Rock Solid Survey Results

In 2005, John Van Sickle of Delaware, Ohio, was looking forward to competing at the World Championship Paint Horse Show. His horse, a 2003 sorrel overo gelding named Zipman On Impulse, seemed like a promising contender for the 2-year-old Western Pleasure event. Unfortunately, tragedy struck the duo at the World Show.

“He ended up foundering,” Van Sickle said. “It was an absolute disaster. He was going to be my show horse for the next few years.”

Back in Ohio and without a horse to show, Van Sickle became restless. On a whim, he hauled his 2-year-old sorrel solid mare Zip Into My League to an October 2005 Ohio Paint Horse Club (OPHC) show in ­Lucasville. The mare—who Van Sickle had owned for only three months and was just ­recently green broke—surprised her owner and accumulated two Breeding Stock (now Solid Paint-Bred) Western pleasure points. Encouraged, Van Sickle took her to the Zone 8 show, this one in Springfield, Ohio, where they pulled down six additional points.

The announcement that “Ginger” had won a 2005 APHA Top Five Zone Award came as a surprise to Van Sickle, and inspired him to promote expanded opportunities for solid Paints within his regional club. As a result of the club’s cumulative efforts, Ohio has become a leading example of the success a solid Paint-bred show division can reap.