Alexandra Chavez & Zippin A Breeze

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10 – May, 2016

by Brittany Bevis

When up-and-coming, young horse trainer Aaron Moses jogged into the Congress pen last year aboard a then 2-year-old gelding named Zippin A Breeze, the judges weren’t the only ones to take notice.

“Danni caught my eyes when Aaron was showing him at the Quarter Horse Congress,” says AQHA amateur and non-pro futurity competitor Alexandra Chavez. “He has a great topline and a very correct jog and lope. He’s the ideal Quarter Horse. His talent enables him to lope within a slow pen of horses and then also extend his legs with smooth, forward motion.”

Chavez saw something in the young gelding that the judges also chose to reward as he and Moses were named the Reserve Congress Champions in the Coughlin 2-Year-Old Western Pleasure Futurity. The pair later went on to place third in 2-Year-Old Western Pleasure at the AQHA World Show and Danni was named the NSBA High Point 2-Year-Old Western Pleasure Horse for 2015. After a successful two-year-old year spent under the guidance of Gil Galyean Quarter Horses, Chavez purchased the promising gelding in December of 2015 with the hopes of continued success in the three-year-old and junior divisions.

Now, four months into 2016, Danni has already racked up an impressive number of wins in open and non-pro competition. He was named the Junior Western Pleasure Co-champion and Amateur Western Pleasure Champion at the 2016 Prairie Classic in Oklahoma City. He then went on to sweep the Amateur, Junior, Open, and Non-Pro 3- Year-Old Western Pleasure divisions at the 2016 Dixie Nationals in Mississippi. In addition, he was named the circuit champion in Amateur Western Pleasure at the Martinganza Quarter Horse Show and Futurity and won the 3-Year-Old Open Western Pleasure at the Virginia Quarter Horse Classic. As of April 15th, he’s already nationally qualified in both Amateur and Junior Western Pleasure for the AQHA World Show later this year.

Chavez attributes Danni’s continued success to two important factors: his impeccable breeding and superior guidance under his tag-team of trainers, Troy Lehn and Maggie Grandquist. Danni is by the AQHA All-Time Leading Sire, Invitation Only, and out of the topproducing mare, Zippin The Breeze, a 1999 model owned by Kathryn and Dan Frederick of Ocala, Florida. Sadly, Danni’s namesake passed away last December, but he seems destined to continue his mother’s legacy in spectacular fashion. After campaigning in 3-year-old futurity events this year, Chavez plans for Danni to continue his tutelage under the guidance of Lehn in Trail and Western Riding. Meanwhile, Grandquist will take the reins in Western Pleasure at major summer futurities, the All American Quarter Horse Congress, and the AQHA World Show.

In addition to Danni, Chavez has plenty of other talented horses in her competition lineup for 2016. She will show her 2011 AQHA/APHA gelding by RL Best of Sudden and out of A Good Cookie, A Chrome Cookie, in Amateur Trail, and Lehn will compete in Junior Trail. Good Like Jagger, a 2013 Zippos Mr Good Bar gelding, will be shown in 3-yearold Trail futurities this year with Lehn in the saddle. The group is also very excited about a two-year-old filly, by Hot Ones Only and out of a Luke At Me granddaughter, named Just Gettin Started that will show in 2-Year-Old Open and Non-Pro Hunter Under Saddle Futurities.

“We’re really excited to see what 2016 has in store for us,” Chavez says. “We have a new team, a new facility in Texas, and some really talented horses to add to our already impressive lineup. We’re also expanding our breeding program using some of our talented mares like AQHA World Champion, NSBA World Champion, and Congress Champion Beautiful Maiden and Congress and NSBA World Champion Hot Lopin Goodbar, as well as promoting our up-and-coming stallion, The Born Legacy, who was the 2016 Hylton Maiden Reserve Champion.”

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10 – May, 2016