John Scott Jr.’s father was raising “quarter” horses long before there was an American Quarter Horse Association. On September 25, Scott’s S Ranch, headquartered in Billings, MT, received the coveted AQHA/Bayer Best Remuda Award.
“The Quarter Horse is noted for its Western Heritage and preserving that heritage is what the John Scott Ranch is all about,” said Scott (pictured), who has registered more than 1,500 horses with AQHA. “Our goals are to raise quality horses to be used in competition, including cutting, rodeo, barrel racing, reining and, of course, for use on the ranch.”
Cattle and horses far outnumbered people when Scott’s great great-grandfather, a friend of Davy Crockett and a Mississippi Supreme Court judge, settled in the Republic of Texas.
“At that time, they didn’t work the country with a (chuck) wagon,” Scott pointed out. “They’d just take a pack horse and three or four of them would gather cattle. They called that a cow hunt.”
In 1925, John Scott Sr. purchased 10 daughters by the Hickory Bill son called San Antonio Sorrel to supply his Texas remuda with mounts. By the 1930’s he was raising his first crops by the Harmon Baker son Jazz.
After serving in World War II, John Scott Jr. moved to Montana to expand the family’s ranch holdings by 120,000 acres, in partnership with his brothers and father. In 1959, Scott acquired his own ranch and by the late 1960s employed 25 cowboys; owned a feedlot that held 30,000 head – 50 percent of which were S Ranch cattle; and ran 10,000 mother cows. In 1969, he held what was at the time the largest one-brand, one-owner cattle sale in U.S. history with 5,300 head selling for $1,001,035.
Today, the S Ranch is still owned and operated by the Scott family – John Scott Jr., John Scott III, Maggie Scott Brown and Sissy Scott Croft are all general partners of the 227,000-acre ranch operation. The Billings ranch has 58 mares, three stallions and 78 geldings; the 23,000-acre S Ranch keeps 4,000 head of cattle in its feedlot, runs 4,000 head in their cow/calf operation, and feeds about 1,600 head of stocker cattle.
“We always broke and rode the fillies and geldings,” said Scott of the S Ranch Quarter Horse program. “For years, we rode mares only on the Powder River ranch and geldings on the Billings ranches. We drew our replacements for the broodmare band from the better mares, as we needed them. We tried to breed the best of the mares to the best studs and over the years, I have added a few mares from the Burnett Ranches in Texas, the Ronald Mason (Cross J) Ranch in Nowata, Oklahoma, and the Gill Cattle Co. in Arizona and Montana.”
The S Ranch’s current remuda has been greatly influenced by Doc O Dynamite, who has sired the earners of more than $650,000 in NCHA competition, and Paddys Irish Whiskey, a Peppy San Badger son whose offspring have earned $800,000 in NCHA, NRHA and NRCHA events. Earlier sires of importance included One Eyed Hippy, Bill Van Vactor, Texas Gill, Desecho, and Eddie 40.
“I really feel that the Eddie 40 horses were the best that we ever raised,” noted Scott. “They had everything a cowboy could want – lots of cow, easy to ride, good balance, soft mouth, and heart that would not quit.”
S Ranch will be presented with the Best Remuda Award in November, at the Working Ranch Cowboys Association Championship Ranch Rodeo in Amarillo, TX.
“Ranches such as S Ranch have contributed to our nation’s greatness and helped build the American Quarter Horse Association into what it is today,” said AQHA executive director Bill Brewer. “With this Award, we honor American Quarter Horse ranches that continue the traditions of the past.”