Well nightfall came and we still did not have Rowdy.  I was so upset thinking he was injured, thirsty, hungry and alone.  I can only imagine what was going thru his mind.  My mom had brought her laptop so I get on www.barrelhorseworld.com and post that Rowdy had fallen off my truck.  The response I got was overwhelming!!!  Girls from across the nation gathered on that post to pray for Rowdy’s safe return to me.  Local girls pm’d me their phone numbers and offered time from their busy schedules to help me look for Rowdy.  Many girls gave me phone numbers to vets, animal shelters and man and beast type organizations.  My parents coming up to Waco worked out because they took my trailer and horses home and Ryan and I got a motel room.  The next morning I woke up and started making phone calls to the area veterinarians, animal shelters and such.  Since I did not have my laptop I went to Kinko’s and made flyers.  We started our search again up and down Valley Mills Drive; visiting the vets, hollering for Rowdy and posting flyers.  At about 2:30 pm we decided we needed to get back to San Antonio.  As I was making my way home, some girls from BHW were making plans to do walk thrus each day until we found Rowdy.  Leaving without him was a hard decision for me but I had other animals that needed to be taken care of and we both have our jobs.  I cried myself to sleep on the way home. 

 

Ryan was going out of town that evening and we both decided I should not stay home alone in my condition.  So I had been at my parents’ house less than an hour when I got a phone call from a dispatcher at the Beverly Hills Police Department.  Mike, the manager of the Papa John’s Pizza, had Rowdy and would like for me to contact him.  I was elated, ecstatic!!!  I could not believe my ears!  I could not hang the phone up fast enough with the dispatcher to call Mike the Manager!!  I called Mike and we discussed Rowdy’s trade mark ears and his disposition.  It was him!!  In the meantime I had made friends with LaDonna, flossie on BHW, so I called her and she was out the door to pick him up!  Fifteen minutes later she called and had him in her possesion.  Dad and I decided that we would drive back to Waco and pick him up.  LaDonna and her husband, Gary, were so kind to meet us on I35.  When they drove up Gary was driving and LaDonna was riding in the backseat with Rowdy!!  I got to their truck and picked him up - when I placed him in our truck he let out a huge sigh of relief.  My handsome boy was back in my arms!  I rode in the backseat all the way home with him!  The next morning I took him to the vet and they bandaged his leg, gave us his pain meds and antibiotics and gave him a clean bill of health and a much needed bath.  I picked him around noon from the vets and took him to the office with me where he slept the rest of the afternoon!  In the following weeks/months I would notice Rowdy watching me.  The look on his face was different - I took it as a more loving look in his eyes.  He would "talk" more to me than ever before and watch me.  If I went into another room he would follow me (more than usual).  It was like he was saying "You DO love me!!".     

 

Then on Monday September 3, 2007 in Stockdale, Tx, we were packing things up from producing the Wrap'n 3 Barrel Race and Rowdy barely got caught under a trailer tire.  He took off running and I was not far behind him.  Once I got to him he laid down in my lap and I held him my arms until he died.  His favorite place was in my lap with me petting him.  God blessed me with him 13 years ago (nearly to the day) and again when he was returned to me in Waco.  Thank you Lord for the gift of Rowdy and for taking him quickly.  I knew he didn't have alot of time left so I tried to love him more, feed him extra scooby snacks and throw the ball for him whenever he wanted to play.  And of course he rode with us inside the cab of the truck.  I buried him under a tree near my parents house in Floresville and placed a cross on his grave.  All hope is not lost as I have his daughter, Pig Pen, plus I will see him again someday!  Thank you Rowdy for all the laughs, love and total devotion you gave me!!!  I love you handsome boy and I miss you something terrible!!!  XXOO         

 

 

       

Here are some pictures of Rowdy.  I plan on adding more.