March 21, 2010
Heavens Horses Stables
Baytown, Texas

Mr. Gist,

I purchased one of your yearlings March 12, 2010 and I wanted to let you know what a wonderful colt he is turning out to be. I had been searching for a good foundation, cow bred colt for some time when I came across your on line sale. After going through the list of available yearlings that were listed, I chose Mr Rey Del Peppy. When we picked him up on Friday, March 12, your foreman Rusty Rodgers was very helpful and informative. He had us back the trailer up to a chute and he loaded the colt without any problems. He did explain that the colt hadn't had a halter on much, maybe 2 times. This was exactly what I was looking for, a colt I could start from the beginning.

When we got him home, the weather was great, so we backed the trailer up to the round pen, opened the panels and let him into the round pen. I gave him hay and water and left him alone until Saturday Morning. I joined him in the round pen saturday morning and after 2 hours he was mine. By mid afternoon, I could walk around with him following me, brush him and touch him anywhere without so much as a glance from him. This was accomplished without any round pen work, just being in there with him. (I don't like to run young horses in the round pen due to too much work on their young joints). He had a bath Saturday without any drama or being tied or chased around.

Sunday he learned to pony behind the 4 wheeler and quickly figured out how to pace himself at the trot. Monday he stood very well for the farrier and took the paster wormer like a pro. I am very pleased with his mind set and easy going nature. I clipped his face and ears and once again he was perfect. It is very obvious that your breeding program is very successful, not only are you producing good sound foundation Quarter Horses but you are breeding good Quarter Horse minds.

Thank You for the chance to bring this colt into my life. I am looking forward to many years of riding and working with this little guy. Good Luck with your continued breeding program. I would recommend your ranch to anyone looking for a good, sound, Quarter Horse.

Martha Murch

March 8, 2010

John,

I was sorry to hear about the passing of your father. He was an artist who sculpted in muscle, hide and hoof. I don't throw a leg over my "Walking Stick" horse without thinking about the passion Fred Gist poured into his commitment to preserve the foundation quarter horse. I am a grateful participant in this legacy he has created.

Sincerely,

John R.
Midland, Texas

The photo of Fred leaned up against the old barn, wearing his cowboy hat, is the way we will always remember him…

Before we were married, we made our first trip to the Wagon Wheel Ranch back in 1998. For Jennifer, horses had always been a big part of life. So, we were seeking common ground with horses that would appeal to both of us. We knew we liked the rugged looks and roan color that most Hancock horses possessed, but we needed to know more about them and their character. In our quest to research the heritage of these horses, the Wagon Wheel Ranch was the only place with a volume and concentration of the blood where we could see for ourselves what physical characteristics were consistently produced.

It was shortly after this visit that we established a business plan for our horse operation. Over the next ten years, we would hand select the horses for our program. It was during this time that the videos produced by Fred, walking through the pastures and detailing the genetic value, taught us more about the line-breeding of these horses descending from Joe Hancock.

In 2008, we were contacted regarding the complete dispersal of the Wagon Wheel Ranch horses. We discussed the future of these horses that possessed the genetics Fred had so carefully preserved. We were surely concerned about the future of these horses, yet we had a business plan and we had to be resolute to its principles. In our quest to select only the horses that met all of the criteria of our business plan, we still had not achieved our goals in regards to the number of mares. We discussed this dispersal with some other prudent breeders and collectively identified the horses each hoped to purchase. We traveled back to the Wagon Wheel Ranch—nearly ten years to the day after our first visit.

We met Fred at the headquarters where all of the Hancock horses resided. It was such a wonderful visit. It was obvious that horses were a passion to him. He valued the animal, as well as the genetic value. Of course, he was also a shrewd businessman. We arrived at an agreement on a couple of mares and decided to meet for dinner. There, we discussed our families, values, heritage, politics, religion, nothing was taboo. The time passed so quickly. Soon the restaurant was empty except for us and the staff. We realized it was well passed their closing time, so we continued our conversation in the parking lot until well early in the morning. It was so late, or early, that his family was concerned about him driving home. It was obvious he was loved by his family.

We ended up bringing five mares home in 2008. We were told by the ranch manager that helped that day, and load the mares out the following morning, that Fred had offered us a discount that was not typical. As a small breeder, we had only hoped of owning one of these mares, for several years. These mares exemplify Fred’s dedication to the American Quarter Horse. Rarely a day will pass that we look at these mares and not remember the man that made such an impression on the Hancock horses and allowed us the opportunity to continue a legacy.

Brett and Jennifer Keller
Coyote Ridge Roans
www.coyoteridgeroans.com
Mulberry, Arkansas

December 2, 2009

John,

You know how much your dad meant to me and how I feel about you and your mother. I only wish our seeing each other was not under such circumstances. Words cannot really express how deeply sorry we are, nor how deeply your father touched and blessed my own life over the past 15 plus years. He was much more than a friend - he was a mentor I respected and admired.

I have never had the complete breeding knowledge your dad had, and I have never known anyone that did for that matter. That is the reason I've written years back he was the greatest Genetic Breeder of his time and the greatest since Bob Kleberg of the King Ranch. I believe he was ahead of Kleberg, and they were both ahead of anyone, especially the degreed Genetic Experts, and ahead of their own time. Have you visited the Hancock Horses message board? I placed your dad's passing on there when you wrote, it is as with everyone else the same as with me - He was a Living Legend and I have never known any man more respected, nor one that had touched and prospered so many peoples lives. You have seen the pictures of Blue San Pep on our photo pages I'm sure, if you hadn't clicked on the pictures and read what I said, I wish you would (www.wrightscurs.com - click on the Wright Cattle Co./Horses link, then click on Blue San Pep's photo). Those words have been there since the website was created. I do not say anything I don't mean, and as most will say, I say what I think straight forward - too quickly sometimes. I'm sure he had friends closer to him than I, but I don't believe any have more respect or admiration for the man he was than I do and will always have. When we picked up Miss Hydel Hunter I hadn't seen your dad in several years - we were talking, and he gave me a business card. I thought and pulled out the first card he gave me in 1994, it's still in my billfold today. He laughed about that one hard, one of his hands was there. Anyhow, later on in a conversation I said I was probably his biggest fan - I was joking about my size. He said, "I know your are - there isn't anyone else that ever bought a horse from me carrying around a 15 year old card that’s wore out!" He also told me that day, or Wanda perhaps, that the first time he talked to me I was "exasperating to say they least", but after he found out what I did and how I used my horses he understood why I was so particular in what I was buying, I have to make a living with horses and dogs. He helped me more than anyone I know, as I've said to you and thousands of others countless times, but he always said he enjoyed helping anyone that had a sincere desire to learn, and he had an ability to help. I always called him at the office in Midland years ago, he was so hard to catch at the house when he was at the ranch - almost impossible as he had so much to tend too. I hated bothering him at the office, but if he was there he always took my call even if he was in a meeting. One reason I hated bothering him was we always talked for 3 or 4 hours before I knew it. One thing he taught me was he was a student of life, always working to learn more, he has told me when a man stops being a student of life and learning something everyday, he is dead or going backwards in life. That has stayed with me every day since he first spoke those words, and no one has ever spoken any that were truer.

When your dad told me he was dispersing I did everything possible to get as many horses as I could to maintain his Legacy that had been such a huge part of his life - hard work and learning - such breeding knowledge is very rarely accomplished by any one man. Without Mr. Gist there wouldn't be the foundation bloodlines preserved as they are today - he accomplished what no other breeder today has.

Sincerely,

Randy Wright
Wright Cattle Company
Dryden, Texas
www.wrightscurs.com

December 2, 2009

Hi John,

Please accept my sincere condolences.
Fred will be remembered - every time I look at my Blue Roan stallion I will think of Fred.

Lena

Brian and Lena Rasmussen
Coliban Quarter Horse Stud
Newdegate, West. Australia
PH/FAX (08)98711031 A/H
0428711031 mobile
www.colibanqh.com

December 3, 2009

Dear John,

Thank you for letting us know about your dad, even if it was a great shock for us this morning. What a tremendous loss for you and your family, and for the Quarter Horse industry as well. We are very fortunate to have three of his horses in our yard, and had the opportunity to get to know such a real horseman. Our first contact with Fred was almost 15 years ago, he sent us a box with 9 hours of horse videos that we watched over and over again and realised that we had to get our hands on some of them. It took several years before we had raised money enough to really buy the first one. We had our minds set that if we were to buy another horse it would be a Gist horse! It's not often you meet a man with Fred's passion for breeding good horses, furthermore he was honest always. For example, a couple of years back we picked out two King horses we would like to buy - he answered that those two horses had become a little "toe out" for breeding purposes, so he advised us not to buy them!!

Not to mention all hours he and his staff, and yourself had to run throughout pastures checking all our stallion and broodmare prospects. We are very pleased with the result of your effort.

This year we got the first offspring of your horses. They are even better than we could hope for.

Our thoughts are with you and your family.

Krister & Margona with family
Rasetorp Skara, Sweden
YouTube.com video of Oliver's first mounting on Ms Superkingfortytwo

December 3, 2009

Dear John,

It was with great sadness to discover the passing of your dad. Max and I were sitting down last evening during a pause from his homework, and were going to the Gist Horses website when we discovered the announcement. Max was very upset as Mr. Fred was the first person he has ever had a personal relationship with that has passed.

I am attaching a photo of your dad and Max from our January trip to pick up Rex.

It was indeed a high honor to get to meet your dad. Please convey our sincerest sympathy and condolences to your mom and the rest of your family. I know Mr. Fred will be missed greatly.

Jim Ferguson
Max Ferguson and the Ferguson Family

Fred G. Gist with Max Ferguson (January 2009)

December 19th, 2009

Dear John,

I am greatly shocked and saddened to here about Fred's passing and just wanted to pass on a word.

About 6 years ago I started calling your dad once or twice a year seeing if he would sell me any of his Don Wrede mares and his answer was always no, but every time I ended my call I had acquired from Fred a greater wealth of knowledge whether history, genetics or how he acquired his prize breeding horses. Each time I got of the phone I knew I wanted one of those mares even more, so I kept on calling.

A couple years later I guess I caught Fred on a good day and he agreed to sell me one of those daughters - it was never a matter of money, it was more about the horse. The mare had a runty foal at side that year and I think she had a hard time out in the pasture with the other mares / or stud, I was never quite sure but I was glad to hear she was mine. Later on when I got Fudge home it was quite obvious she was a smart, but very sensitive and even though she was never really handled, she was not your typical range mare.

A few months later I made the long trip to Lampasas to pick up the mare and meet Fred. I had always only had my heart set on the one horse, but after the day of visiting viewing horses I wish I had made a deal on a few other ones. I will never forget driving with your dad in his truck looking at horses in the dark with the headlights on, and he was still able to recognize most any horse we looked at, and knew there breeding and history (no notes, no papers, no computer - all in his head. I was amazed.). We were out so long that we missed all the Texas barbeques and settled on Italian, and some more horse talk. Fred's hospitality was first class and genuine - just like his horses.

Unfortunately, I lost that mare to colic the next year and almost quite breeding horses altogether, but that years stud colt she produced changed my mind again. I started him this last September with Martin Black and 47 other great horses, and in my opinion (although I'm biased) he was the smartest, gentlest, well put together horse in the bunch, and was the only stud in a large group of gelding and mares ridden along side him.

I have great plans for this colt both as a saddle horse and a breeding horse and I owe much appreciation to Fred for selling me the mare, and I will think of him often when I am riding "Flint ".

Gene McIntosh
Dewdney B.C.
Canada

Gene McIntosh and "Flint"

December 20, 2009

We have so many good memories of our times with Mr. Gist....at your ranch learning about matched chromosomes and bloodlines, seeing that horse training demonstration, shooting off a cannon, hearing stories about lions in the orchard, and developing a deep appreciation for all things Texas - be it Sunday houses in Fredricksburg or BBQ in Llano. We also enjoyed our times with him in the Colorado Rockies...and treasure this picture of all of us together on top of Mount Evans. We appreciate the wisdom that he had to share, and my sister and I still smile when we think of that night that he stayed up till the wee hours talking about the important things with the two of us. He was a good man with a big heart. All three of you are often in our thoughts and always in our hearts. He will be missed.

Love from all of the Taylors