At Montezuma County Fairground’s indoor arena, Kelly McAndrews, a blond-haired parent who serves as a 4-H leader, watches with intent while six participants take turns riding on their horses on the compacted dirt ground. She encourages them and their horses to separate the cow each one chose from the herd.
This ranch cutting event took place at the tail end of the 4-H Horse Show on Sunday, July 16.
The 4-H program that specializes in supporting young people to develop various skills – communication, agriculture, livestock and interpersonal relationships – has been in Montezuma County for as long as some residents can remember.
The county has a long cultural history of ranching and livestock handling. Tierney Wilson, Montezuma CSU 4-H Youth Development Extension agent, said the riders who participated in the cutting portion of the show were raised around cattle and work with them often.
Ranch cutting is about determining the horse’s capacity to separate a cow from its herd, as The American Quarter Horse Association described.
Dating to the 1800s, it is a critical skill for ranch handlers to separate cows during roundups.
One of the earliest memorable public events was The Cowboy Reunion in Haskell, Texas, which advertised the first cutting contest in 1889.
Years later in 1946, the National Cutting Horse Association was established, and the group now has more than 15,000 members in 20 countries.
Before the ranch cutters competed, the two ranch helpers, Clinton Spurgeon and his young son Roy Spurgeon, kept the yearlings together while the herd trotted the arena’s perimeter. Eventually, the helpers kept them at the arena’s south side so each rancher could approach them from the north side in the hushed arena.
McAndrews whispered, “they are a super-quiet cattle herd.” She was referring to how the cows didn’t move as much as other herds she had witnessed.
Her daughter, Willa Rice, competed in the event and had two other American quarter horses outside who competed in other events during the weekend horse show – Drift, a young white horse who competed in the Showmanship event and Annie, a brown 20-year-old who prefers to compete in trail classes.
“Annie loves to do the trail class, which has obstacles like opening a gate, going over a bridge, picking up a stick or going over poles,” McAndrews said. “It’s sort of like a little obstacle course for horses, and she loves that. Drift doesn’t know what he likes because he’s just a baby.”
McAndrews mentioned that every rider in the 4-H horse show usually competes in all events, which is why her daughter had three horses at the show.
The contestants worked their chosen cows by persuading them to enter a metal pen on the west side of the arena. Some cows were easily coaxed into the pen while others ran around the arena attempting to get back to the herd.
When a horse unsuccessfully tries to pen the cattle, the competitor receives penalty points. Participants also are penalized if they don’t make a deep cut from the herd, meaning the cow they chose to cut needs to be deeper in the herd and not on the outside of the group; also if the horse just quits, which is called a “hot quit.”
Scores are granted based on the horse’s attentiveness, cow sense (the ability to anticipate a cow’s next move) and keeping the cow from returning to the herd. The cutting horse should not back down, unless told to, and be confident in stops, slides and spins. Once the horse selects the cow, every movement is up to the horse, unless advised by its rider.
Participants are given 2½ minutes to complete the task and the rider with the most points becomes the winner.
At the end of the last competitor’s session, a cow in the herd mooed for the cow that recently was played. Seconds later that cow ran to its herd where all the yearlings conglomerated together. Together the ranch helpers and contestants moved the herd out of the arena while on their horses.
Public announcements for the results are expected July 28 at 5 p.m. at the Montezuma County Fairgrounds.
