11/12/2019
It is with heavy hearts that we share the passing of our 28 year old star, our beloved Hawkeye. Hawkeye was born “Frosty Bar Redford” on April 20, 1991 in Ramona, CA and was a show horse before he was in the movie “Braveheart”. Hawkeye was handsome and distinctive with 3 white socks, a black main and tail and his right eye was blue and his left eye was brown but it was his big heart that truly set him apart. When Sheriff Steve Gorski & Hawkeye became a team then Hawkeye moved to Oregon with Steve & Hawkeye even doing Search & Rescue work together. Steve & Hawkeye were also together when Hawkeye was in the movies -again- in the movie “The Hunted” filmed at Silver Creek Falls. 2011 was the year when we met Hawkeye. That’s when we received a call from Steve’s wife Kim who shared that she had seen in the Statesman Journal, the morning of her call, an article on our ranch and that right next to the article was her husband’s obituary. Kim said she felt Steve had shown her where Hawkeye was to go following Steve’s unexpected passing. Hawkeye was such a wonderful gift. Over the past 8 years Kim was a frequent visitor here and Hawkeye always lit up both when he saw Kim - and when he saw that she’d brought his favorite peppermint candies! Hawkeye was a huge horse with an even bigger personality, he was a character. He loved the rain and the snow especially (watch the video of him excited to come out of the barn and see snow -with the sound on - to the end). When Hawkeye retired from having riders a couple of years back he still had a very important job at the ranch as everyone’s resident confidant. Hawkeye listened to young and old every week as they shared their hurts, hopes, successes and dreams and he took his counselor position very seriously. Hawkeye had visitors who were fans of his movies, men especially, who usually explained that one or the other of the movies he was in were their favorite and a picture with Hawkeye would be so cool, and Hawkeye was happy to oblige them. Hawkeye’s best friend before coming here was Kim’s tiny chihuahua named Mouse who he was exceedingly careful around and he seemed very conscious of their tremendous size difference. Once he moved here he expanded his animal friends circle and had his herd of horses and deer (pictures attached) as well as various dogs, cats and birds that all just seemed drawn to him and with all he showed the same gentle careful care of his littler friends. On behalf of Katie and Jasmine and all of us at LRR we want to thank all you who have loved Hawkeye and please know that he loved you right back! Thank you to Hawkeye’s sponsors through the years, with a special thank you to Dr. McGuire, Dr. Fullmer, Dr. Howard and Dave Thiems for your excellent care of our big guy as well as Jeff & Tim Fairchild, Carol Jones and Steve & Tracy Mitchell for jumping in when we needed you. We are so all so blessed to have had our big, one-in-a-million friend Hawkeye and we have been smiling through our tears as we’ve pictured Hawkeye and Steve racing all around heaven, together once more. ❤️
