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Michael Blewitt Cutting horses |
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What is cutting? |
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Cutting began like many other cow horse events. It all goes back to the old west and cowboys. The open range of the late 19th century required spring and fall roundups and the cattle had to be separated by brand. New calves were cut out from the herd and branded. To the cowboys of that day, a good cow horse was essential and they were proud of their horses. Different horses were good for different jobs, but the cutting horse was the elite horse of the open range. Together, the cowboy and his cutting horse were a team. Each cowboy would brag that his ‘cutting’ horse was the best and felt the need to prove it. Informal competitions sprang up at these roundups. But as modern day ranching gave way to squeeze chutes and fenced pastures, the noble cutting horse was becoming obsolete. To prevent the loss of such great horses, in 1946 the National Cutting Horse Association was formed and the founders set up contest rules, the basics of which are still used to this day. New life was infused into the cutting horse competitions and today it is one of the world’s most exciting equine events. Cutting horse competitions are designed to reward the horse for the traits that have been valued by cowboys for the past century. Someone once said that the cutting horse is the hardest stopping, fastest turning, quickest thinking horse in the world. When you sit up on the back of one of these magnificent athletes in front of a cow, you come away without any doubts that this is a true statement. While these horses are outstanding athletes, riders as young as four years old have competed with riders well into their seventies. Skill and technique is all it takes to experience cutting, and these may be acquired under the guidance of a professional cutting horse trainer. A great family sport, cutting has something for everyone. There is a class to fit any member of the family, from entry-level classes to Open classes. One of the industries top Non-Pro cutters has been competing for thirty years, and now there are three generations of her family competing in the NCHA. There is also a National Youth Cutting Horse Association that the youth members, 18 and under, belong to. The first record of cutting as an arena event took place at the Southwestern Exposition and Fat Stock Show in Ft. Worth, Texas at the annual rodeo in 1919 as an exhibition. The next year it became a competitive event. But the very first advertised cutting competition took place in 1898 at the Cowboy Reunion in Haskell, Texas. Fifteen thousand people attended. They came by horseback, wagon or hack. The prize money put up for the event was $150 dollars, quite a large sum in those days, and there were eleven riders competing. Old Hub, owned by Sam Graves, was revered by cowboys as a horse that could cut a cow blind folded and without a bridle. Though he was 22 years old, Graves brought the horse out of retirement and primed him with the best of feed to prepare him for the competition. Then he tied Old Hub to the back of a hack and led him all the way to Haskell. It was a two-day journey, but a journey that wrote the magnificent old gelding right into the history books. He won the cutting competition that day, and Graves set aside half of his winnings to ensure that Old Hub had the best of care for the rest of his days. While the prize money 1898 was $150, today things are much different. Total purses at NCHA-approved events now exceed $36 million each year. Yet for many, cutting’s greatest rewards run much deeper than prize money. The bond that the modern day rider has with the cutting horse is not far removed from the one formed years ago on the open range. Truly, cutting is set apart from all other equine events.
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