The equestrian sport of ‘cutting’ emerged from the open ranges of the American West. Ranchers hired cowboys to work their cattle herds, and the job included separating from a herd (‘cutting’ from the herd) cows that were in need of branding or veterinary care or that had wandered and become mingled in a herd of neighboring ranches. The cowboys used their best ‘cow smart’ horses for the task, a western cross-breed descendant from the horses brought to North America by Conquistadors with an instinctive ability to anticipate a cow’s movement.
In 1898, the first cutting horse competition was held in Haskell, Texas, and it’s become an international sport with sanctioned professional, amateur and open events offering prize money and awards. In competition, a horse and rider work as a team to demonstrate the horse’s skills during a 2½ minute performance, called a “run”. The horse/rider contestant must make at least two cuts of cows from the herd during a run, one from deep inside the herd while others can be peeled from the edges. After the selected cow has been separated from the herd, it’s up to the horse to defend and hold the cow, except that a rider may use leg cues to prevent the cow from returning to the herd. Judges score a run on a scale from 60 to 80, with 70 being an average score. Cutting horse competition is primarily governed by the rules and regulations established by the National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA), founded in 1948. ‘Limited Age Events (LAE)’ are restricted to young horses in a specific age group. A ‘futurity’ is for late 3-year or early 4-year old horses; a ‘derby’ is for mid to late 4-year olds; and a ‘classic’, or classic/challenge, is for 5 and 6-year old horses. (See Spectator’s Guide→ HERE and 2017 NCHA Rule Book Here)
Information/Resources:
National Cutting Horse Association
Wikipedia: Cutting (sport)
WATCH On2In2™
If you missed the live broadcast of the 2017 NCHA World Finals, you can watch a video recording of each day’s event posted on the video player below ↓ Just click/tap the “Watch Again’ button or on the video posts.
Watch video recordings of the 2017 NCHA Futurity competition! Just click/tap the “Watch Again” button or on the video posts on the video player below ↓
The 2017 NCHA Summer Spectacular is 20 days of competition (July 17 – August 6) at Will Rogers Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas, featuring the NCHA Derby for 4-year-olds, and the NCHA Classic Challenge for 5/6-year-olds with a purse of over $2 million. If you missed the event live broadcast, there’s still time to watch video recordings. Just click/tap the “Watch Again” button or “event posts” on the video player below ↓
FREE To WATCH Horse Reining competition – live action and video recordings
How to Beat the Bull – a champion bull rider reveals his secrets to success
We’d love to hear from you! If you’d like to comment on this article, join the conversation, or share your inspiration, and you have not yet registered as an On2In2™ playmaker, please sign up via the ‘Engage page’. Don’t worry, it’s pretty quick and easy (unless you’re a robot).
Feature photo is courtesy of Pixabay/Pexels CC0
