Billy Jack Barrett and 11-year-old Eye Opening Legacy with Wayne Meason.

© The American Quarter Horse Journal

By Becky Newell

AMERICAN QUARTER HORSE JOURNAL—NOVEMBER 25, 2024–The nice thing about having The American Quarter Horse Journal’s office inside the AQHA office building is that when people stop in Amarillo to register or transfer a horse, and they bring the horse with them, we get to meet the horse.

Such was the case with Billy Jack Barrett and Wayne Meason when they stopped to transfer the ownership of Eye Opening Legacy.

The 11-year-old stallion was bred, owned, and raced by 30-year AQHA breeder and former U. S. Sen. Joel Hefley from Colorado, who is now retired and living in Oklahoma.

Eye Opening Legacy is by American Quarter Horse Hall of Famer Mr. Eye Opener, who earned more than $200,000 on the track and has sired earners of more than $28 million. Eye Opening Legacy is out of the winning mare Extra Extra Effort by Extra Special Effort.

Eye Opening Legacy is well-bred and was a useful and durable runner, lighting the board in 19 of 32 starts and earning $48,355.

"Joel called and asked if I thought the horse would be a fit for the Remount Foundation, and I immediately said, 'Yes,'" Billy Jack told the Journal.

Now retired, Billy Jack managed the U.S. Air Force Academy Equestrian Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, for over 40 years. While at the academy, he was part of the group that developed the Warrior Wellness program in 2009, which provided active-duty military and veterans with equine-assisted therapeutic activities.

As any horse person knows, just being around horses is extremely calming. That’s what Billy Jack and his team saw when combat veterans and injured soldiers were around their horses. It just made sense to start a therapeutic riding program to help soldiers and veterans heal.

When Billy Jack retired from the Air Force Academy, he and Jeanne Springer, a military spouse who worked with him at the Academy, started the Remount Foundation. The foundation provides active-duty military, veterans, first responders, and their families with free equine-assisted therapeutic activities.

Billy Jack drafted horse trainer Wayne Meason to take Eye Opening Legacy to ride and help him figure out what his next career at the Remount Foundation might be.

Will Eye Opening Legacy be the mount that helps a veteran overcome PTSD? Will he be the beginnings of a Remount Foundation breeding program to provide more horses for the Foundation?

Only time will tell.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

AQHA News and Information is a service of the American Quarter Horse Association. For more news and information, follow @AQHA Racing on Twitter and on Instagram, "like" Q-Racing on Facebook, and visit www.aqha.com/racing.