Six years ago Lee and Brenda Looney were on a mission to purchase a stallion – specifically one that would cross on the show mares they had purchased to serve as the backbone of a breeding program they were building at their 101-acre horse farm in Tennessee.

            There was only one problem. The prospect that most excited them, Cool Breeze (Joe Cool), a 2015 AQHA (American Quarter Horse Association)  sorrel colt by No Doubt Im Lazy was out of Zippin The Breeze, who was also the dam of their own two mares, Only A Summer Breeze and Life Is A Breeze.

            “After some thought we decided to buy the best stallion we could, based on performance and pedigree instead of our two best mares, and we felt you couldn’t get any better mare line than the number one all-time leading dam of Western Pleasure money earners Zippin The Breeze,” said Lee Looney.

            The Looneys purchased Cool Breeze from longtime friends Dan and Kathryn Frederick, who raised the colt, just after he placed in the top 10 of the Coughlin 2-Year-Old Western Pleasure at the Congress.

            The intention was not to purchase a show horse. But it was icing on the cake.

            “We weren’t really looking for a show horse because we already had the mares to show,” Lee Looney said. “But we did enjoy the journey.”

            A month after the purchase was complete, Andy Cochran showed him to an eighth place in the 2-Year-Old Western Pleasure at the AQHA World Show and the following year, Cool Breeze and Angie Cannizzaro won the Premier Sires $5,000 Limited Horse Open Western Pleasure at the Cornhusker in Nebraska and the Premier Sires 3-Year-Old Open Western Pleasure at the Big A Circuit in Georgia before placing sixth in the 3-Year-Old Western Pleasure Futurity at the Congress. That same year (2018) Brenda Looney and Cool Breeze were Reserve Champions in the 3-Year-Old Intermediate Non-Pro Western Pleasure at the Tom Powers Futurity and placed third in the Premier Sires 3-Year-Old Non-Pro Western Pleasure at the Big A. Then in 2019 Cool Breeze and Amanda Jackson were Reserve Congress Champions in the Limited Open Western Pleasure Maturity.

            Today, the Looneys could not be more satisfied with the decision. Not only did they get a stallion with the best bloodlines in the industry, but they say, with only a handful of foal crops on the ground, it’s already abundantly clear that Cool Breeze is passing on his conformation strengths – a pretty head and neck; short strong topline and great set to the hocks – on to his babies.

            “He has matured so much,” Lee said. “It is funny how you don’t see the change from a 3-year-old to a 4-year-old but looking back at pictures and videos of him when he was showing and comparing them to how he looks now, it’s clear he is all stallion. He has such presence and really commands attention.” 

            By the time Cool Breeze’s focus was put entirely on the breeding shed he had accumulated $28,404.26 in lifetime earnings.

            As proud as the Looneys are of Cool Breeze’s show record, it’s his success as a breeding horse that is most important to them.

            “He’s so young as a sire but what we are noticing already is that the Cool Breeze foals appear to have his pretty head and neck,” Lee Looney said. “They all have short, strong toplines and Joe’s great set to the hocks. But what impresses us most is that he passes on his chill attitude. His foals are great minded.”

            Cool Breeze’s oldest foals are just 3-year-olds and since that was a test crop there are only four of them but already they are making their mark in the show arena.                                

            The first one to show was My Daddys Broke, out of Depreciated Assets (by Cowgirls R Invited).

            The sorrel gelding, owned by Randahl Hoffman won the 2022 Congress Maiden Limited Open Hunter Under Saddle with Kaitlin Hutchinson in the irons and they were Reserve in the Open Division.

            “There are not yet a lot of riding age Cool Breeze foals so we have only gotten a handful to start so far, but we have found all of them to be super easy to get under saddle,” said the Orrum, North Carolina trainer.

            Hutchinson said she can already see like characteristics in the Cool Breeze offspring.

            “They share a ton of characteristics with their daddy, for sure,” she said. “They all have that same physical look as Joe.”

             Kaitlin and her husband, Kelby will always have a soft spot for Cool Breeze.

            “Joe will always have a special place in my heart,” Kaitlin said. “I won my first Congress championship on one of his first four foals, My Daddys Broke, raised by Randahl Hoffman, one of our customers. The fact that he raised him makes it even more special.”

            Also in 2022 Michigan trainer Beckey Schooler and her daughter, Ty Parris Dougherty showed Hey All UCool Cats in Western Longe Line events. The  bay gelding out of RR Dreams Come True won the Michigan Longe Line Futurity and then Schooler showed her to a fourth place finish in the Open Western Longe Line at the Quarter Horse Congress and Dougherty and Hey All UCool Cats also placed fourth in the Non-Pro Western Longe Line, earning over $2,500.

            This year, at the National Snaffle Bit Association’s World Championship Show and Breeders Championship Futurity Cool Breeze had his second foal to show under saddle.

            Heez So Cool, a sorrel gelding out of Good Miss Sunny,  won both the 2-Year-Old Limited Non-Pro Western Pleasure and the BCF Limited Non-Pro Western Pleasure with Hayley Kittler aboard.

            Heez So Cool was bred by Vicki Pugh and is owned by Kittler’s parents, Dean and Kathy Saul.  In all, Heez So Cool now has earnings in excess of $3,500. 

            Lee and Brenda are also holding two Cool Breeze geldings to show as 3-year-olds next year.

            “Freak N Cool is out of our first really good show mare, Accept With Pleasure. Sudden Chill is out of Reserve Congress Champion A Sudden Echo,” Lee said. “The plan is for us to also get one of our own Cool Breeze yearlings to the show pen next year.”

            Cool Breeze spends half the year at Tennessee Equine Hospital in Thompsons Station Tennessee where he stands under the guidance of Dr. Matthew DeLisle and Heather Miller. 

            The rest of the year he is with the Looneys at their state-of-the-art facility in Jackson, half way between Memphis and Nashville just off Tennessee’s “Heart of the Music Highway.”

            The property includes an 18-stall show barn, additional breeding barn, 150-by 150 indoor arena and acres of lush pastures.

            “We love it when he is here. We appreciate his quirky attitude and love watching him run into a hay bale playing or just out rolling in the mud,” Lee Looney said. “He gets turned out daily in his pasture, which is in the center of the farm, so he gets to spend his day next to weanling and yearling pastures and also by a field where he can admire the mares and foals.”

            Lee describes Cool Breeze as “chill.”

            “Nothing really phases him and he passes that trait on to his babies,” he said.

            The Looneys say the best part of owning and standing a stallion to the public is the interaction they have established with the mare owners.

            “I especially enjoy hearing back from them about their foals,” Brenda said. “I might not be much of a talker, but Lee loves talking to mare owners  and establishing good relationships with them.” 

            Lee, on the other hand enjoys discussing everything from breeding crosses to semen quality with clients.

            “Cool Breeze is an outcross for a lot of mares out there, especially the Machine Made and RL mares,” he said. “We have seen quite a few of these crosses on him already and they are some really nice foals.  We are also big believers in a strong dam line and blue hen typed mares, he certainly checks that box as well.”

            But none of that matters if you don’t get your mare pregnant.

            “A very important thing that we consider is semen quality,” Lee explained. “Joe’s semen ships unbelievably well both fresh and frozen and most mare owners tell us that his semen is some of the best their vets have ever seen.  It may seem trivial to mare owners that aren’t involved in the breeding aspect but it is much harder to get your mare in foal with semen that isn’t ideal.”

            Since Lee Looney is the contact person for everything that has to do with breeding to Cool Breeze, from contracts to shipping details and anything in between, he does everything within his power to make sure deliveries arrive on time. 

            “He has actually driven semen to a client in order to make sure he had his shipment in time,”  Brenda said.

            Cool Breeze’s 2024 stud fee will remain at $2,750. 

            “We are offering a Congress special of $2,000 if paid in full by the end of October,” Lee Looney said.

            Cool Breeze is enrolled in several futurities including Premier Sires, NSBA BCF and SIF, Super Sires, Iowa Breeders and MI Breeder futurities.

                  For more information on Cool Breeze or to obtain a breeding contract, contact Lee Looney at (731) 420-0936. You can also keep up with him via the  Cool Breeze Facebook Page.