Hooves to Headlines: Heart Stoppin’s Rising Empire

Heart Stoppin is a 2016 bay stallion bred and owned by Voge Quarter Horses, known around the barn as “Joey.” His story is starting to feel familiar in the best way: a stallion whose name keeps surfacing wherever the competition runs deepest.

Built on a foundation of proven bloodlines and modern performance priorities, Joey represents the balance breeders chase: athletic ability, rideability, and the consistency to hold up in real programs.

From the beginning, the goal wasn’t simply to campaign a stallion. It was to develop a sire capable of winning beyond one home program, producing horses that fit a variety of riders, trainers, and disciplines. Now, as more of his foals step into the pen at the sport’s biggest stages, that long-term vision is turning into something measurable. And something you can feel.

Pedigree Overview

Heart Stoppin’s pedigree reads like a blueprint for modern Western Pleasure success, blending a headline-making sire line with the kind of dam power Voge Quarter Horses has intentionally built their program around.

On the top side, he’s by RL Best of Sudden, a name synonymous with elite Western Pleasure and all-around results, by A Sudden Impulse and out of Zip N Therapy. A Sudden Impulse has long been respected for producing horses that bring the look, cadence, and competitiveness demanded at the highest levels, while Zip N Therapy adds depth and durability through the enduring influence of Zippo Pine Bar, one of the discipline’s most foundational sires.

But Joey’s identity isn’t shaped by his sire line alone. If the top side gives him profile, the bottom side gives him gravity. His dam, One Hot Mouse, is by One Hot Krymsun and out of the influential producer Nuthermousenthehouse (by Certain Potential and out of The Mouse Is Talkin), bred by Tim & Lou Petty. For Voge Quarter Horses, the story of Heart Stoppin doesn’t begin in 2016. It traces back to the moment they said yes to a young mare they believed in.

The Story of Nuthermousenthehouse

“We bought Nuthermousenthehouse in December of her two-year-old year from Tim and Lou Petty,” they recall. “She had already found success in the yearling longe line and her two-year-old pleasure career. We loved her movement and her conformation, and she fit our budget.”

What began as a practical decision quickly became foundational. They continued showing her to additional pleasure success before retiring her to the broodmare band. Even then, her greatest influence was still ahead. The family had already proven itself. “We loved watching The Mouse Is Talkin with Mitch Leckey. That line just kept producing.”

Nuthermousenthehouse would go on to anchor the program’s maternal strength. Through daughters like One Hot Mouse, herself a multiple Congress and futurity-producing mare. In breeding terms, Nuthermousenthehouse is Heart Stoppin’s maternal grand-dam. In practical terms, she is one of the reasons he is who he is. Perhaps most telling, the decision to cross Nuthermousenthehouse on One Hot Krymsun came while Voge Quarter Horses was working with trainer Dave Dellin, who was showing One Hot Krymsun at the time. It was a decision informed not just by paper, but by proximity to performance.

That bottom side is not decorative. It is deliberate. When you study Heart Stoppin today, the self-carriage, the presence, the consistency seen in his foals, you are seeing more than a sire line. You are seeing the reinforcement of a maternal family built to produce. Joey’s rise did not begin in a show pen. It began with a mare whose influence continues to echo through every foal that carries his name.

Offspring Performance Highlights

Pedigree sets the expectation. Progeny confirm it.

The true measure of any stallion isn’t found on paper. It is found under the lights, in the warm-up, when the announcer calls the back numbers and the pressure rises. For Voge Quarter Horses, watching Heart Stoppin’s foals step into that moment has been the clearest validation of a long-term plan executed with patience.

This year alone, Heart Stoppin offspring have consistently won and earned at the sport’s most competitive stages, including The All American Quarter Horse Congress, AQHA World Championship Show, and NSBA World Championship Show. They are not isolated standouts from one barn or one rider. They are showing up across programs.

To better illustrate that impact, we compiled the complete group of Heart Stoppin foals represented at these three premier world events in 2025. Below is a detailed look at those who earned money in world-level competition, including total earnings, dams, damsires, owners, and breeders. Together, they offer a broader view of the pedigrees and programs contributing to Joey’s expanding influence.

2025 World Show Top Earners
NSBA • Congress • AQHA

Beyond those earnings, additional Heart Stoppin progeny were represented across these same world-level stages in 2025, further underscoring the depth and reach of his presence in elite competition.

Additional 2025 World Show Representatives
NSBA • Congress • AQHA

What stands out is not just the dollar figures or the number of entries. It is the range. Different maternal lines. Different damsires. Different owners. Different programs. Yet the results consistently trace back to the same sire.

What makes Joey’s early sire record especially compelling is that his foals aren’t succeeding in one narrow lane. Across Western Pleasure, Hunter Under Saddle, Trail, and broader all-around paths, they’re demonstrating versatility without sacrificing style.

For Voge Quarter Horses, the realization that Joey was becoming more than a promising young stallion didn’t arrive in a single headline moment. It unfolded as his oldest foals reached their three-year-old year.

“Probably when his oldest foals were three,” they reflect. “We started seeing the diversity when he was crossed on different genetics and hunt seat mares. That’s when it clicked.”

Earlier in our conversation, we asked Julie to describe Joey in three words. Her answer came instantly: “Quite The Ham.”

It’s a lighthearted phrase, but it captures something essential. There’s personality there — presence, awareness, a certain confidence that fills the barn aisle.

“It’s hard to pick a favorite,” they say. “What we love most is their trainability and their personalities. They learn their job quickly. And honestly? Many of them are hams just like their sire.”

That consistency of mind, movement, and adaptability is what allows a stallion’s influence to travel beyond a single program. It’s what gives breeders confidence when they plan a cross. And it’s what has propelled Heart Stoppin from promising junior sire to a name that appears with increasing regularity wherever the competition runs deepest.

Super Sires Stallion of the Year Rankings

Success at major shows builds reputation. Sustained success builds ranking.

In a discipline where headlines can be written in a single weekend, the Super Sires Stallion of the Year standings tell a longer story, one measured not by isolated wins, but by cumulative influence. Because the rankings are driven by offspring performance at major events across the United States, they have become one of the most meaningful scoreboards of real-world impact.
For Heart Stoppin, the climb through those standings mirrors the trajectory of his foals: steady, measurable, and increasingly difficult to ignore.

Super Sires Rankings Through the Years:

2025 – #3 Super Sires Stallion of the Year (103 points)
2024 – #1 Super Sire of the Year (180 points)
2023 – #4 Super Sires Stallion of the Year (32 points)
2022 – #12 Super Sires Stallion of the Year (6 points)

The pattern is clear. As his foal crops matured, so did his presence in the rankings. That kind of distributed success is difficult to manufacture. It points to traits breeders value most: minds that develop, bodies that hold up, and movement that translates across divisions.

For a junior sire to move from #12 to #1 in just two seasons isn’t a moment. It’s momentum. And momentum, in the breeding world, is often the clearest signal of staying power.

2025 APHA Gold Breeders Futurity Leading Performance Sire

If the Super Sires standings reflect sustained influence, the APHA Gold Breeders’ Futurity Leading Performance Sire title underscores Joey’s expanding reach across associations.

In 2025, Heart Stoppin was crowned the APHA Gold Breeders’ Futurity Leading Performance Sire after seven offspring earned a combined $13,243.80 in performance futurity competition at the APHA World Championship Show.

The wins spanned multiple divisions, reinforcing a pattern already visible across world-level competition: his influence is not confined to one discipline or one program.

For a deeper look at the individual performances and what this milestone represents within the APHA Gold Breeders’ Futurity program, read our full feature here: VQH Heart Stoppin Crowned 2025 APHA Gold Breeders Futurity Leading Performance Sire

For a stallion still early in his producing career, this kind of cross-association recognition signals something important. It signals trajectory.

Voge Quarter Horses: Building With Intention

Accolades, rankings, and titles matter in any program, but they are never the result of one factor alone. Heart Stoppin’s rise as a sire reflects more than individual brilliance. It reflects a breeding program built on deliberate decisions and long-term vision. At Voge Quarter Horses, each cross is approached with the understanding that you are breeding to an entire pedigree, not just the first generation.

When selecting mares specifically for Joey, the goal is not simply to stack paper. It is to protect what makes him consistent and to reinforce what makes him versatile.

“We pick our mares based on several qualities, but probably the most important thing we follow is something Mary Kay Steyskal taught us many years ago: when you cross a mare and a stallion, you are breeding to the whole pedigree. Not just the first generation.

So we try to pick mares that are good movers, conformationally correct, and have lots of successful ‘families’ in their pedigree. We think Lookin Like Trouble is a prime example of all three of those characteristics, and we are just so proud to own her. Heart Stoppin embryos out of her are on the way!”

That philosophy extends beyond the breeding shed and into the foaling barn. Once the foals hit the ground, the focus shifts to foundation. Consistency in handling, clear expectations, and structure from day one. By the time a Heart Stoppin foal leaves the program and steps into a training barn, the basics are already ingrained, routine, responsiveness, and the confidence that comes from understanding what’s being asked. It’s that early foundation that shows up later in the show pen, in trainability, adaptability, and in the kind of steady mindset that holds up under pressure.

In a sport where stallion trends can shift quickly, Heart Stoppin’s story feels refreshingly steady. His foals are not dependent on one barn, one rider, or one division. They are showing up. Holding up. Earning their place.

Backed by a maternal line with real gravity and guided by a program built on intention, Joey is becoming more than a promising junior sire. He’s becoming the kind of stallion breeders don’t simply admire from a distance. They plan around him.