Top junior stallion Hottish has died at the age of 12.
The National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Summer Spectacular Derby Open Champion and earner of $301,200 was humanely euthanized Friday, Feb. 7, at owners Dustin and Deena Adams’ ranch.
“We put him to rest on our ranch in Springtown underneath a tree,” Dustin Adams said of the 2008 stallion, who had been receiving veterinary treatment. “The horse was a big part of our family and a huge part of who we are and who we came to be, and was really, really special.
With Lloyd Cox aboard, Hottish won the Summer Spectacular and Breeder’s Invitational Open championships in 2012. He was an Open finalist in many other major events, including the NCHA Futurity, and was runner-up for NCHA Open Horse of the Year in 2012.
Adams rode the stallion to the 2012 NCHA Super Stakes Non-Pro title and was aboard for the horse’s winning 228-point finale in the 2014 NCHA Summer Spectacular Classic/Challenge Non-Pro.
“He’s probably the most athletic horse I’ve ever seen,” Adams said. “He was a freak of an athlete and tremendously kind-hearted horse.”
The Adamses were drawn to the young prospect out of millionaire producer Stylish Play Lena (by Doc’s Stylish Oak) by his “real big, soft, kind eye.” Dustin Adams said the stallion remained patient and kind around people throughout his life.
Hottish’s prowess as a sire was evident in his first crop, from which he sired 2017 NCHA Futurity Open Champion Dual Reyish and 2018 NCHA Open Horse of the Year Cool N Hot.
That success in his freshman year propelled Hottish to Equi-Stat Elite $1 Million status in the summer of 2018. He went on to become an Equi-Stat Elite $3 Million Sire, fathering 106 earners with a collective record of $3.2 million as of his death. Those foals earned an average of $30,623 each.
For Adams, Hottish’s success goes to show that a good horse can come along for anyone.
“The dream is alive and well, and sometimes you’re blessed with a gift from heaven that you just don’t really know why you got,” he said. “But, that horse changed our life forever and it’s good to see that happen in our industry to people like us that put a lot into it, and other people, as well.
“And so, I do think it’s pretty cool that we got to be a part of his journey and, in doing so, he made a lot of things possible for my family.”
As of his death, Hottish’s leading earners were: Dual Reyish ($399,683, out of A Little Reylena x Dual Rey); Cool N Hot ($353,167, out of Donas Cool Cat x High Brow Cat); Blackish ($173,024, out of SS Blacks Lil Kitty x Blue Bayou Boon) and Hott Heels ($172,367, out of Miss Peptonstilettos x Peptoboonsmal).
Although he has passed away, Hottish will continue to add to Western performance horse bloodlines through a reserve of frozen semen.
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