GoHorseShow is saddened to announce the passing of Congress Champion Sunsational Lollipop. The 29-year-old mare was by Sun Dee Sensation and out of Smokeys Condana. “I spent time with her last Friday,” her owner, Evie Morrell Degenhardt reminisces. “She had arthritis and had lost an eye, but it wasn’t something I was expecting to happen soon. Lollipop was laying down sleeping and passed away in her stall.”
The 1990 gray mare was bred by JR Reichert and was shown successfully by several owners including Donna Morgan of Pilot Point, Texas. Morgan was very successful with her during her three-year-old year. “She won for everyone – novices, non-pros, professionals,” says Steve Heckaman, who was one of her trainers. “The mare was a great show horse.”
Sunsational Lollipop won a Champion and Reserve Champion with two different owners in the Novice Amateur Western Pleasure at the Congress. Heckaman also placed third in the Senior Western Pleasure at the AQHA World Show. The mare was also a great producer that had several foals go on to be successful show horses.
Her last owner, Evie Morrell Degenhardt purchased Lollipop through a bankruptcy sale from the former owner, John Morken, of the Spring Grove Livestock Exchange. According to the Post Bulletin, a Minnesota newspaper, Morken was charged in September of 1996 with masterminding a check-kiting scheme that cost two Minnesota banks 41 million dollars in just ten months.
Heckaman and Degenhardt also mention that Lollipop was one of the horses in the trailer accident that killed Mary Carole Heckaman. Lollipop was in the trailer with another mare, Assets, and luckily they didn’t have any significant injuries. Heckaman credits the horse for helping him gain confidence to get back in the show arena after his accident.
“When both mares were retired, they remembered each other from the accident. They had to be stalled next to each other and turned out together,” Evie remembers. “They stuck to each other like glue.”
Evie reflects that Lollipop was her once-in-a-lifetime horse. “The outpouring of support after her passing has been amazing. The horse show community is a huge family where I have gained lifetime friends. Many people told me she was their favorite horse and set a high standard for what a pleasure horse should be. She changed my life forever, and I truly believe horses are on loan from God.”
GoHorseShow would like to extend our condolences to everyone involved with this exceptional mare throughout her career.
