America’s Horse, September 25, 2007 – S Ranch LTD of Billings,   Montana, is the winner of the 2007 AQHA/Bayer Best Remuda Award.

“Cattle and horses far outnumbered people when John Scott’s great-great grandfather, a friend of Davy Crockett and a Mississippi Supreme Court judge, settled in the Republic of Texas,” explains the Scott family about their beginnings in ranching. John and Agnes Scott began ranching near San Angelo, Texas, in 1908.

At the age of 25 and after serving in World War II, the Scotts’ son, John Scott Jr., moved to Montana to expand the family’s ranch holdings. Partnering with his father and brothers on three ranches near Miles City, Montana, John Jr. moved 800 head of cattle and 25 horses to Montana by train from the home ranch in Texas.

By 1955, the family’s Montana ranching partnership owned and operated 120,000 acres used for raising cattle and American Quarter Horses. In 1959, John Scott Jr. acquired his own operation, which was the beginning of the S Ranch.

Today, the S Ranch is still owned and operated by the Scott family – John Scott Jr., John Scott III, Maggie Scott Brown, Sissy Scott Croft and Jim Bode Scott are all general partners of the 227,000-acre ranch (including leases). The Billings ranch has 58 mares, three stallions and 78 geldings. S Ranch farms 23,000 acres, has a feedlot with about 4,000 head of cattle, runs about 4,000 head in their cow/calf operation and feeds about 1,600 head of stocker cattle. The focus remains cattle, horses and wheat.

The Scott family began raising American Quarter Horses in 1925 when John Scott Sr. purchased 10 Hickory Bill daughters to supply his Texas remuda and ultimately the Montana remuda.

The S Ranch’s remuda has been influenced by stallions such as Doc O Dynamite, a son of Doc O’Lena who has sired the earners of more than $650,000 in National Cutting Horse Associaiton competition; Paddys Irish Whiskey, a Peppy San Badger stallion whose get have earned almost $800,000 in NCHA, National Reining Horse Association and National Reined Cow Horse Association competitions; Bill Van Vacter, Minor Farm’s palomino stallion who competed in cutting and reining; Eddie 40, a stallion owned by Best Remuda winner Haythorn Land and Cattle Company; and Thorn Sis, a son of Eddie 40 who sired money earners in cutting.

The S Ranch’s philosophy is to breed the best mares to the best stallions, and their formula has been successful. The list of award winners bred by S Ranch is long and includes horses such as Smart Whiskey Doc, the 2006 AQHA High Point Versatility Ranch Horse; Freckles Lena Boon, an NCHA earner of more than $230,000; and Easy Does It Doc, a four-time qualifier to the National Finals Rodeo in barrel racing. The horses are selected on their conformation, natural ability to work cattle and bloodlines. The horses are used year round to work cattle on the ranch.

“The Best Remuda Award is our way of honoring our nation’s ranching heritage and the American Quarter Horse’s place in our country’s history by rewarding outstanding ranches,” said AQHA Executive Vice President Bill Brewer. “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. With the Best Remuda Award, we honor American Quarter Horse ranches that continue the traditions of our past.”

Jim Jennings, AQHA's executive director of publications and author of the award-winning book Best Remudas, traveled to Montana to photograph the S Ranch and interview the Scott family. Jennings' story will appear in the November issue of America's Horse magazine.

S Ranch will officially be presented with the Best Remuda Award in November at the Working Ranch Cowboys Association Word Championship Ranch Rodeo held in Amarillo. The ranch will receive a Lisa Perry bronze titled “The Remuda.”

The Best Remuda Award is presented each year by the American Quarter Horse Association and Bayer Animal Health to honor the contributions that ranch horses have made to the heritage of the American Quarter Horse. Since the award’s inception in 1992, many outstanding ranches have been recognized for their efforts in raising American Quarter Horses. The term remuda means a group of working horses bred by the ranch specifically to work and pen cattle.

Any ranch that has five or more American Quarter Horse mares used to produce horses for ranch work and is a member of AQHA is eligible for this award.

For more information about the Best Remuda award or to request an application, visit AQHA’s Web site at http://www.aqha.com/association/benefits/awards.html. AQHA will be accepting applications for the 2009 AQHA/Bayer Best Remuda Award until December 1, 2008.