animated .gif rollover---code confusion??

[lilspritebubbles]

ive tried about 4 different ways (codes) to view animated gif rollover links. each time, i didnt achieve the effect that i wanted.
i need a code that will do this for me:

when the image loads on the site: "image 1" (not animated)
onMouseOver: "image2" (not animated)
onMouseOut: "image3" (animated. the animation needs to be set to play only "once", not "looped" or "forever")


now, with this code here: (using those titles ^^^)

 [img]image1.gif[/img]

i thought this would work... it did, once. it loaded on the page as image1 (like i wanted), it showed image2 onMouseOver (like i wanted), and it showed image3 onMouseOut (like i wanted). but after doing this once, the animation (image3) wouldn't play onMouseOut, and instead only displays the final frame.
...because my animation is set on "play once" , it seems to me that the problem is, that the animated .gif image doesn't want to reload for every onMouseOut. am i right, or am i just confused...?

so, im looking for a code that can solve my problem.

any sort of help is appreciated!