Andy Cochran and Suddenly Extreme.

Congress and AQHA World Champion Suddenly Extreme was humanely euthanized on Monday following a lengthy battle with colic.

“He had a stricture that he was forming,” said his owner, Ruth Rowe, of Elizabeth, Colorado. “Scar tissue started laying down in some segments of his colon. He had some type of parasite when he was young that caused the continual scar tissue growth in the damaged areas.”

On Nov. 3, the day before the 2011 sorrel stallion by Extremely Hot Chips and out of RL Saved By Impulse, was scheduled to compete in Junior Trail at this year’s American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) World Championship Show in Oklahoma City, he was taken instead to Oakridge Equine Hospital in Edmond. There he was treated for colic and the next morning he underwent colic surgery.

Suddenly Extreme was scheduled to compete in Junior Western Riding, Junior Trail, Junior Western Pleasure and Performance Halter Stallions at the World Show by Chad Evans and Tyler Shultz.

“Chad was going to show him in the Level 3 events and Tyler was going to show him in the Level 2 events,” Rowe said. “He was up for the Superhorse award and was leading the nation in the Junior Trail and Western Riding.

Rowe said Suddenly Extreme initially bounced back from the initial surgery but veterinarians remained concerned.

“They finally called me on Sunday (Nov. 6),” Rowe said, “and explained that he had taken a turn for the worse.”

Rowe said veterinarians at Oakridge told her that if Suddenly Extreme did not start to improve they would be forced to go back in for a second surgery because there were still a couple of places in the bowel that were not moving.

Rowe said she immediately called Andy Cochran, who had trained and showed Suddenly Extreme to his World and Congress Western Pleasure titles, to tell him what was happening.

“I wanted him to hear from me and not from someone else secondhand,” Rowe explained.

Rowe, Cochran, Evans and a few other friends of the beloved stallion were able to visit with Suddenly Extreme before he went into surgery for the second time on Monday, Nov. 7.

After all resources had been exhausted and no hope was left, Suddenly Extreme was euthanized that evening.

“He loved on me, Chad, Tyler (Shultz), and Sarah (Keith),” Rowe said. “He was glad to see Andy even though he was really lethargic because of the pre-surgery medication, he still knew who he was. We all said goodbye before he went in and then that was it. There was nothing they could do when they went in there. There was just too much going on. He put up a really good fight.”

Suddenly Extreme was bred by Betty Rich of Wewahitchka, Florida, who sold him to Carl Yamber, of Roberta, Georgia, as a yearling.

“We knew all along that he had great potential,” Yamber said. “We started riding him off and on as a 2-year-old. He was a little immature so we waited until his 3-year-old year to really get started and it was then that he was purchased by Nick Weiss.

Yamber said there was never a doubt he was going to be a great horse.

“Everything you asked him to do was just so easy for him,” Yamber said. “He naturally wanted to go slow and he could not bend his front leg.”

Rowe purchased Suddenly Extreme in May 2014. That October he was the unanimous 3-Year-Old Limited Open Western Pleasure Champion at the All American Quarter Horse with Cochran aboard and that team also placed fourth in Green Western Pleasure. A month later Cochran and Suddenly Extreme claimed a Reserve Championship in Western Pleasure Stakes Level 1 at the AQHA World Show.

In 2015 he and placed third in Junior Western Riding at the All American Quarter Horse Congress with Evans. The team also placed seventh in Junior Green Trail.

A month later he teamed with Cochran again to capture a unanimous Championship in Level 2 Junior Western Pleasure at the AQHA World Championship Show.

He was also the NSBA High Point 3-Year-Old Novice Horse Western Pleasure Champion in 2015.

At the time of his passing Suddenly Extreme had 414 AQHA performance points in Western Pleasure, Trail and Western Riding and $50,156 in NSBA earnings.

Although he had not yet sired any foals, Suddenly Extreme had been collected and Rowe does possess some frozen semen.

“You could never lose him in a crowd,” Rowe said. “He was so smart and such a great athlete. He was a true gentleman and a joy to be around. Even after he had been at the breeding barn he walked right down the aisle, passed the mares with his head down, and went right back to his favorite thing, which was eating in his stall. If you could dream about a perfect horse, he is the one you would want. Andy called him a once in a lifetime horse. He was right. God doesn’t make those kinds of horses every day.”