IT'S COMING UP ROSES FOR EQUESTRIAN : CASTAIC WOMAN TO FULFILL CHILDHOOD DREAM OF RIDING IN PASADENA PARADE.

Byline: Sherry Joe Crosby Daily News Staff Writer

Ever since she was a little girl, Nancy Degan has dreamed of riding a white horse in the Tournament of Roses parade, the world's biggest such televised event.

On Wednesday, the 35-year-old Castaic riding instructor will get her chance astride her white Arabian-quarter horse mix, Sterling Silver.

``It's a dream come true,'' said Degan, a member of the Congress of Fancy Western Range Riders, one of several equestrian units taking part in the 108th annual Pasadena parade. ``It was 30 years in the making, but I did it.''

As part of the 19-member equestrian group, Degan and her horse will do the Spanish walk, a sweeping, majestic gait in which the horse extends its legs and steps higher than usual. A trick horse, he also may wave his forelegs at the crowd and rear while Degan is riding backward.

``He's a ham,'' she said. ``He does funny things when people are watching.''

The pair will wear matching cherry red outfits, with Sterling Silver sporting red-sequined anklets on all four legs and red roses in his mane and tail. Degan's attire will consist of a shimmery red blouse, red-and-white leather chaps and a silver belt buckle featuring the world-renowned red roses.

``I got this belt buckle five years ago,'' Degan said. ``I wasn't going to give up on'' the dream of marching in the parade.

Degan was 5 when she envisioned herself astride a white steed in the Colorado Boulevard parade.

``When I was a little girl I used to watch the Rose Parade, and I told my brothers one day I was going to ride in the Rose Parade on my white horse,'' she said. ``And they thought I was nuts.''

So strong was her desire to participate in the procession that Degan moved in 1990 from her hometown of Memphis, Tenn., to Los Angeles. She was 19 when she bought Sterling Silver at a bargain price.

``I was going to teach him to do tricks and put him in movies,'' she said.

And that's exactly what she did. During the past decade, Sterling Silver has landed roles in TV commercials, films and television shows, including ``General Hospital'' and the ``Late Show with David Letterman,'' where he bobbed for apples dressed in a red, white and blue baseball cap. And in January, moviegoers can see the equine in the film ``Meet Wally Sparks'' starring Rodney Dangerfield.

In the film, Sterling Silver portrays the horse of a Southern governor played by actor David Ogden Stiers. Rodney Dangerfield gets Sterling Silver drunk and rides him into a crowded ballroom, where he promptly sits down, much to the consternation of everyone gathered. Another scene shows the horse suffering from a hangover.

The ballroom scene required 17 takes before it was perfect - but it wasn't Sterling Silver's fault, Degan insists.

``The actors couldn't get their lines right,'' she said.

Sterling Silver also does dozens of tricks, ranging from ``singing'' to the theme music of TV show ``Baywatch'' to playing soccer and retrieving soda cans from a cooler.

``I told him no beer,'' Degan quipped.

Sixteen years ago, Degan bought Sterling Silver for $800 after he proved too wild and unmanageable for his previous owner. ``Nobody could do a thing with him,'' she said.

Now Degan said she gets offers of $20,000 for the horse, who won first place recently in the Gold Coast Series Horse Show at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank.

``He's the most unique horse in the world,'' Degan said. ``The more love you put in them, the more they give back to you.''

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--color) Nancy Degan of Castaic will ride her horse Sterling Silver in the Rose Parade.

(2) Nancy Degan, with her horse Sterling Silver, is a member of the Congress of Fancy Western Range Riders, one of several equestrian units taking part in the 108th annual Pasadena parade.

John Lazar/Special to the Daily News