The second most prolific sire line in the timed-event rodeo horses is from the Hall of Fame Stallion Leo.

Leo is ranked 4^th in the stallion list, ranked below Three Bars, Three Bars’ grandson Doc Bar (2^nd) and Three Bars’ son Lightning Bar (3^rd). (Lightning Bar is the sire of Doc Bar).

Of the 176 test horses, Leo appears a total of 108 times and he is present in 83 of the pedigrees. (48%)

Breaking his influence down by event, he is an important individual in all the rodeo events as would be expected.

In the top 50 stallions in our study, Leo is ranked 3rd in heading horses, 4th in heeling horses, 6^th in tie-down horses, 3rd in steer wrestling horses and 4th in barrel horses. Overall in all events he is ranked 4th. The Three Bars dynasty consisting of Three Bars, Doc Bar and Lightning Bar dominated the first 3 rankings.

Leo is present in 10 out of the 32 heading horses (30%), 21 out of the 34 heeling horses (62%), 16 out of 35 tie-down horses (46%), 14 out of 28 steer wrestling horses(48%) and he is in 22 out of 45 barrel horses (49%).

Leo, born in 1940, was one of the most influential sires in early Quarter Horse breeding.

As a race horse, Leo set a record at 300 yards and had a successful racing career winning 20 out of 22 races.

He was reported to have an outstanding disposition, well behaved in the gate and the ability to come from behind to win his races. He was noted for passing on speed and agility to his offspring and descendants.

Leo produced a number of speed horses, both sons and daughters, and he was noted as an outstanding broodmare sire. In his time he was the leading sire of racing Quarter Horses.

Sired by Joe Reed II, Leo was bred to run. He was inbred to the stallion Joe Reed (sometimes referred to as Joe Reed P3) who was by the Thoroughbred stallion Joe Blair.  Joe Blair carried some of the fastest Thoroughbred bloodlines of the day.

Joe Reed was out of the outstanding running mare Della Moore who was a record setting Quarter Horse race mare.

Joe Reed was not only the sire of Joe Reed II, Leo’s sire, but he was also the sire of Little Fanny, the dam of Leo,  making Leo very strongly inbred to Joe Reed.

In the third generation of the pedigree of Leo, 50% of the ancestors were Thoroughbred.

Seventy-seven of the 176 horses in the study (44%) descend from a cross of the Three Bars X Leo. This exemplifies the importance of the cross of these two lines. This cross includes 9 heading horses, 18 heeling horses, 15 tie-down, 13 steer wrestling and 22 barrel horses.

All AQHA/PRCA Horses of the Year for 2012 in heading (Sic-Em), heeling (Cave Man) tie-down (Sweetness), steer wrestling (Dillon) and barrel racing (Latte), descend from the Three Bars X Leo cross!

Of the 108 instances in the rodeo pedigrees, Leo is equally influential through his sons, present 53 times, and he is present through his daughters a total of 55 times.

Although many sons and daughters of Leo are found in the pedigrees, Leo’s biggest influence by far in the study horses is the stallion Leo San who shows up 31 times in 24 of the competition horses. Although found in all timed events, Leo San’s greatest contribution is seen in heeling horses (10 horses) and secondly in tie-down horses (6 horses).

Leo’s next most important offspring is his daughter Leo Pan who appears in 17 competition horses including Cave Man the 2012 AQHA/PRCA Heeling Horse of the Year.

Leo Pan is the dam of Jewels Leo Bar who is by Three Bars' son Sugar Bars. Most of her influence is through this son being present 15 times in the pedigrees of the horses in the study.

Jewels Leo Bar went on to sire the great Freckles Playboy and the sire Colonel Freckles, who are both out of Rey Jay mares.

Another son of Leo Pan and Sugar Bars is the stallion Son of Sugar who is found in the pedigree of the heeling horse Slim Shady ( 2^nd place Heeling Horse of the Year in 2009) and the tie-down horse Uno ridden by Hunter Herrin.

Leo Pan is most evident in head horses and heel horses being found in 6 of each. They include Sic Em, (2012 Heading Horse of the Year) and Vegas (2010 Heading Horse of the Year) both through her grandson Freckles Playboy.

Another significant daughter of Leo is the mare named Flit.

Flit is found in 14 of the competition horses in the study. Her influence is found mainly in barrel horses, heeling horses and tie-down horses. This includes the tie-down horses Luke, Topper, Big Iron and Scout, the heeling horses Diesel, Cadillac, and Iceman as well as the barrel horses Martha, Duke and Fiesta.

Flit was an outstanding broodmare, producing 17 foals, 12 of which were colts. Ten of her foals were sired by Sugar Bars.

Out of a mare by Joe Hancock, Flit was the dam of several important sons that contribute greatly to rodeo horse pedigrees. These sons include Leo Bar by Three Bars, Flit Bar by Sugar Bars, King’s Pistol by King and Flit Five by Scharbaurers King who was a son of King.

Flit Bar became an important name in barrel horses especially through his son Fire Water Flit, an important sire in barrel racing circles.

A full sister to Flit is the mare Julio who is the dam of the stallion Otoe.  These mares were both bred to Three Bars' son Sugar Bars to produce Flit Bar and Otoe respectively.

Otoe is found in 5 of the test horses, 2 heeling horses, 2 tie-down horses and 1 steer wrestling horse but notably, no barrel horses.

The Leo line has crossed well with Joe Hancock descendants.  Nineteen of the test horses exhibit this combination of these two stallions. There are 2 heading horses, 4 heeling horse, 3 tie-down horses, 1 steer wrestling horse and 9 barrel horses.  Six of the barrel horses are from the stallion Flit Bar.

Line-bred to Leo is Scooter, Charlie Pogue’s six times AQHA/PRCA Head Horse of the Year (1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 1999). Scotter, considered by many to be the greatest head horse of all time, is line bred 3 times in 5 generations. (3X5). Also line-bred to Leo 3 times in 5 generations are Iceman ridden by Kory Koontz to be 1996 Heeling Horse of the Year and  Doc, the 2^nd place Steer Wrestling Horse of the Year in 2011.

Other current horses line-bred to Leo include Sweetness, 2011 and 2012 Tie-Down Horse of the Year (2X5), Sic Em, 2012 Head Horse of the Year (2X3) and Wick , 2011 1^st place and 2012 3rd place Steer Wrestling Horse of the Year (2X5).

 In the top 50 stallions in our study, Leo is ranked 3^rd in heading horses (tied with Lightning Bar), 4^th in heeling horses, 6^th in tie-down horses, 3^rd in steer wrestling horses and 4^th in barrel horses. Overall in all events he is ranked 4^th. The Three Bars dynasty consisting of Three Bars, Doc Bar and Lightning Bar dominated the first 3 rankings.

Leo has also crossed well with the stallion King with 24 of the test horses carrying a Leo/King  cross.

The cross is most prominent in heeling horses with 11 of the 24 being heeling horses. Next in importance are tie-down horses with 6 followed by 2 head horses, 2 steer wrestling horses and 3 barrel horses.

The Leo line has crossed well with Joe Hancock descendants.  Nineteen of the test horses exhibit this combination of these two stallions. There are 2 heading horses, 4 heeling horse, 3 tie-down horses, 1 steer wrestling horse and 9 barrel horses.  Six of the barrel horses are from the stallion Flit Bar.

Leo X King produced the stallion Okie Leo, an important sire being the sire of Leonard Milligan.

Leonard Milligan sired 3 horses in the study, Blue (2002 2^nd placed Tie Down Horse of the Year), Easy (2000 and 2001 Tie-down Horse of the Year) and Switchblade (2007 3^rd Heeling Horse of the Year). Leonard Milligan is also in the pedigree of the 2012 Heading Horse of the Year, Sic Em.

Leonard Milligan (Okie Leo X Star Money) is the leading sire of the study horses with the 3 above mentioned offspring. He was the 1978 AQHA World Champion Working Cow Horse, 1980 AQHA World Champion Senior Tie Down Horse, 1980 World Champion Senior Heeling Horse and he was the 1980 AQHA Super Horse.