The number one sire of pleasure point earners, Zips Chocolate Chip, came home to Myers Horse Farms in Ashland, Ohio this past Saturday. “He left our home when he was two years-old,” says, proud owner, Ann Myers. “After enjoying a wonderful life with Cleve Wells, Bob and Ann Perry and most of all Joe and Suzy Jeane for the past 26 years, Chip has retired to his birthplace. We are excited for him to be here. He has been our magical horse.”
For the past 24 years, Chip has been under the watchful eye of Joe and Suzy Jeane. Joe and his wife Suzy, an AQHA and NSBA judge, have been involved in the careers of some of the very best AQHA stallions in history. For more than a decade, they owned and operated Down The Rail Performance Prospects in Valley View, Texas where they stood Zips Chocolate Chip, Radical Rodder, Dress Western and many other notable studs. Previously, they were an integral part of the Perry’s breeding operation, the home of the late, great Zippo Pine Bar.
“Joe and I have been so blessed to have been involved in the lives of Chip and Zippo,” says Suzy Jeane. “Joe says, ‘Can’t top that cowboys!’ I say, Ann Myers and Ann Perry are the best. The ride we have been on is unforgettable!”
Myers said there are always fun things coming up that involve Chip.
He was asked to be a Breyer horse which Ann said was exciting…..like
winning the World! She also tells us about a story when a New York City
publishing house called and said they wanted to put Zips Chocolate Chip
in a coffee table book about chocolate. He ended up being in the 1001
Reasons to Love Chocolate book and he is on the page before Katherine
Hepburn’s brownie recipe.
Ann says that for Zips Chocolate Chip, everything has always come easy for him. “With horses, more often than not, there is something that doesn’t go as planned. Your dream horse injures itself or something happens to derail what you have envisioned for your horse, but that has never happened with Chip,” Ann fondly says. “Everything has gone perfect with him and he never really tried that hard to become famous–it came naturally to him. He is a happy horse, wants to please, is very laid back. He would have been a great kid’s horse if he wasn’t a stallion. I think Chip should have been in a Walt Disney movie— He has that kind of personality….He could have been a star!”
Zips Chocolate Chip was the 1989 AQHA World Champion Junior Western Pleasure horse. Chip is the all-time leading sire of western pleasure horses as well as his offspring has amassed over 43,000 points, 19 AQHA World Championships, and 12 AQHA Reserve World Championships, $877,037.07 in AQHA Incentive Fund Earnings and NSBA futurity earnings of $ 829,751.48.
Some of Chip’s famous get include: Chips Original Cooki, Skips Special Barb, One Red Hot Zip, Chips Chocolate Star, The Cookie Baker, Smooth N Chocolatey, Chip N Pie, Zippos RV, Chipped In Chocolate, Chocolua, Hotroddin Zippo, Chippariffic, Huntin For Chocolate, Chips Hot Chocolate, Twentyfourkaratchip, Zips Last Two Cents, and Blue Chip Chocolate.