Page 91 - June 2022

In April this year, Jill announced the sale of Royal Vista Ranches LLC to Cole Morehead
of XCEL Farms LLC, a breeding and training facility for top race, team roping and barrel horses. Laura will remain as general manager of Royal Vista Ranches LLC, with Marty Powers of MP Horses directing operations.
“My goal would be that the (XCEL) farm
have done a great job keeping all the paperwork straight, and there’s a lot to managing that. And I don’t think anybody is better at saving the dummy babies and that kind of thing.
“She’s also a very caring person, whether that’s towards the horses in her care, or her personnel, or her clients,” Jill adds. “She has birthday parties for everybody who works there, and everybody
who owns Patriot Industrial Solutions, a torque and bolting equipment supply company for the oil and gas and wind farm industries, pitches in whenever extra manpower is needed. “He’s kind of a pinch hitter,” Laura jokes.
And although her step-daughter Jessica, a junior studying social work at the University of Oklahoma, isn’t active in the horse industry,
and the ranch mesh, from the very top to the very bottom,” Marty says, “and that we work as a team to achieve what we need to for the public and for the industry.”
In a statement, Cole said, “’Business as Usual’ is going to be the Royal Vista Ranches motto moving into the second half of 2022. Although we plan on merging the current operation with resources from the XCEL Farms team, there will be no disruptions to the way business has been handled in the past at Royal Vista Ranches.”
Laura looks forward to being a part of the newly formed team. “Cole is young and energetic and enthusiastic, and he has a lot to inject into the horse industry,” she says. “I think that’s such a needed element for the industry. Vaughn was always very involved in trying to bring young people into the industry, so he would absolutely approve of continuing on in this way. That’s what he did with me and with Jake and Stephanie, and now that is happening with Cole. He believed that to preserve the industry, you need to keep bringing younger generations into it—especially in the racehorse industry, which tends to be heavily sided to the older generation.
“And, of course, Marty brings with him a wealth of experience and knowledge and time in the industry,” she stated.
HER SECRETS TO SUCCESS
It’s no surprise to Laura’s associates that Cole chose to keep her on as Royal Vista Ranches’ general manager following the sale. “Laura is a very organized person; she stays on top of things and takes care of all the little details,” Jill says. “She doesn’t let things slide through the cracks. With frozen semen, multiple embryos, ICSI and all of that as it develops, she and her help
who doesn’t have someplace else to go comes over for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. Even when she’s exhausted, she’s thinking about other people’s feelings and thoughts. I’ve never heard anybody say an unkind thing about her because she’s such an outstanding person.”
Marty admires Laura’s approach to life. “I respect her loyalty and her diligence, her honesty, and her passion for the industry,” he says. “I’ll guarantee you that the last three years, my respect for her has grown in full for the things she has gone through with Vaughn’s sickness and then his death. It would have to have been a tough trip every day managing by herself after him being around much of the time. It would’ve been easy for her to throw her sucker in the dirt and throw her hands up, but she was very diligent in wanting to continue Royal Vista Ranches and Vaughn’s legacy.
“I’m sure she has her ups and downs, but she doesn’t let it show,” he adds. “She’s very positive in her intentions and I think that trickles down to her employees and clients as well.
She’s certainly earned her spot
in the industry and deserves
any accolades she’s received.”
Laura doesn’t hesitate to credit Vaughn and Jill with inf luencing her in a positive way and contributing to
her success. “For the last 27 years of my life, they’ve been mentors, guides, partners, friends and family,” she says.
HOME LIFE
Even Laura’s personal life is part of the Royal Vista mix. Her husband, Dan,
she enjoys the family aspects of the business. In their “spare” time, the family tries to spend
time boating with friends at Lake Texoma. “We enjoy any activity involving water,” Laura says. She also combines business with pleasure
by keeping a small group of broodmares from which she raises and sells yearlings for the racetrack. “I very much enjoy raising babies to sell and watch run,” she says.
She looks forward to the next chapter in her life at Royal Vista Ranches. “We’ve weathered a lot of storms—the economic upturns and downturns and other difficulties—and just being able to continue forward and to welcome new enthusiasm and excitement—to bring new into the old—I welcome that and I’m proud of that,” Laura says.
“I wish the very best for Laura and her future,” Jill says. “She’s so well versed with the industry and the people in it, and she’s going to do great things in the future, just as she’s done great things in the past.”
Laura with her husband Dan and stepdaughter Jessica
Laura Erickson
SPEEDHORSE June 2022 89
Susan Bachelor, Speedhorse
Courtesy Royal Vista