James Payne

Money Won

Titles/Finals

• NCHA Futurity Finalist x3
  
• 2019 NCHA Summer Spectacular Open Derby Champion
  
• 2018 NCHA Summer Spectacular Open Classic Champion
  
• 2014 NCHA Summer Spectacular Classic Champion
  
• 2012 NCHA Summer Spectacular Classic Champion
  
• 2012 NCHA Reserve Champion Super Stakes

Top Three Horses Trained

• Once in a Blu Boon
  
• Sarenadual
  
• HR Playin Legend

How I got started: I worked for Dick Piper for eight years as a reiner in 1996. When the Pipers switched to cutting because of Playgun I switched to training cutters as well. I leased stalls for a year at the Pipers and trained for the public. I then trained for Polo Ranch from 2005 to 2008 and have been training for the public ever since at my ranch at Overbrook, OK.

Biggest mistake I’ve made in cutting: It’s not really a mistake, however I wished I had shown in the youth because there is a big difference between training and showing.

Biggest myth about cutting: Don’t think that once you have had success in the show pen that you’re going to stay there, you have to keep grinding away and working at it.

Favorite quote: “The faster the cow, the slower you ride, the slower the cow, the faster you ride.”

Most memorable moment in cutting: The first time I made the futurity finals. Winning my first major aged event on Sarenadual because of the high calibre horses we were competing against.

Training philosophy: Be there every day and grind, with a lot of repetition.