2-Year-Old Western Pleasure

      Really, it was almost an accident. When Ziprageous came into here life, Mary Stricker, Batavia, Ohio, didn't even know she wanted the chestnut stallion. But Stricker was a customer of Jamie Pait's and the trainer knew great potential when he saw it.

      It all began with a trip to his brother's place last summer. E.H. Jeffery's brother was the 1999 World Champion in Senior Pleasure and is part of Cleve Wells' operation in Burleson, Texas. At the time of the visit, E.H. was in the process of breaking a pleasure prospect, which belonged to a customer. With just about 60 days of training on him, the horse already showed promise and looked like it would be a good mover, and he was for sale at the right price. Paint recognized the latent talent and went home to present an acquisition idea to the Stricker family.

      Were the customers in the market?

"They weren't, but he was just such a nice horse we couldn't pass him up," Pait laughed. But on the more serious side, the trainer appreciated the opportunity to work with the green-broke colt.

      "I was very fortunate to have a customer to go out and buy a horse like that for me. They paid for him, but he's well worth it."

      And the dividends have certainly been coming in over the past two months. Ziprageous pocketed the Championship at the AQHA World Show in the 2-Year-Old Western Pleasure and secured his equity in the 60,107 purse. This honor followed on the heels of his other impressive showing at the Quarter Horse Congress where he generated his own first payment with a second place win in the GMC Snaffle Bit Open, winning over $25,000.

      The surprising part is that the horse has had all this new-found success after only a few months under Paint's tutelage.

      "It sure hasn't been long at all," the trainer commented. "He was a green-broke when I got him, but he was steady and just a real nice horse."

      According to Pait, Ziprageous is the type of horse that modern judges are looking for.

      "They like a big ol' mover and he sure is that," Pait said "He jogs, he lopes and goes both directions. He's a pretty steady horse."

      The unanimous decisions in both the 71-horse first go and then again in the finals of the World Show and hard-copy proof of the horse's contemporary style. Paint says the horse might even be a little ahead of his own time.

      "He's kind of mature for his age and has always been that way. He's kind of freaky because he's so quiet. He's the easiest horse that I've ever been around and he's got a lot of talent," said Pait.

      While his brothers, E.H. and Jeffery, already had a host of world championships to their credit, this was the first such title of Pait. He humbly holds the horse completely responsible.

      "I've never had a horse that could lope that big and jog that well, go in both directions and then have a great mind too. I've never had the whole deal like that, I mean I've had some nice horses, but he's pretty special."

      By Zippos Old Gold and out of Zipped It Up by Son Oil, Stricker's horse is bred for talent and might very well be on his way to a long, glimmering career. As for a future training strategy, Pait said it's just more of the same.

      "I wouldn't change a thing about him - not one thing," Pait said. "He's probably the only horse I've ever ridden that I could say that about."

      She's Blazin Trails was Reserve in the 2-Year-Old Western Pleasure. Owned by Liz Hay, Pinnacle, N.C., the brown mare is by Blazing Hot out of Hollie Mack Reynolds by Mr. Mac Reynolds.

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