Fire Water Flit

The great champion barrel horse and champion sire Fire Water Flit died peacefully in his stall on Dec. 20, 2005. He was buried at Vickie Adams' Fire Water Flit Creek Ranch in Collinsville, Texas. He was 27.

Bred by the late Celie Whitcomb-Ray and Adams, Fire Water Flit was destined to change the barrel racing industry. The palomino colt hit the ground on April 23, 1978, and was dubbed " Milo " after Whitcomb-Ray's father.

Adams didn't register Fire Water Flit until he was 2. She was searching for a great name.

" I wanted something different," she said. "We were going to leave him a stud and I wanted something unique that would set him apart from all the other Sugar Bar and Flit horses. My mother's got some Indian in her side of the family, and we decided on firewater, what the Indian's called alcohol."

To make him more appealing as a barrel horse sire, Adams decided to send Fire Water Flit to the track to get a speed index. Fellow barrel racer, futurity competitor and former jockey Larry Stevens found a worthy reason to return to the track.

As a 3-year-old, Fire Water Flit took a first, second and third in five races at Trinity Meadows in Weatherford, Texas. In his last rece, he earned a speed index of 86.

In January 1983, Whitcomb-Ray started riding Milo again. Although a year behind his competition, Fire Water Flit won the 1983 West Texas Barrel Racing Association Derby, this first derby of his career, and only his second competition ever. They followed the win up by placing at the Oklahoma Derby.

Whitcomb-Ray then took Milo to his first rodeo, the Old Fort Days Rodeo in Fort Smith, Ark., where he placed fourth. She continued to run him through July before Adams brought him home. Although Whitcomb-Ray finished out the year on Free Etta, Milo's older half'sister by Wiggy Bar, Milo played an important role in qualifying her for the NFR that year.

Finally, Adams got her chance to rodeo on her palomino stud. They won their first competition at the WPRA's All-Girl's Rodeo in Durant, Okla. She then ran him at the Twin States Barrel Racing Association Roundup and won it by 9/10ths of a second. He and Adams also won the State Fair of Texas Rodeo in Dallas his derby year.

Milo and Adams went on to win the Texas Barrel Racing Association Derby and Champion of Champion's Derby, and invitational race open to only money-earning derby horses that year. Making the Champion of Champions victory even more special was the Whitcomb-Ray won the Futurity on Ima Etta Too.

In 1984 and 1985, Adams and Milo found themselves sitting high in the WPRA World Standings. Sadly, injuries kept Milo from proving him-self in the greatest of all rodeos the NFR.

Milo fractured his pelvis and pulled his groin during a fall while running at the Helldorado Days Rodeo in Las Vegas in the spring of 1984. Diligent efforts on the part of Adams brought the stallion back to competition six months later.

Disaster struck again in Las Vegas the following year, when Milo re-injured his groin.

"Both years I was sitting in the top 5 in the standings by June," Adams lamented. "I never got to finish a year on him.I would make the circuit finals on him and only go half the year."

With his value as a breeding stallion so high, Adams decided to retire him. He was only 8.
Passing on greatness

Equi-Stat, the statistical division of Cowboy Publishing Group, has 143 of Milo's get earning $800,000 in aged events and larger, added-money jackpots. Milo was the leading barrel horse sire in 1990 with just his second foal crop old enough to compete as 4-year-olds.
In addition to siring several superior barrel racing horses, Milo has sired top rope horses that have either earned Superiors or placed in the Top 10 at the AQHA World Show, including Rowdy Flit, Firefly Flit, and Uno Mas Firewater, to name a few.

The legacy continues, according to Equi-Stat, sons of Milo have produced 67 money earners of $102,420 since 1988.

A dear friend remembered

"You can distance yourself from a mare," Adams said. " You turn them out to pasture as broodmares and you don't see them every day. It wasn't like that with Milo. I think I mighr have been away from him three weeks his entire life. I saw him nearly every day."

Adams had a steel coffin welded for Milo, and she placed two pillows under his head. Many friends were there to say goodbye and offer comfort.

For Adams, Milo was more than a great barrel horse and great sire, he was family and a very vital link to a friend long gone.

"I believe animals go to Heaven, too," Adams said. "There is no doubt who is there to take care of him. Celie's there, and she'll take care of him."