Dual Rey (Cam Essick photo)

It’s all about the big boys in the QHN 250, with performance horse sires featured from the disciplines of cutting, reining and reined cow horse. We’ve added up the earnings of offspring over the last five years to see which established sires are still going strong and which young bloods are now beginning to make their mark in the performance horse industry, possibly on their way to building their own legacies.

This is the fifth year that Quarter Horse News has compiled the QHN 250 from statistics recorded by Equi-Stat, a division of Cowboy Publishing Group. The reports are tabulated from Jan. 1, 2005 to Dec. 31, 2009. Results from shows held in 2010 – other than major aged events – have just arrived and are not yet entered into Equi-Stat’s system. Therefore, in the interest of fairness and accuracy, only those five full seasons were included for this year’s QHN 250 rankings; no earnings from 2010 are included.

Money won at closed incentives is not included on the list. These winnings are categorized as closed incentives because they are earned by horses shown at specific events open only to horses sired by specific stallions. In order for money to be considered “open,” the event must offer enrollment to the offspring of any stallion.