Jade Johnson and Shesa Skilly Cat
Jade Johnson was introduced to cutting in Oklahoma when she worked for Rick and Dolly Chayer, of Chayer Performance Horses. They had working cow horses and show ropers. This gave her a taste for the way a cow horse felt. When she came back to Australia, she spent weekends at Turpentine Park riding their cutting horses and fell in love with the sport. She has now been cutting for 10 years.
Her favorite thing about the sport is the people she has met and the places the sport has taken her.
Her favorite horse is her futurity horse from this past year named Skilly Ray Cyrus. She showed the mother and bred her to produce him. It was very special for her to show her first home-bred horse. She said it was one of the best feelings, walking to the herd on something you bred and raised.
Johnson has had horses in training with Corey Holden for the last six years in Australia. She said he really taught her a lot of what she knows. One of her favorite pieces of advice she likes to think about is the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, because it applies so well to training and showing cutting horses.
As her breeding program grew, it was a natural progression to go into business with a cutting horse trainer. This year, Johnson has Trent Smith Cutting Horses working out of her facility in the Barossa Valley, South Australia. This is a new venture Johnson and her family are very excited about.
Johnson is very passionate about the sport. She is working out ways to promote cutting in Australia and mentioned that it would be fun to have American cutters have horses in training in Australia and compete at their big shows. Australia is on many people’s bucket lists, so Johnson is encouraging cutters to combine their vacation with a horse show or two and exploring the sport and its people down under!
Why Jade uses CHTO: “I love being able to watch videos on specific topics I may be having trouble with
and look for fresh explanations.”
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