If you happen to be driving through Cleburne, Texas you might notice a sorrel gelding who looks like he hasn’t missed a meal, has a longer mane, and is enjoying the pasture life at Walquist Quarter Horses. Most would admire his physique and continue on their way. But if you have traveled in American Quarter Horse Association circles over the past several years you might recognize him as none other than Zippo Romeo, a 1997 gelding by Zippos Old Gold and out of Ravishing Reynolds.

To understand Romeo’s well-earned retirement, you have to go back to the 1999

AQHA World Show, where Vicki Wood jogged down the center of Jim Norick Arena for the 2-Year- Old Western Pleasure finals. At the time Suzanne Kiser owned Romeo. Romeo finished tenth that day in the 2-Year-Old Pleasure finals, but that was the day that future owners and trainers, Liz Flohr, Holly Hannewyk, Gillian Chant, Carl Yamber, and Cindi Miles, saw the bright future of Zippo Romeo.

Cindi Miles purchased Romeo from Kiser and put him in training with Yamber, a trainer from Roberta, Georgia. As a 3-year-old, Yamber says Romeo was full of raw talent.

“He had a tough mind but I knew he had what it takes,” Yamber explains.

For the next two years Yamber and Miles showed Romeo in Open and Amateur Western Pleasure events. After earning superiors in Open and Amateur Western Pleasure, they realized they were leading the AQHA Honor Roll in Open, Junior and Amateur Western Pleasure.

“There was no “hauling” for the titles,” Yamber says, “because we didn’t go to any horse shows we hadn’t planned on.”

While many horses might get tired of showing, Romeo just got better and stronger as the year went on, Yamber says. Winning the honor roll titles was just the icing on the cake after a phenomenal year.

Ohio Trainer Liz Flohr remembers the first time she spotted Zippo Romeo as a 2-year-old and fell in love with his cadence, rhythm, expression and perfect topline.

At the 2002 AQHA World Show Yamber told Flohr that he had the perfect horse for sale. When Flohr found out it was Zippo Romeo, she had to jump at the offer.

“I was more than excited to get him in training,” Flohr recalls.

In 2003 Flohr’s youth competitor Holly (Hannewyk) Thompson, of Michigan, began showing the sorrel gelding in All-Around events. Romeo had to learn the maneuvers fast, as Hannewyk needed to qualify for the AQHYA World Show.

“He accepted the challenge,” she says, and “even seemed happy to be learning new tricks.”

From the beginning Flohr knew that Romeo had all the parts to make it and was destined to be one of the greats. With so many events to learn in a short period of time, it worked best for them to start with Trail. Romeo quickly picked up a love for going over the poles.

“He was in his happy place when we headed to the Trail pen,” Flohr recalls. “He had great rhythm and style over the poles. He was handy through all of the trail obstacles and he learned fast.”

Completing turnarounds with speed for Showmanship proved Romeo’s toughest challenge, according to Flohr.

“He was so lazy,” she admits. “It took a bit of convincing that he had to learn to go show on and off all day long. But, once Romeo realized he was more than a pleasure pony he was able to rise to the challenge.”

Thompson made Romeo an AQHA Youth Champion in 2004 and together they earned over 600 points in Halter, Showmanship, Trail, Western Pleasure, Western Riding, Hunter Under Saddle, Equitation and Horsemanship.

Flohr says she will always remember her journey with Romeo to teach him to do Trail. She was rewarded for her hard work and dedication when they placed fifth at the Congress in Trail in 2004.

“Romeo made me happy many times over the years, but when he made

Holly smile that was really priceless,” she says. “He taught her hard work and determination pay off and in the big picture that is my best Romeo memory.”

It was a bittersweet day in 2005 when Thompson and Flohr had to say their goodbyes to Romeo. Romeo had been sold to the Chant family in Texas to be the new youth partner for Gillian Chant, then 12.

Flohr remembers being excited that Romeo was going to Gillian, but she knew it was going to be hard to say goodbye to one of her all-time favorite horses.

“I think I cried for 45 minutes after they lead Romeo away,” Flohr recalls.

But, she was sure to tell the Chants everything about Romeo: the good, the bad, the quirks, including his great love for treats and water bottles.

But, the most important thing Flohr ever told them was: “Romeo is Romeo. He will make you happy. He will make you mad. And he will make you work for it all.” Her last words of wisdom to the Chant family were, “Romeo always knows when the big show or moments count and when it does, he will step up every time and never let you down.”

For Gillian and Romeo it was an instant love. She may not have realized at the time that he was going to be her forever horse, but she knew it was going to be something special.

Gillian said Romeo’s talent pushed her to work harder so they could grow and improve together to become a winning team.

At the age of 13, Gillian showed Romeo at her first AQHA Youth World Show. In the Trail preliminaries, Romeo and Gillian marked a stunning 235. At the end of the day they had the second highest score.

As they moved on to the 14-18 events, Romeo’s versatility and Gillian’s understanding of what makes Romeo excel made them a seemingly unstoppable team.

Gillian and Romeo showed in six events and earned a World or Congress Championship in four of them: Horsemanship, Equitation, Trail and Western Riding.

“His versatility is one of the things that makes him great,” Gillian says of her show partner.

But in 2011 Romeo exceeded her greatest expectations.

At the 2011 AQHYA World Show, they were named the World Champions in Trail and Equation. The

Trail World Championship was Romeo’s best event and dream come true for Chant. A day later Romeo rose to the challenge yet again and the pair won the Equation World Championship. Gillian said the win in the equitation was extra special because it was so unexpected.

Gillian wasn’t the only member of the Chant family that Romeo helped make dreams come true. G.

Noel Chant showed Romeo a few times in Trail and in 2009 together they won the Novice Amateur Trail at the Congress in a tough class of 78.

Once Gillian moved to the Amateur ranks, she made the decision to only show Romeo in Trail. After two years and a fifth place in the Amateur Trail at the AQHA World Show, Gillian had to make the tough decision on Romeo’s future. She says she decided that Romeo deserved to be retired and to just get to take it easy.

In their nine years together, in competition ranging from 13 & Under Youth classes to Amateur competition, Romeo was “nothing but perfect and deserves the best life as an old man.”

His permanent record includes over 1,200 AQHA points; $37,000 in AQHA Incentive Fund earnings; over $15,000 in AQHA World Show earnings; and over $23,000 in National Snaffle Bit Association earnings.

“Romeo now has a larger than life stall that he stays in at night and a 1.5-acre pasture that he gets turned out in every day. His mane is growing out and he is fat and happy,” Gillian says.

At 18 years old Romeo has found his forever home and truly was a “Romeo” that made people fall in love with him every single