Heritage Horse: Zippo Jack Bar — Born of Legacy, Proven in His Own Right

In our last Heritage Horse feature, we looked at Poco Pine, a horse whose influence extended far beyond his own era and helped shape generations of Quarter Horses. This time, that legacy continues through one of his notable descendants, Zippo Jack Bar. He belongs in this series not simply because his pedigree is recognizable, but because he represents what a true heritage horse should be: a stallion whose bloodline, individual ability, and long-term influence all carried real weight.

Zippo Jack Bar connects naturally to the Poco Pine story through Dollie Pine, the daughter of Poco Pine and an important mare in the family behind him. Through that line, he carried forward a pedigree that had already proven its value—while adding something distinctly his own. That combination is what makes him worth revisiting.

The Horse Himself

Zippo Jack Bar was a 1983 sorrel stallion owned by Hedy Levin and bred by Reynolds Inc.. Those details matter, but not because they are formalities. They place him in the real history of the horse industry, where great stallions are not only bred well, but are also recognized, developed, and preserved by people who understand what they have.

He was the kind of horse who stood out physically. At 16.1 hands, he had unusual size for a western pleasure horse of his time, yet that size did not work against him. Instead, it added to his presence. He reportedly carried himself with the softness, rhythm, and balance required in the pleasure pen while still having the eye-catching frame that made people remember him. That combination is rare. Larger horses can easily become heavy or difficult to present, but Zippo Jack Bar was remembered because he remained fluid and correct.

Pedigree with Purpose

Zippo Jack Bar’s pedigree was more than impressive on paper. It was a carefully layered combination of proven western pleasure blood, influential maternal depth, and repeated family strength that helps explain both his individual quality and his long-term value as a sire. He was by the legendary Zippo Pine Bar and out of Fair Eyed Jackie, a daughter of Two Eyed Jack and out of Scarborough Fair, bringing together some of the most established and productive names in Quarter Horse breeding.

On his paternal side, his pedigree includes Zippo Pine Bar, Zippo Pat Bars, Dollie Pine, Poco Pine, and Three Bars. On his maternal side, it adds the proven influence of Two Eyed Jack and linebreeding to Zippo Pat Bars through his daughter Scarborough Fair. What makes this background especially meaningful is not simply that these names are familiar, but that their influence is repeated and reinforced in a way that gave Zippo Jack Bar a strong, concentrated family built on consistency and quality.

One of the clearest examples of that concentration is the repeated presence of Dollie Pine. She appears once as Zippo Jack Bar’s paternal granddam and again as his maternal great-granddam through Scarborough Fair, reinforcing the same family influence on both sides of the pedigree. That repetition gave added depth and continuity to his background and helps explain why his pedigree carried such weight.

His pedigree was absolutely chalk-full of the foundation of great western pleasure breeding. Many of whom held many titles and later became great sires and dams of the future generations of western pleasure:

Early Promise and Personal Achievement

If pedigree explains the expectations placed on Zippo Jack Bar, his early show career explains why those expectations were justified. He was not remembered only for the family behind him – he proved early that he had the ability to stand on his own. Bred by Reynolds Inc. and later owned by Hedy Levin, he developed into more than a well-bred prospect. One defining moment came in 1985, when he was named Reserve Champion in the Two-Year-Old Western Pleasure at the Congress with Steve Heckaman. Results at Congress have always carried weight, and this performance confirmed that his pedigree was matched by real ability.

His record reflects that early success:

• Lifetime earnings: $27,745
• AQHA show record: Open H-1 / P-47; Amateur P-25
• NSBA earnings: $27,745
• Key milestone: 1985 Congress Reserve Champion in the Two-Year-Old Western Pleasure with Steve Heckaman

His own record gave that early success real credibility. Before he ever became known for what he would produce, he had already shown that he himself was the kind of horse worth reproducing. That part of the story matters, because too many influential sires are remembered only through their offspring, as if their own value began later in the breeding barn. In Zippo Jack Bar’s case, the foundation was already there.

Firsthand Accounts: Before the Spotlight

While show records and earnings establish what Zippo Jack Bar accomplished, they do not fully capture what he was like during the period before those results were secured. To better understand that stage of his development, we had the opportunity to speak with horsemen who remembered him firsthand, offering a perspective shaped not by hindsight, but by experience.

One of those recollections came from Mark Grice, an Ontario-based horseman who was active in the AQHA industry for decades. His memory places Zippo Jack Bar in the summer of 1985, when Patti Brannon was living just fifteen minutes from his farm in Caledon, Ontario after bringing the colt home from the Tom Powers Futurity. At the time, she was preparing a training article for Performance Horseman magazine and applying techniques she had learned from Jerry Stanford. Grice, who was then breaking colts, building his own show career, and doing horse photography, was asked to take the pictures.

The setting itself left an impression, but the colt left a stronger one. During one of the photo sessions, Zippo Jack Bar grew bored and let everyone know he had had enough by rearing high on his hind legs. Grice managed to capture the moment, snapping a quick photograph of the stallion from behind with Patti clinging to the saddle, and later recalled that she ordered extra copies of the published action shot. In the weeks that followed, she would trailer the colt over to continue riding and working through his development, and when the colt tested her, Grice would take his turn riding him with a firmer hand. Those details matter because they place Zippo Jack Bar in a real working environment—before the public milestones of his career had fully taken shape. They show a horse whose size, presence, and personality were already evident to those around him, long before his name appeared in the results.

A second perspective comes from Steve Heckaman, who would go on to show Zippo Jack Bar at the 1985 Congress. Heckaman recalled having seen the colt several times before ever riding him and already liking him, noting that the horse had already been recognized in other settings as well, including earlier exposure at the Tom Powers, where he had been shown by David Phlien.

He remembered him as a “really good horse” and noted that showing him was “a great experience.” He also credited Patti Brannon as the one who got him truly broke and prepared him to be a show-ready horse. He had not ridden Zippo Jack Bar prior to arriving at Congress that year, which made Patti Brannon’s guidance especially important. Heckaman recalled having detailed conversations with her about the colt’s training, what to expect, and how far he could be pushed. That preparation proved essential. Heckaman described Zippo Jack Bar as an unusually big, modern-made two-year-old for that era—over sixteen hands, very slow legged, and built differently from many of the horses around him. He also remembered asking how he would know when he had reached the point where the colt could be pushed no farther, only to find out in dramatic fashion when Zippo Jack Bar reared under the Congress Hall overhang and stood high on his hind legs.

In the Coliseum, those same qualities became an advantage. Recognizing that the horse was most effective when allowed to move freely, Heckaman chose to keep him off the rail and let him travel at a pace that suited him, allowing him to cover more ground than many of the other horses in the class. The result was the 1985 Congress Reserve Championship in the Two-Year-Old Western Pleasure and a $25,000 payout—an outcome that confirmed not only his pedigree, but the ability that those around him had already begun to recognize.

Taken together, these recollections add something a record page alone cannot. They show a horse who made an impression before he became widely known, and whose presence, ability, and personality were evident to experienced horsemen long before his influence as a sire began to take shape.

A Sire That Stamped His Get

If his own record made him credible, his production record made him significant. Zippo Jack Bar did not build his legacy on pedigree alone, or even on his own show-ring record alone. What secured his place as a heritage horse was the way he consistently passed his quality on. He went on to sire hundreds of foals, including a remarkable number of performers, point earners, and money earners, and his offspring kept his name visible in the show pen and in breeding programs long after his own competitive career had ended.

As a sire, his record included:

• 413 foals, including 242 performers and 185 point earners with 24,139 total points
• Offspring earnings: $370,456 AQHA IF, $295,748 NSBA, $1,290 NRHA, and 41,533 in World Show earnings
• Produced 4 Open World Champions and 1 Open Reserve World Champion
• Sired 37 Open Superior Performance horses
• Sired 37 Amateur Superior Performance horses
• Sired 51 Youth Superior Performance horses

Those numbers matter, but the real story is the pattern behind them. Many stallions leave one headline horse and spend years leaning on that single result. Zippo Jack Bar did not. His influence appeared across a wide group of offspring, which is the clearest sign that a stallion truly reproduced himself. He was not a one-horse sire. He was a transmitting sire, one whose get repeatedly showed the kind of quality, usefulness, and competitiveness that gave his name lasting weight.

Additional notable offspring include:

• Hes Just Too Sharp → an AQHA World and Congress Champion whose career spanned two decades and included more than 1,800 Western Pleasure points; he was also recognized as an NSBA Hall of Fame show horse.
• Shine My Zipper → the 1997 AQHA World Champion in Senior Western Pleasure and one of the few double-registered horses to win both the AQHA and APHA World titles in Senior Western Pleasure; by the end of his career he had earned 1,305 AQHA points and 27 APHA World or Reserve World Championships.
• Im Crystal Clear → a multiple AQHA World and Congress Champion, remembered as one of the standout performers associated with Zippo Jack Bar’s sire record.
• Too Sleepy To Zip → the 2002 Congress Champion in 2-Year-Old Limited Western Pleasure and seventh at the 2002 AQHA World Show in Western Pleasure. He was also recognized as the 2002 AQHA World Champion Hunter Under Saddle and later became an AQHA Leading Sire, NSBA Leading Sire, and 1.5 Million Dollar Sire.
• All Hands On Zip (ApHC) → a 5-time World Champion, ApHC Bronze Sire Production Plaque earner, and 2015 Appaloosa Horse Club Hall of Fame inductee.
• Exquisite Zippo → a notable palomino son who later became an influential sire, with offspring earning nearly $50,000 at the Go For The Gold Futurity and 30 World and Reserve World Champions in PHBA and ABRA.
• Jacks Are Lucky Too → another notable son who later became a sire himself, helping extend the line into later generations.

That influence also did not stop with his direct offspring. This is where a good sire becomes a heritage sire. Zippo Jack Bar went on to become an important broodmare sire, with daughters whose produce carried his influence into yet another generation. That second-generation impact is one of the strongest indicators of real genetic value, because it means the horse was not just producing winners himself. He was embedding qualities deeply enough that they continued to appear through his daughters as well.

• Dotevita → a daughter of Zippo Jack Bar whose produce included A Certain Vino, Potential Diva, Another Certain Vino, Certainly A Vision, and Nite Moves, making her one of the strongest direct examples of his value as a broodmare sire.
• Other daughters of Zippo Jack Bar → contributed to later standouts such as Rockin For Certain, Selection So Simple, Shes A Hot Straw, and Don’t Zip Charlie, extending his influence well beyond the first generation.

That is why Zippo Jack Bar’s legacy endured. He proved himself as an individual first, then proved something even harder as a sire: that his quality could be repeated. Through both his direct get and his daughters, he left an influence that extended well beyond his own lifetime, and that is what made him more than a successful stallion. It made him a lasting one.

Why He Belongs in the Heritage Horse Series

Zippo Jack Bar belongs in the Heritage Horse Series because he represents more than pedigree alone. His story reflects both continuity and individual achievement. He ties directly to Poco Pine through Dollie Pine, connecting him to one of the most influential family lines in the breed—but he did more than inherit that legacy. He reinforced it.

What makes him especially fitting for this series is the completeness of his career. He was well bred, proved himself in the show pen, and then built a sire record that extended his influence far beyond his own era. His legacy was not based on fashion or a single standout moment—it was built on quality that held up over time. He also represents an important transition in Quarter Horse history. Through him, a foundational bloodline did not simply continue—it remained relevant in a newer era of western pleasure and all-around competition. His career demonstrates how inherited quality can be maintained and strengthened when matched with the right individual.

In the end, that is what defines a true heritage horse. It is not pedigree alone, nor performance alone, but the ability to leave a lasting influence that continues to appear in future generations. Zippo Jack Bar did exactly that, and that is why his place in this series is fully earned.

His story is only one part of a much larger legacy—one we will continue to explore in the horses we feature next in our Heritage Horse Series.