They do the regular cutting classes first, which is where the horse does all the work and your hand is down on thier neck, its pretty cool, but the horse has to be well trained. After that is the ranch cutting classes which are where you can still hold on to the reins and direct the horse. This is where the horse is still learning. This is where I would have competed. Also where Jardi competed with Avril in th Open class, and Maddie in the youth class. I believe they are ACHA shows (alberta cutting horse association) but not totally sure. They call it Rimcuts, which used to be held in Rimby but has been moved to Ponoka.
After the show was over, we used thier used cattle to practice on again and I still have trouble getting a cow out of the herd, but I can scoop one off the front. After that we had a few more awesome turns and we had to quit. But before we left the arena we stood in the corners while Bill Speight worked a 3 year old, that was pretty cool to watch him work with that colt and he sure improved.
The weather looked bad, so we thought we would stay overnight and go home Sunday afternoon. I had learned so much, I just wanted to ride more, but I knew our horses were done.
The first two are Matt, a high school rodeo kid I was practicing on, and the second twoa are Jardi and Avril. I still got to practice my timing cause its not quite right, but I think I will have lots of chances in the next few weeks.
5 comments:
Sounds like fun.....I've always wanted to try my hand and cutting other than "prairie cutting".
Good for you Crystal, My Grandpa had cutting horses and a couple of time I got to show against the big boys (I'm sure they were shaking in their high dollar saddles) mostly I competed in high school rodeo show. Stay with it, it's a lot of fun.
I bet you loved every minute of it. That's the only thing I really miss about Alberta, is the phenomonal horse community there. There are always shows, gatherings, clinics, and horses everywhere. I am trying to get a cowhorse club going here. I so want to try cutting.
Cutting is very exciting to watch. The horse is totally in control, while the rider is there for the wild ride. And it's easy to see if the horse has the heart for it's job or not. Some horses, I imagine probably terrify those poor cows. lol!
~Lisa
thank you for sharing this - with your words I felt like i was watching alongside with you :)
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