Hello and happy spring to the SOF community! We hope that you all are enjoying as lovely of weather as we have been getting here in the Treasure Valley. We have lots of exciting news to share, so please keep reading!
SOF KCs Zippin Asset (left) and SOF Lylas Radical Zip (right) heading off to their new homes.
Since our last newsletter, at the beginning of March, we sold our two 2020 fillies, SOF KCs Zippin Asset (KC) and SOF Lylas Radical Zip (Lyla). We are incredibly excited to see what these lovely girls accomplish at their new homes. KC's sire, One Special Asset (Sacred Assets), was ranked in the top 25 for APHA's 2020 Year End Leading Sires in Halter Points Earned, Halter Point Earners, and Performance Point Earners. "Leggs" himself is a 6-time APHA Grand Champion, 6-time Reserve Grand Champion, and Register of Merit earner in Longe Line. He is a multi-World Champion producing sire, and his foals have also earned Championships, Register of Merits, and points in Halter, Showmanship, Longe Line, In Hand Trail, Color Class, Hunter Under Saddle, and Western Pleasure. Needless to say, we have high hopes for KC in the show pen!
KC is not the only one we have high expectations for! Our homebred filly, Lyla, actually joined her full sister, SOF Blue Me Away ("Reagan") at her new home. Reagan's owners were so happy with her that they snatched up Lyla when she became available. They are out of our stallion, MZ Blues Only (Mister Zipper), who is a multiple Pleasure Futurity winner and earner of numerous APHA Lifetime Performance points in Western Pleasure. He is the sire of a 2-time APHA Grand Champion and earners of APHA and PtHA halter points. We are excited to see Lyla, Reagan, and KC grow in the show pen!
Starting last spring, we needed to focus on finding good show homes for some of our horses. So, we did not breed in 2020 and, thus, are not expecting any 2021 foals. Since we had a successful sale year (congratulations new owners!), we are planning to breed three of our mares for 2022 foals. We are very excited about maintaining the breeding program here at Sterling Oaks Farm to produce excellent and versatile show prospects.
We will continue to breed our homebred cross of MZ Blues Only ("Mike") and Ladys Radical Romance (Hot Roddin Zip). Owners of "Romance" and Mike's offspring constantly say how trainable, loving, and talented their horses are. Despite only attending two shows so far, Reagan has already earned points in Halter, and her owner plans to show her under saddle in Western Pleasure soon as well. SOF Ravishing Rodder ("Prince") is currently training for dressage and looks absolutely incredible. Lyla will focus on growing this year, and then start showing next year. We can't wait to see what Mike and Romance produce next!
We will breed our other two mares, MZ Marilyn Zipper (Mister Zipper) and My Special Invite (Mister Zipper), to two accomplished outside stallions, VS Total Heartthrob ("Luke") and One and Only Asset ("Marshall").
Luke is a 2015 bay tobiano stallion by VS Flatline (Lazy Loper x Vital Signs Are Good) and out of She Can Cadillac (Reds Black Max). He is an incredibly talented and versatile stallion. Luke has already achieved 2 APHA Championships, 3 World Championships, 6 Reserve World Championships, 48 Grand Champions, and 20 Reserve Grand Champions. We don't have nearly enough space to list all of the additional Superiors and Register of Merits Luke has earned in numerous classes. Despite his oldest offspring only turning two this year, several have already achieved their APHA Register of Merits in In Hand Trail. We are excited to breed him to our maiden mare and Special Invitation granddaughter, My Special Invite. "Invite" is currently for sale and can be sold with her breeding to Luke. Please reach out if you are interested.
Marshall is a 2016 bay homozygous tobiano stallion by One Special Asset (he is a half brother to KC!) and out of One Hot Appointment (By Appointment Only). He is a true triple threat stallion with championship wins in Performance Halter, Western Pleasure, and Hunter Under Saddle at the National and World levels. Like Luke, Marshall's oldest foals are only two, but they are already showing great promise as all-around horses. Marshall is siring foals with correct conformation, great minds, winning movement, and guaranteed color. We know why they say, “he’s an asset to any program!” We are looking forward to crossing him with our Superior Halter earning mare, MZ Marilyn Zipper.
VS Total Heartthrob (left) and One and Only Asset (right)
We are thrilled at the opportunity to breed to these young and accomplished stallions. As of now, these foals will be offered for sale, so please reach out anytime if you would like to discuss your interest.
We hope you enjoyed reading our April newsletter, and we look forward to keeping you updated on what's happening around the barn and with SOF horses at their new homes. If you have an SOF horse that you would like to be featured in a newsletter or on social media, please contact us on Facebook and Instagram (@sterling.oaks.farm) or reach out to us over email at sterlingoaksfarm@gmail.com.
Best Wishes!
Naomi, Jason, Brian, and John