If you plan to show in Amateur or Open competition, the AQHA Incentive Fund program is a great way to get a return on your hard-earned money. The concept is simple: show an American Quarter Horse that's enrolled in the Incentive Fund, earn AQHA points, and get money!

In 2001, a record 121,175 points were earned in AQHA competition, and for every point earned by an Incentive Fund horse in an open or amateur event, $30.47 was awarded (80 percent is given to the owner of the horse as of December 31, 2001; 10 percent is given to the sire nominator; 10 percent is given to the foal nominator).

Sire's Foal Earnings: $75, 946.75
Owner: Ann Myers, Ashland, Ohio

For the fourth year in a row, superstar performance stallion Zips Chocolate Chip rose to the top of the charts, having sired the most financially successful Incentive Fund foals competing in 2001. Zips Chocolate Chip, a 1985 bay stallion by the legendary Zippo Pine Bar and out of Fancy Blue Chip, sired foals that earned $75,946.75, of which Myers receives 10%. Almost all the stallions's foals are nominated to the Incentive Fund.

"The Incentive Fund has been great to us," said Ann Myers, owner of Zips Chocolate Chip. "It's more than paid us back for all the investment we've put in through the years, and it's an important asset for each horse to be in the Incentive Fund.

Myers, of Ashland, Ohio, markets the stallion extensively through his Website, www.zipschocolatechip.com, where Web users can research the stallion and his foals, search for horses for sale, play Zips Chocolate Chip games, enter coloring contests, read Myers' chocolate chip cookie recipe, and even view and purchase Zips Chocolate Chip jewelry. Even so, Myers said the Incentive Fund is still one of the best marketing tools.

"It's a must for foals of 'Chip', she explained, because most of his progeny are destined for the AQHA show arena. "People realize the importance of the Incentive Fund," she said. Any successful show horses not registered in the Incentive Fund are missing out on free money.

"Of course, I'm biased, because I own him, but he is kind of a step ahead in the pleasure horse industry," Myers said of the stallion. "It means a lot that this is his fourth year to be the leading sire of Incentive Fund horses. That means people have their Chips out there showing."

Myers, a 20-year breeder, said Chip's incredible disposition and good movement are what make him a leader of the pack.

"I went to video him after the World Show," she said. "He was out there loping around - and I thought, 'He could still win today!'"

Of course, Chip is getting up in years - he'll be 17 in May - but he's still going strong. So far, the world champion junior western pleasure stallion has sired 1,158 registered foals out of 13 foal crops. Of those, 563 are competing, and 420 have earned Registers of Merit.

The Superior western pleasure horse and earner of more than $18,000 with the National Snaffle Bit Association stands at Down the Rail in Valley View, Texas, where Joe Jeane has managed his breeding services since 1989.