 |
Posted:
Wednesday, October 2, 2002
The power and grace of the cutting horse
By John Brasseaux
Cutting is unique in the vast world of show horses for one reason. It's the only equine discipline where the animal doesn't run a pattern. When the rider drops his rein hand on the back of the horse's neck, the animal is on its own.
He either wants to work a bovine beast or he doesn't. Trainers refer to that desire as "cowy-ness." The horse is born with the desire to work a cow unaided. It's the trainer's job to develop and refine the cutting desire into what we see today at the highest levels of cutting.
Such was the case at a recent show in Weatherford, Texas, a medium-sized community just outside Fort Worth. Weatherford boasts the largest concentration of high-powered cutting horses and trainers in the industry, so any show in that town draws the finest of the best.
Below are some examples of it from two classes: the 5/6-year-old Open and the 4-year-old Open. The athleticism and cutting desire of the cutting horses shown here borders on the amazing. You'd never think a horse could move, stop and turn in that manner. But, they do, all in a show of style, power and grace.
Watch a photo gallery of these fine cutting horses in competition. Click here.
|
|
|
|
|
