A Historic Show Horse ... Making History as a Sire
In the last five years, Afires Heir offspring have won the AEPA $100,000 Arabian Saddle Seat Futurity three times:
AFIRES HEIR
A Historic Show Horse ... Making History as a Sire
By Christy Egan
By Afire Bey V out of the Brass daughter, Brassmis (x EE Msindependence by MHR Nobility), Afires Heir was born with a great deal to live up to. For starters, at birth he already had two older sisters, Queen Afire, a U.S. National Top Ten in English Pleasure and Country English Amateur, and Afire Storrm++/, U.S. and Canadian National Champion Junior Mare Halter and U.S. National Top Ten Country English Jr. Horse. Much was expected of the third foal of Brassmis. Purchased from Cedar Ridge Arabians by Marty Shea in the spring of 1999, Brassmis has gradually proven to be a world class broodmare, producing seven national winners, five of them national and/ or reserve national champions. She’s just exactly the sort of
2016 - Movin On Heir WA
(x The Way She Moves) Owned by Whispers Acres Inc.
dam critical to the pedigree and production of an important sire.
In 2002, the year Afires Heir was born, Afire Bey V was on top of the world and proudly welcoming his 12th foal crop. There were 14 National and Reserve National Champion offspring in that particular group, but none more outstanding than Afires Heir. In the fall of 2004 Joel Kiesner arrived at Shea Stables looking for a “special horse” for Bill and Shirley Reilich. “Find a horse that will raise the bar, I told him,” says Bill Reilich, “and that’s just what he did.” What he found was Afires Heir. “I knew he was the right horse immediately,” Joel says, “but he was not what I was sent to find … a horse for Shirley to ride, a horse within a specific budget, and something ‘very special’. Very quickly, the Reilichs agreed to buy him sight unseen.”
2013 - Heirs Noble Love
(x Noble Aphroditie) Owned by Karlton Jackson
“Joel was so excited,” Shirley shakes her head. “We said ‘go on and buy him.’” “From the beginning it was clear that Afires Heir was born to do this. The most willing and probably the smartest horse I’ve ever known. An amazing horse every single step of the way,” Joel admits.
Afires Heir progeny has earned, to date, total earnings of $227,250.00 in the AEPA Program.
2012 - Bel Heir LR
(x JKF Wistful) Owned by The Blankenship Family
AFIRES HEIR “He answered every question. Each time we took him to the show, people expected something more of him and he never let them down.”
He was shown for 4 years, twice at Scottsdale and 4 times at the U.S. Nationals. He never lost a class. He was never second on a judge’s card … ever. He was U.S. National Unanimous Champion 4 times, once in Junior Horse and 3 times in Open. Afires Heir was such a special horse that Joel
refers to showing him as a “Mission to Mars”, inferring that showing horses of this caliber qualifies as one of life’s truly great adventures. Bill Reilich calls his and Shirley’s experience of owning Afires Heir like “…catching lightning in a bottle.” Afires Heir loved being a show horse but didn’t much care for show blankets. He tolerated them while he was being shown, but the day they brought him home for good, he took off his blankets himself, tucked them neatly in a corner and refused to ever wear them again. Afires Heir’s offspring began arriving in 2006. Of the 6 registered purebreds in that initial foal crop, 2 went on to become national winners, both in English divisions. His first national winner was BL Heir Supreme, a 2010 U.S. National Top Ten English Pleasure Junior Horse. It happened the same week and the same year that
Heirs Noble Love Afires Heir x Noble Aphroditie
2016 U.S. National Unanimous Champion English Pleasure Open
Proudly owned by Karlton Jackson
Afires Heir took his fourth and final U.S. National Championship. “There are never any guarantees that great show horses will be great sires,” says Joel. “Who could have guessed that within
a decade, Afires Heir’s sons and daughters would embark upon show careers that would put a number of them in the same league as their sire?” Interestingly, Afires Heir’s rise as an Arabian English sire paralleled the arrival and rise in importance of the AEPA classes at the Ohio Buckeye, Scottsdale, and most recently, the U.S. National Championships. Afires Heir’s foal crops have grown larger annually and his dominant presence over a short period of time at the national level has been unmistakable. In the last 7 years, Afires Heir offspring have won the AEPA $100,000 Arabian Saddle Seat Futurity 3 times: 2012 - Bel Heir LR; 2013 - Heirs Noble Love and 2016 - Movin On Heir WA. Three of his offspring have also been AEPA Reserve Champions in that time period, including Afires Heir Apparent in 2011 and Saxton DGL in 2015. In 2016, the Reserve National Champion in this class, Debonheir DGL, is also a son of Afires Heir, as were two others in the Top Ten, Heirs Devotion and Athena SMA. Afires Heir is currently the AEPA leading living sire by payout. He is also the youngest stallion
in the AEPA Top Five Leading Sires.
1.
Even with Afires Heir’s get all under the age of 10, over 50% of their national wins were awarded to amateur and youth riders. 2.
3.
1. DA Heatstroke (x DA Fires Magic) owned by Remington Monroe Equine 2. BR Heir Afires (x BR Mydestiny) now owned by Cathy & Sophie Yih 3. Shes All that ORA (x She Be Adiva KBS) owned by The Caspers Family 4. BL Heir Supreme (x Harghaza) owned by Wolf Springs Ranches, Inc.
4.
Afires Heir sons and daughters have won dramatically in the English Pleasure Junior and Futurity classes, taking National Championships and Reserve titles at Canada, Youth and U.S. Between 2010 and 2016, Afires Heir get were Champion or Reserve in the U.S. National English Pleasure Futurity 4 times. Between 2013 and 2016, his sons and daughters won the U.S. National Champion English Pleasure Junior Horse 3 times and in both 2013 and 2014, they won the Championship and the Reserve Championship titles.
As a sire in the more mature English classes, Afires Heir is perhaps even more impressive. His offspring have won the English Pleasure Open Championship at the U.S. Nationals for the last 3 years and none of the winners were repeats or siblings. In 2014 it was VJ Royal Heir (x MA
Ghazta Trot by *El Ghazi), in 2015 it was JK Heiristocracy (x VTM Pistachia by MHR Nobility) and in 2016, the winner was Heirs Noble Love (x Noble Aphroditie by IXL Noble Express+).
In a study of the four most important purebred English classes at the U.S. Nationals: The English Pleasure Futurity, the English Pleasure Jr. Horse, the AEPA Saddle Seat Futurity and the English Pleasure Open, Afires Heir has the best overall record in the past 7 years of all Arabian English sires.
AFIRES HEIR Afires Heir is the sire of 12 national champions and 6 reserve national champions in these classes since 2010. In the English Pleasure Futurity, for example, he can claim nearly 30% of the champions and reserves during that time period. In the AEPA, he has three times the champions and reserves of his nearest competition and twice the number of Top Tens. One could look at this amazing record and determine that this is a sire of enormously talented English horses that are probably only suitable for the professional rider. The first part is true, but these horses are equally proficient mounts and national winners for both amateur and youth. Even with all of his get under the age of 10, over 50% of his offspring’s national wins were awarded to amateur and youth riders.
At the end of 2016, Afires Heir has sired a total of 26 unique national champion and reserve national champion show horses that have won a total of 54 national championships and reserve national championships (as of 12/16). He is the sire of 74 unique national winners, purebred and HalfArabian. They have won a total of 208 National Top Ten awards. His top offspring to date include Heirs Noble Love, 4-time national champion English Pleasure, winner of the U.S. National English Pleasure Futurity, the AEPA, the Junior Horse and the Open; DA Heatstroke (x DA Fires Magic by AA Apollo Bey), 4-time Youth National Champion English Pleasure JOTR and JTR 14-18; Extraordin Heir (x Gwyneth D by Apaladin++), 3-time national champion and once reserve, including the 2016 Canadian National Champion Country English Pleasure title; Bel Heir LR (x JKF Wistful by Hucks Heritage V), 2-time national champion and 2-time reserve, and Heir Force One (x EA Leathernlace+/ by AA Apollo Bey), 2-time national champion and 2-time reserve. At the 2016 U.S. National Championships, Afires Heir offspring won 35 Top Ten Awards, 5 National Championships and 3 Reserve National Championships.
Even more intriguing is the fact that Afires Heir sires more real English Pleasure and Park horses, than he does Country English horses, very much the opposite of the vast majority of sires in the English division. Of the Afires Heir winners at the 2016 U.S. Nationals, 72% were in English Pleasure, Pleasure Driving or Park, and if you care to add in the Country English winners, the percentage jumps to 95%. The consistency of the type of horse sired by Afires Heir is probably one of the most critical reasons for his meteoric rise to success. “He consistently passes on the physical aspects necessary for an English horse,” says Joel Kiesner. “The necks, the length of neck and how they’re set on; how soft and pliable they are. The shape of their bodies makes them predisposed to saddle seat position.
JK Heiristocracy Afires Heir x x VTM Pistachia
2015 U.S. National Champion English Pleasure Open Proudly owned by Ron & Debbie Pearson
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8. 5. Debonheir DGL (x Felicia Afire) owned by Starline Arabians 6. Dheir To Dream WA (x HS Miz American Dream) owned by Whispers Acres Inc. 7. Saxton DGL (x Sweet Summer Fire) owned by Candace Avery 8. Heir Force One (x EA Leathernlace) owned by Strawberry Banks Farm 9. RGT The Boss (x Styling Time) owned by Oak Haven South Arabians
AFIRES HEIR They’re trainable, perhaps largely because of how they are built. Everybody is better when asked to do something that’s easy for them. The reason Afires Heir sires such an exceptional percentage of true English horses, instead of simply good country horses, is because they are honestly talented and built superbly to do their job.”
What sort of mares cross well with Afires Heir? Apparently a great cross section of English-type Arabians. *El Ghazi daughters have done well, producing 6 of his
national winners to date. AA Apollo Bey and his sons Apaladin++ and Apollopalooza have 7 daughters between them that have produced national winners with Afires Heir. IXL Noble Express+ and his sire, MHR Nobility have 7 daughters that have produced national winners with Afires Heir. *Bask++ sons and grandsons like Barbary+++, Medall, The Chief Justice+, Mash, Cease Fire+++, Promotion, Wisdom, Zodiac Matador+ and Baskevich, all have daughters producing national winners with Afires Heir. And, of course, Huckleberry Bey+/ and Hucklebey Berry+/ have great daughters successfully producing with Afires Heir. Some very well-known breeders are utilizing Afires Heir extensively in their programs. Shea Stables and Maroon Fire Arabians are breeding many Afire Bey V and IXL Noble Express+ daughters to Afires Heir. “Between our mares and the Maroon Fire mares, we have 14 Afires Heir foals expected in 2017,” says Afires Heir’s breeder Marty Shea. “He was the best son of our great broodmare, Brassmis. We knew it was taking a chance to breed him to Afire Bey V daughters, but it’s been an outstanding cross for us, and the cross to the IXL Noble Express+ daughters has been equally successful.” Today the Reilichs live a short five mile drive from Kiesner’s Farm and the home of Afires Heir. Shirley takes lessons on her Half-Arabian gelding show horse frequently and they visit their “very special stallion” often. “They’ve been a heck of a team, Joel and Afires Heir,” says Bill. “I don’t believe anything would have been possible without Joel. Shirley and I had a good idea about the right thing to do, and Joel always seemed to be there making the right decisions.” Joel on the other hand is a bit more philosophical, giving lots of credit to his owners and especially Afires Heir. “I believe that truly great horses achieve their destiny no matter what,” Joel laughs, “and along the way, they make you look good!”
Afires Heir stands at Kiesner Training in Louisville, Tennessee. For more information log on to www.AfiresHeir.com
VJ Royal Heir Afires Heir x MA Ghaza Trot
2014 U.S. National Unanimous Champion English Pleasure Open Proudly owned by Southern Oaks Farm, Llc.
FOUR-TIME U.S. NATIONAL UNANIMOUS CHAMPION & A LEADING SIRE OF ENGLISH NATIONAL CHAMPIONS WWW.AFIRESHEIR.COM Proudly owned by Bill & Shirley Reilich Standing at Kiesner Training • 865.984.5245 3418 Miser Station Road, Louisville, TN 37777 Multi-Program Nominated Sire
KIESNER