 Nothing makes folks smile like a
chocolate chip cookie - or a horse named Zips Chocolate Chip.
Just ask
Ann Myers of Ashland, Ohio, breeder and owner of this phenomenal stallion. A
son of the legendary Quarter Horse Zippo Pine Bar, "Chip" struck gold in the
futurity ranks, winning seven major championships and three reserves at ages
two and three. At four, the flashy bay aced 10 straight American Quarter Horse
Association Western Pleasure classes en route to the World Show, where he was
unanimously declared World Champion in Junior Western Pleasure. Since retiring
to stud, "Chip" has become one of the all-time leading pleasure horse sires,
with progeny earnings of more than $1.5 million. He was also the first horse
inducted into the National Snaffle Bit Association Hall of Fame as both a show
horse and a sire.
It's a recipe for success Myers shares by passing
chocolate chip cookies to "Chip"'s many fans.
When she started breeding
Quarter Horses some 20 years ago, this soft-spoken woman had only an
eight-horse barn and a dream. She wasn't even in the market for a broodmare
when she bought "Chip's" dam, Fancy Blue Chip -- but she liked her way of
going, her disposition and her conformation. "You kind of take those
opportunities when they come along," she maintains. That mare's first foal,
Zips Blue Chip, merited a repeat visit to Zippo Pine Bar, an up-and-coming
Western Pleasure sire standing for a modest fee in Nebraska.
The
result, on May 5, 1985, was a bay colt with all the makings of a champion. "He
always had a lot of charisma about him," Myers notes. "He was just really
eye-catching. Even when he played in the field, he was always so graceful and
cadenced in his movement, and never took a misstep."
"Chip"''s
temperament was also noteworthy -- even in later years, as a stallion. "He's
like a puppy dog! He's so quiet and kind," his devoted owner says. "You can
turn him loose and he'll just stand there and pose, putting his little ears up
like a statue. I have a bunch of nieces and nephews, and when they were little,
we'd pile them on him bareback."
Myers had originally intended to bring
"Chip" home for use in her own breeding program. Because he was so quiet, she'd
also considered showing him herself. But then she sent him to up-and-coming
trainer Cleve Wells of Burleson, Texas -- and the rest, as they say, is
history.
At their first show together, "Chip" was the unanimous Texas
Breeders 2-year-old Snaffle Bit Futurity Champion. "We were just blown away! "
Myers remembers. Wells agrees, calling "Chip" the "....first true show horse I
ever rode. I was in awe," he says.
Unfazed by the rigors of training,
"Chip" routinely stole the spotlight with his floating gaits and relaxed
presence. "He was just one of those horses that stood out in the crowd," Myers
believes. "When he won, you would hear people cheering all around the coliseum!
And he never stopped winning."
Soon after "Chip" broke onto the scene,
Myers hit on the perfect scheme to promote her young stallion. "I went to
Wendy's to get something to eat during one of his futurities," she recalls.
"And they had those individually-wrapped chocolate chip cookies! I decided to
buy some and passed them around to the group I was with."
Today, she
hands a little home-baked happiness to everyone she meets. "I think that when
you get to some of these big horse shows, it gets so serious," she explains.
"So I like to lighten the mood and give everybody cookies... we even came up
with 'Chip''s own recipe."
With nothing left to prove, "Chip" was
retired from the show ring in 1989. He entered stud at Bob and Ann Perrys'
ranch in Valley View, Texas, where Zippo Pine Bar stood. "Chip"'s proximity to
his well-known sire gave him immediate access to quality mares and helped
jump-start his breeding career.
From the first, "Chip"stamped his get
with his kind face and his trademark "chocolate chips" (colored spots within
white markings). Another coveted legacy was his laid-back disposition. "Because
they're so quiet and kind, people who have his foals can really work with them
themselves, and enjoy them," Myers explains.
Before long, he was
following in Zippo Pine Bar's hoofprints - and then some. A leading sire of
AQHA performance horses since 1994, "Chip" was also the leading sire of AQHA
Incentive Fund earners from 1998 to 2001. "He's been at the top of the AQHA
chart for 10 years now," Myers says. "That's pretty hard to achieve. But with
'Chip,' I didn't have to do anything - and the reason it was so easy was
because he is an outstanding horse. He's been a winner at each stage of his
life."
"Chip" has sired world and national champions in different
breeds and disciplines around the world. Among them: Chipariffic, a five-time
AQHA world champion in hunter events; Skips Special Barb, a three-time AQHA
world champion in Western Pleasure; and Vallejo Caramel Chip, eight-time U.S.
and Canadian National Champion Half-Arabian.
And every year brings
another honor - not bad for an 18-year-old stallion! "It's like a fairytale,"
Myers reflects.
Note: This unique Breyer Model may ONLY be obtained through Chip's store:
Click Here To Order Your Limited Edition Model of Zips Chocolate Chip! |
ZIPS CHOCOLATE CHIP [VIDEO]
CHIPS HOT CHOCOLATE [VIDEO]