By Laci Jones

Fire engulfed thousands of acres of land across Colorado, Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma in early March. Ranchers risked everything to try to save their animals as their livelihoods went up in flames.

“It’s devastating,” Forst explained. “It’s us. I know it is hard for people who don’t make their living off the cows and grass to totally understand. For those of us who do, we are right there with them.”

The recent devastation hit home for Forst as she has spent more than 40 years in the industry, nurturing the land her ancestors bestowed to her.

(Courtesy of Stuart Ranch)

History of Stuart Ranch

For nearly 150 years, Stuart Ranch has faced droughts, flooding, tornadoes and have persevered. The ranch was founded by Forst’s great-great grandfather, Robert Clay Freeny. In 1838, Robert Freeny traveled to ­­Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory and married Sarah “Sallie” Ellis.

The couple, along with their 13-year-old son, Robert “Clay” Freeny, Jr., settled 14 miles west of Atoka in Boggy Depot in 1868. During that time, the family raised cotton, oats and corn.

“Cotton was huge back in that area across the Highway 70 corridor,” Forst said. “I had always been told they traded a lot of horses and mules to the U.S. Army.”

Before her death in 1868, Sarah Ellis Freeny gave birth to 12 children. That same year, Robert Freeny moved the family to Caddo before relocating north of what was once known as the Redlands in Blue County, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory. Clay Freeny took over the operation after Robert Freeny died in 1878.

Clay Freeny, also known as Judge Freeny, continued to farm as well as raise cattle, horses and mules. He was named the County and Probate Judge of Blue County, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory. After the death of his wife, Mary Beck in 1894, he married Josephene Baxter.

At the turn of the century, Carrie “Ida” Freeny was born to Judge Freeny and Baxter. She attended the Tuskahoma Choctaw School for Girls and later married Robert Terry Stuart, the son of a cattle rancher, in 1931.

(Courtesy of Stuart Ranch)

After working with the Pacific Mutual Insurance Company and the American Home Life Insurance Company in Fort Worth, R.T. Stuart purchased the Mid-Continent Insurance Company in Muskogee, Okla., in 1916. He relocated the company to Oklahoma City, where he and Ida Freeny Stuart resided and operated the ranch.

R.T. Stuart focused on improving the cattle operation, introducing Hereford cattle to the ranch. Two years after they were married, Robert Terry “Bob” Stuart, Jr., was born. Bob Stuart later took over the operation in 1950, where he focused on improving the horse operation by purchasing the ranch’s first Quarter Horse in the ‘40s.

Bob Stuart purchased a stallion named Big Shot Dun from 3-D Stock Farm, a part of the Waggoner Ranch, in 1949. Progeny bred to Son O Leo, purchased in 1961, proved to be a successful match.

The Terry Stuart Forst Era

Forst was born in Oklahoma City in 1954. Forst inherited her father’s passion for horses, riding every chance she could get. While Bob Stuart was supportive of his daughter’s passion for showing horses, he pushed her to find her own path. Forst showed in the American Quarter Horse Association Youth classes.

“I struggled, fumbled and showed up,” Forst explained. “I think my friends thought I was great because I was the ‘class filler.’ I wasn’t ever going to beat anybody, which was fine.”

Forst continued to show horses in the AQHA shows after she turned 18, enrolling at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Okla., bringing horses along. Forst pursued a bachelor’s degree in animal science.

The university helped Forst develop relationships that have lasted for decades. After graduating in 1976, she returned to the ranch and helped her father with the horse program. The OSU alumna said she had the intention of returning to the ranch after graduation. Her goal was to prepare herself for her role on the ranch.

“That is all I ever wanted,” she added. “I never wanted to go anywhere else, but I wanted to do a good job for him. That was important to me.”

When asked what her father taught her, she laughed and said her dad “threw me to the wolves,” but in a good way.

“I learned a lot on my own, but I learned things because of either questions he would ask or questions I would have about the way he was doing things,” the rancher said.

After returning to the ranch, the father-daughter duo enhanced the horse program, later earning the AQHA Best of Remuda award in 1995. Due to conflicting visions for the ranch, Forst left Stuart Ranch in 1989 and worked for a real estate broker.

“I really wasn’t sure if I would go back to the ranch, but I wanted to stay in agriculture and in this business.”

With two young boys to raise, Forst was accepted in the Texas Christian University’s ranch management program. The program was a stepping stone for Forst. She had her real estate license and wanted to become a rural appraiser.

Forst was preparing to start her own business when Bob Stuart called and asked her to take a look at a piece of property. The property was one of the few continuous operations in Oklahoma, where the land is not separated by roads or fences, which peaked Bob Stuart’s interest. She visited the property and prepared a management plan. When she presented the plan to him, he asked her to execute the plan.

“We made a deal where I had to get him profitable within a certain period of time, or I was going to leave,” Forst explained. “I had a job and if I couldn’t do it, then I wasn’t the one he needed to do it.”

They purchased the 11,000 acres east of Waurika, Okla., in 1992. She hired her TCU colleague, Jay Adcock to help put the ranch together as far as cattle and fencing. While it was a monumental task, Forst followed the management plan and succeeded while she and her family were still living in Caddo, Okla., at the time.

Soon after, Forst moved the family to Waurika, Okla., and took over the operation as ranch manager. The ranch manager said when she took over, she had goals for the ranch and a deadline to reach them.

Preparing for the Worst

She continued to learn and enrolled in courses at Kansas State University, read literature and exposed herself to new ideas. To this day, the ranch manager considers herself “a sponge” when it comes to range management. Forst has worked with her crew to understand more about grazing within the last five years.

“There’s always been a limiting factor—water,” Forst explained. “There is no groundwater here, only surface water. When you are surface water dependent, it changes the dynamic of a lot of things.”

While the ranch always prepares for the worst, the drought of 2011 was monumental. From one extreme to another, she said 2014 and 2015 saw massive amounts of rain. The ranch has faced weather challenges throughout the past few years, but Forst said those are situations they must manage.

Allocating money each year toward water development is an integral part of the budget because they understand how critical it is. This year, she plans to increase distribution to become more efficient. Forst has worked with her crew in implementing these changes.

“The crew has been really receptive,” she said. “You can’t do things by yourself with people who are better than you at a lot of things and strive to be the best they can be. I’ve got a crew like that.”

Future Generations

“A family operation is one of the most difficult operations to be a part of, but it is also the most rewarding,” Forst explained. “To know you are able to carry on a legacy that started 150 years ago, and know that you have been entrusted to make sure you hold it together, I don’t take that lightly.”

While the responsibility can be daunting at times, Forst has tried to prepare the next generation to take the reins. The mother of two has turned many sections of the operation over to the next generation, her sons Robert and Clay Forst.

“I think it is more advantageous for them to make mistakes while I can help them through it,” she added. “They have done a wonderful job and have worked hard their whole lives.”

Both Robert and Clay understand learning is an ongoing process. Forst said ranching will only continue to get more difficult as society finds themselves further removed from agriculture. The rancher said a rancher needs to be resilient, dedicated and have faith to be successful.

“I think you have to have a tremendous faith in God,” the rancher stated. “You see that evident every day. We are just stewards.”

Stuart Ranch by the Numbers

Knowing if the ranch does not move forward, it will move backwards, Forst has made it her mission to evolve. Today, the ranch consists of 45,000 acres of land.

“Our pastures are in good shape,” Forst explained. “This year’s prescribed burn was the best in 30 years.”

The ranch incorporated a no-till method in their operation. Thinking long-term, Forst said she hopes to increase soil fertility and cease using fertilizer 15 years from now.

Forst’s grandfather, R.T. Stuart, started with Herefords, but today they have Hereford and Angus cattle. The black baldie is their super cow—making up about 60 percent of the herd. While the cow herd number is down to 1,600 head, they plan to build their numbers this year.

“A goal for us is to be better next year than we were this year,” she added. “We sold heifers when the market was good, so now is when we want to start building the herd more than anything.”

Selling many of their replacement heifers has helped the rancher focus on improving herd genetics by developing an efficient and productive cow. Along with their cow/calf herd, the ranch also specializes in stocker cattle. The steers do well in the feedlot, according to Forst.

Stuart Ranch has also expanded on their horse operation with approximately 150 head of horses. Each day, they train, promote and show their quarter horses. Forst said they are looking forward to the 2017 Snaffle Bit Futurity, which will take place in Ft. Worth, Texas, this October.

“Because of the proximity, people can come and look at our horses,” she added. “We wanted to be in a good position to have horses for sale.”

Forst is considering opening a small horse rehabilitation facility on the ranch in the future as well. She saw a need for the facility in the area for other horse owners to use. She hoped new additions to the ranch will enhance their horse operation.

“We have diversified and evolved from our roots and traditions,” Forst explained. “Those things are important to us and we highly value our legacy and what we have been entrusted with and hope to continue in a profitable fashion.”

This article originally appeared in the May 2017 issue of Oklahoma Farm & Ranch. 

Rare Color for Baskets and Mixed Containers

By Norman Winter | Horticulturist Author and Speaker

The Garden Guy has become completely mesmerized by a bowl of blackcurrants. You can guess I am having a little fun with you. I am not talking about the fruit but the flowers referred to as Superbells Blackcurrant Punch.

This year most everything came through the winter including a few plants I am even asking where did you come from? The spring has been long, gloriously beautiful and still in progress and all of the Superbells calibrachoas taking your breath away with their beauty.

I have written about the ‘Punch Group’ but never about a single color. I love every one of them but this year I just have to dedicate a column to Superbells Blackcurrant Punch. Yes, I do have a couple of yellow bowls where they are showing out but in reality, they are mixed in a lot of my containers.

Superbells Blackcurrant Punch has won a ‘baker’s dozen’ of awards, Top Performers, and Perfect Scores north to south and east to west. Like the others they reach about 12-inches tall with up to a 2-foot spread. They obviously have some cold tolerance as mine have come through the winter. The caveat is they did spend five consecutive nights in the garage. Their beauty in March and April has defied logic.

The color which is so rare in the garden makes it a must have plant. I found a Proven Winners description from several years ago that nails it, Superbells Blackcurrant Punch has bright fuchsia-colored petals with velvety black centers and a subtle yellow in the throat. It will be hard to pass by if you are lucky enough to find them at the garden center.

Your success will come from growing them in containers with a very good potting soil. Give them plenty of sun. There is a lot of garden gossip that says you can’t grow them with Supertunias, Superbenas or a plethora of other plants because of different water requirements.

In the South we water containers and baskets every day unless we get rain. These containers drain freely so life is the same for all the plants. Since we water so frequently, we need to feed on a regular basis. The Garden Guy mixes up the blue water-soluble mix and feeds the container grown plants about every three weeks. At some point the Superbells Blackcurrant Punch will look tired and in need of a trim. This haircut so to speak will generate new growth, and blooms for the fall.

Your choice of partners is only limited by your imagination. I love them with Lemon Coral sedum, Superbena Cobalt verbena, Blush Princess sweet alyssum and mixed with other calibrachoas like Superbells Grape Punch and Magic Pink Lemonade. They are heavenly with Primo Wild Rose heuchera and Superbena Whiteout verbena.

All of the Superbells attract both hummingbirds and butterflies. The butterflies I have photographed so far have all been Eastern Tiger Swallowtails. You have to admit that’s not bad for flowers that are so pretty. Planting season is here, keep a spot open in your mixed-container recipes for Superbells Black Currant Punch or some of the other Superbells calibrachoas that now total 41. Follow me on Facebook @NormanWinterTheGardenGuy for more photos and garden inspiration.

Life consists of small events that define us. Sometimes, it’s something as simple as eating cake with your two-year-old at midnight at your sister’s wedding. Sometimes, it’s something as painful as taking your two-week-old to the emergency room with RSV and living there for a week. Both are moments that changed me, and both are moments that I’ll remember forever.

Often my defining moments have happened on the back of a horse. I guess that is because that is where I have spent most of my life. It has made me pay special attention to each horse I have ridden during different stages of my life.

My first horse was a big bay horse that was must have reminded me of Greek mythology because it took me about two seconds to name him “Hercules.” He was the perfect mount for a five-year-old that acted tough but was secretly scared of her own shadow. Once I got Hercules, I could start going to work with my dad. We gathered wheat pastures and road pens, and he let me sit in the round pen on Hercules while he worked his sale horses. At the ripe age of five I was a pretty seasoned pen rider and had the sour disposition to prove it.

One morning we had a lot of wheat pasture freshies to turn out. Naturally, they ran off as soon as they got off the truck. Babies cry, and wheat pasture cattle run off the truck; I don’t make the rules.

My Dad had to leave me and get in front of the herd to keep them from crashing into the fence. I’m sure he told me just to stay put, but Hercules got excited by all the commotion and started following the impending stampede. Now I realize that I was safe the entire time, but, at that moment, I was certain my life was over. I was dramatic even as a youngster. Would Hercules ever stop? Would he try and jump the sprinkler tracks? What if he runs through the hot wire? And most importantly, what will I tell my friends?

About the time I was ready to jump into the dirt my Dad ran up beside me and helped me stop Hercules. I was safe, my adrenaline was pumping and I was promised an Allsup’s Coke for all my troubles. That was a defining moment in my life. I realized the more danger you got yourself in to, the much bigger the condolence award. As long as I was able to keep it to an Allsup’s Coke level of danger I would be just fine.

The next horse I truly loved was named “Alotofbull” He was anything but full of bull. He was big, cowy, and athletic. He scared me just a little but that’s what made me love him the most. My Dad and I won countless events on Alotofbull. My Dad has true horsemanship pumping through his veins, but I can only credit my riding success to Alotofbull. He made things easy for me and I felt I was nothing without him.

Even after all the ribbons, the moment I remember the most about him wasn’t in the showpen. it was in the middle of nowhere on a place we called “The Cain.” The Cain was where I spent many fall afternoons and summer mornings. It was full of Sandhills, cactus that were found of my backside every time my seat left the saddle, and absolutely no sign of civilization.  We would push cows to water, move pastures, and do other slow-paced things that were good for the horse and for the mind. I loved it there.

One afternoon in the middle of June, my Dad and I were moving some cattle to water. After we were done we came upon a set of old pens that my Dad had branded calves in with his Dad a long time ago. My Dad got quiet and solemn. Traits that were unusual for him. He started to reminisce of times long ago and told me how much he wished all his kids had gotten to know his Dad before he had passed away many years prior. I was only 14 at the time, and I was having trouble holding back tears myself. I leaned forward and played with Alotofbull’s black mane. I knew my grandfather had been a special man and I knew my Dad had cherished him. It made me see my Dad in a different light going forward. Yes, he was strong and resilient, but he was also human, just like the rest of us. He had a vulnerability in his life, too. It was a moment that taught me not to be afraid to talk about the hard stuff but to always press on. No matter what.

Many years later, I found myself in beautiful Oklahoma on a horse named “Reuben.” He was my then-boyfriend’s horse and was the only quick and little horse I had ever ridden. He was spunky and made me feel like better help than I was as we gathered pairs to wean that morning.

The sun was just coming up over the cottonwood trees, making the dewy grass shine. I looked over at the man beside me and just knew I would spend the rest of my life doing this very thing with him. I didn’t care if we ever had money or much of anything, really. As long as we were together, loving God, and riding good horses, I didn’t care about anything else.

About 12 hours later, after a long day and a few incidents that may or may not have involved me getting run over by a yearling, that same man proposed to me. We had never talked about it out loud, but I guess God had put it in both of our hearts. It was a moment that, of course, changed the rest of my life. It taught me not to overthink things when they are right and that an Oklahoma cowboy was just what my life needed.

I’ve had many horses and many defining moments in my life. Sometimes, I have loved the horse, and sometimes, I have not. The same goes for the moments. Nevertheless, each horse and moment has taught me something. After all this time, I am convinced that no matter how old I get, I will never be too old to ride a good horse because I will never be too old for a defining moment.

That being said, if one or two of my life lessons could involve another Allsup’s Coke, that’d be all right by me.