The Fall of the Supremes
They were masters of the breed. They proved their worth on the track, in the halter classes, working cows, and by winning the hearts of millions. But, sadly, as does everything in life, their achievements have faded away; hardly anyone knows who they are or what they did.
An AQHA Supreme Champion award is given to quarter horses who meet the requirements of earning two official speed index ratings of 90 or higher and earning points in specific performance and halter events. In addition, this award is listed as a lifetime achievement.
This award is so prestigious that only 52 quarter horses have received it since it began in 1966. The first to earn the honor was Kid Meyers. People had never seen such a versatile horse before. He was the beginning of an era and sired 104 foals.
Although only 52 quarter horses have claimed this achievement, people did not seem to flock to them as much as FireWaterFlit and HighBrowCat. Nevertheless, the most recent supreme champion has some articles by AQHA, his allbreedpedigree, and his headshot.
That is all that comes up when you google his name. In comparison, HighBrowCat has its website and Facebook page, articles were written about him, and all his foals are listed. FireWaterFlit is very similar, pieces have been done on him by multiple magazines, and he is very popular.
The Supreme Champions are proven in many events, and while FireWaterFlit and HighBrowCat are amazing horses, they were good at one thing. Unfortunately, the rest of their listed achievements are how much money their offspring have made. So this begs why the Supreme Champion seemed to fall out of popularity.
There are many contributors to why the Supreme Champions aren't as popular as they once were. The AQHA doesn't give them enough credit, people want a horse that only excels in one area, and their owners do not advertise them enough.
The first one is that the AQHA doesn't seem to put articles out about them or say much about the Supreme Champions in the first place. As a result, it is hard to find anything about them, and only some of them get featured in magazines and journal articles despite their achievement.
The second reason is people want to get a horse that can do their sport. People want that niche horse that is just really good at running barrels, which has led to one trick studs. Unfortunately, many of these studs' only claim to fame is the reputation of their foals. Not to knock down any of these studs, they have their place, but one of the quarter horses' most significant feats is its versatility.
I had a unique experience; my family owned the 46th Supreme Champion Lucks Easyfanta Boy. I saw firsthand the impact a Supreme Champion has on a breeding program. As we called him, Fanta Boy was always a calm horse who knew what was needed of him and overachieved in every aspect of his career. He bred mares consistently until he died but was calm enough I could sit on his back with just a halter. If I had not grown up knowing who Fanta Boy was, I would not know what the Supreme Champion is today.
However, the third reason the Supreme Champions are not as well known is that the people who own them do not advertise them enough. After earning the Supreme Champion achievement retired, there was no reason for magazines to keep pushing ads for a horse standing at stud. With that being said, the owners of these studs should be putting articles in every quarter horse magazine, every racing magazine, and every other horse publication they can think of.
Now we have halter horses who can't run, reining horses that can't win halter, and we have taken the versatility out of many quarter horse breeding programs. I hope that as quarter horse programs continue selecting studs to breed to in the future, they will remember those who reigned supreme.
