Decorated AQHA show mare Rhapsody In The Rain, owned by Richard and Betty Carr, Bremen, Indiana, was humanely euthanized on Tuesday after suffering a broken hind leg.

“Everyone who was around Rainy fell in love with her,” said Betty Carr, “from all of our trainers to our vets and farriers to the girls at BSB Quarter Horses. We know there will never be another horse like her.”

Several years ago, Rainy suffered a snake bite that, over time, continued to take it’s toll on her health. On Tuesday while attempting to get up in her stall she suffered the broken hind leg.

“She was very smart and very courageous,” Richard Carr said. “We are so very grateful for the time we had with her.”

Sired by Zippin Bonanza Flash and out of Widow Rider (by Rocket Rider), the 1996 chestnut mare was bred by Marilyn White, Greenwood, Mississippi. She earned 149.5 open and 66 Amateur performance points and recorded $22,513 in National Snaffle Bit Association earnings. As a 2-year-old she placed ninth at the AQHA World Show in Western Pleasure with Tom Chown in the saddle. The following year Rhapsody In The Rain won her first All-American Quarter Horse Congress Championship in the Limited Division of the 3-Year-Old Snaffle Bit Derby, with Chown in the saddle, and then returned in 2002 to claim another in Senior Western Pleasure with Troy Compton.

The Carrs purchased Rhapsody In The Rain a month later and Richard Carr showed her to numerous AQHA circuit championships over the next three years. In 2003 Richard rode Rainy to a Congress Reserve Championship in Amateur Select Western Pleasure and then in 2005 they placed eighth at the AQHA Select World in Western Pleasure.

As successful as Rhapsody In The Rain was in the show pen, she was perhaps even more prolific as a producer. In all, her foals have earned over 2,000 AQHA points and have over $75,000 in recorded NSBA earnings.

Sleepin In The Rain, a 2005 chestnut mare by Too Sleepy To Zip, earned an AQHA Youth World Championship in Western Pleasure in 2009. That same year she was named Reserve Congress Champion in Green Western Riding and Reserve Congress Champion in Amateur Western Riding. In addition she was NSBA World Champion in Amateur Western Pleasure. In 2012, she captured a Reserve World Championship in Performance Halter Mares at the AQHA Youth World Show.

Gota Lota Rain, a 2005 bay gelding by Carr’s stallion, Gota Lota Potential, is an Open and Amateur AQHA Champion, qualifying for World Shows almost annually since 2009. He won the Open Intermediate Exhibitor Performance Halter Geldings title at the 2013 AQHA World Show.

Too Rainy To Sleep, a 2006 sorrel gelding by Too Sleepy To Zip, is the 2010 Open Reserve AQHA World Champion in Junior Pleasure Driving and in 2015 he was named the AQHA Level 1 East 13 & Under Youth Hunter Under Saddle Champion. He has also placed in the Top 10 at the AQHA World Show and Select World Show in several events.

The Carrs still own foals out of Rhapsody In The Rain – including Congress Walk-Trot Horsemanship Champion, One Hot Rainy Night, by One Hot Krymsun; Hez Rainy Made, a 2016 chestnut gelding by Machine Made and Stranger To The Rain, a 2017 sorrel stallion by Machine Made.

“We are deeply saddened at the passing of a mare that has been so special to us for so many years,” said Betty Carr. “But we find comfort in knowing we still have several of her offspring and look forward to watching their show careers unfold.”