Multiple  Congress Champion and Reserve American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) World Champion producer Hot Diggity Joe was humanely euthanized on Friday in Ocala, Florida, following a brief battle with congestive heart failure.

The 1998 sorrel stallion, sired by Blazing Hot and out of Jodie Fivette, was bred by and owned his entire life by Kerry Bradac, first at her North Dakota’s Bradac Ranch and for the past 12 years at her Bradac Ranch South in Ocala.

A multiple Quarter Horse Congress Champion and AQHA World Show Top Five, Joe had earnings just shy of $19,000 and earned 499 AQHA points over the course of his career in a wide variety of events, including Hunter Under Saddle, Western Pleasure, Hunter Hack, Pleasure Driving, Trail and Halter. One of just a few stallions to earn superiors in both Hunter Under Saddle and Western Pleasure, he also won a Congress Championship in Halter. Joe was retired from showing at age 11.

“I have been very blessed to have him in my life. And what makes our story even more special is that I raised him from a foal,” Bradac said. “I have been there for EVERY milestone along the way.   As a show horse, he had both heart and grit.  When we were both exhausted hauling for those last few qualifying points, he always gave 110%.  He was one that absolutely LOVED going to the shows, and I was lucky to be the one showing him.”

But as successful as Joe was in the show pen himself, he was also well-known for siring foals that perform in a wide variety of events. Joe offspring were AQHA Youth World Champions, National Snaffle Bit Association (NSBA) World Champions and Congress Champions. Of his 230 AQHA foals, 63 were performers, earning  6,185 AQHA points and logging $102,362 in earnings. Ten Joe foals earned AQHA superior awards and 85 were Register Of Merit award winners.

Some of his most decorated foals include: A Diggin Hot Time, Congress Small Fry High Point winner, AQHA Youth World Show winner and NSBA World Champion with 583 AQHA points; A Diggity Hot Sound, multiple Congress Top 10 earner of 340 AQHA points; And Then They Danced, AQHA Youth World Show winner, AQHA and NSBA High-Point champion, multiple Congress Top 10 earner with 112 AQHA points; and Hot Diggity Dew, multiple Palomino Horse Breeders of America Honor Roll Champion; The Next Hot Thing, Luke N Hot, What Does D Fox Say, Girls Dig Me were all Congress Top Ten Champions.

Joe was burried at Bradac Ranch South in Ocala and his legacy continues with his grandkids. I Fancy The Crowd is a Congress, NSBA and Amateur Select World Show Top 10 winner; All The Girls Dig Me, multiple American Paint Horse (APHA) World Champion and NSBA World Champion; and Shez Hot N Platinum, Congress Champion, multiple American Buckskin Registry Association (ABRA) World Champion and AQHA World Show winner.