THE FULL STORY: Not every stallion can be a world champion, let alone one of the top sires of his breed. But a flashy sorrel Quarter Horse named Smart Chic Olena is all that, and more. Foaled in 1985, this 15h, blaze-faced marvel oozed charisma from the start. An equine Michael Jordan, he’s an intelligent sort with an unflappable temperament and the drive to excel. Maybe that’s why he’s the only horse in history to earn American Quarter Horse Association world championships in both cutting and reining! Jim Babcock of Gainesville, Texas first admired ‘Chic’ as a three-year-old in a National Cutting Horse Association Futurity. Though he wasn’t for sale at the time, he was able to purchase the horse later, after he’d injured a hock in a freak accident. Once recovered, Chic went on to compete in more than 200 cutting contests, earning NCHA Bronze and Silver Awards, the American Cutting Horse Association Reserve World Champion Open Cutting Horse title and two AQHA titles in 1990 (World Champion Senior Cutting Horse and High-Point Senior Cutting Horse). Rather than retire such a gifted and willing individual, Babcock then switched Chic to reining. He did not disappoint, winning nine out of 10 reining competitions and earning not only the 1993 National Reining Horse Association Open Reserve World Championship, but the senior reining at the AQHA World Show. Chic, whose career earnings totaled $167,471, was also the only horse to win both the senior cutting and senior reining at the prestigious All American Quarter Horse Congress. Retired to stud in 1993, Chic immediately established his dominance in that field as well, siring look-alike world champions and futurity winners who have earned millions in reining, cutting and reined cow horse events. Today, Smart Chic Olena remains one of the breed’s top all-around performance sires.
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