The Impact of COVID – 19 On Cutting

December 9th, 2020 by Simone Cobb

A rider at the futurity wearing a mask.

No one could have predicted the year 2020 has been. The cutting horse industry has never experienced something like COVID-19. All equine sports have had to adapt to continue to function in the midst of the pandemic. But how has COVID -19 actually impacted the sport and the community involved with it?

It’s important to recognize that many people have suffered the loss of loved ones and/or endured the illness themselves not to mention dealt with financial hardship. While it’s impossible to know those statistics in the cutting industry, we can investigate other ways it’s been felt.

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Sam Shepard – A Legacy Of Learning

November 5th, 2020 by Simone Cobb

Sam Shepard

Sam Shepard loved learning. It’s perhaps the reason he came to cutting later in life as a cutting horse trainer and was able to enjoy almost $2.5 million worth of success in the show pen. But it wasn’t just his training prowess that made him a name in cutting, it was his decency and love of people that really established his reputation.

Shepard was diagnosed with a rare condition called Amyloidosis. He passed away September 15th this year at his home in Verbena, Alabama at the age of 74.

His son, Austin Shepard, described his dad as a very well rounded person. He was well read, passionate about education, and a talented horse trainer. Shepard traveled the world because of cutting horses and was always interested in people from all walks of life. Austin said his father lived a full life.

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Trainer’s Corner – Lindy Burch – Weatherford, TX

November 5th, 2020 by Simone Cobb

Lindy Burch and Bet Yer Blue Boons

Total Earnings: $4,030,194

In Ojai, California in the early 60s on a family Sunday drive, 13-year-old Lindy Burch came across a cutting show. She decided then and there that she had to be part of it. A few weeks later, in another moment of serendipity, a cutting horse trainer moved in down the road and Burch immediately wanted to learn from him. She offered to pay the trainer, Bruce Cahill, to teach her cutting. They worked out a deal where she would help around the ranch cleaning stalls and saddling horses in exchange for coaching.

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Member Spotlight – Garnett Hayes – Cerulean, KY

November 5th, 2020 by Simone Cobb

Garnett Hayes and JR Colored Summer Prom

Garnett Hayes has enjoyed the sport of cutting for 38 years. He first saw the sport on TV as a young boy and thought it looked fun. Hayes started out riding a paint and has owned many horses. Hayes enjoys his retirement with his horses on a 400 acre farm in Western Kentucky.

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Member Spotlight – Jed Lawrence – Nancy, KY

October 5th, 2020 by Simone Cobb

Photo By Brent Puhl

In 2007,  Jed Lawrence attended a cow horse sale in Indiana. He had grown up on a cattle ranch and thought reined cow horses looked fun. He went to work for Shawn Flarida, focusing on the reining event. Lawrence now has his own training operation in Nancy, KY and he uses Cutting Horse Training Online to improve his herd work.

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Trainer’s Corner – Geoffrey Sheehan – Weatherford, TX

October 5th, 2020 by Simone Cobb

Geoffrey Sheehan

Total Earnings: $1,779,320

Geoffrey Sheehan grew up in Gundagai, New South Wales, Australia. At about 12 years old he started working for renowned trainer Graham Amos on school holidays. When Sheehan was 16, Graham Amos came to the States to compete in cutting. Sheehan decided that was his path too and continued working for him in America.

Amos was Sheehan’s main mentor, but he also credits other trainers for teaching him along the way such as John Mitchell, Roger Wagner, and Clint Allen to name a few.

“The first time I ever walked into Will Rogers I [thought] this is what I want to do,” Sheehan said.

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EPM – Career Ending Or A Brief Setback?

October 5th, 2020 by Simone Cobb

Dr. Molly Bellefeuille of Northern Star Equine Speaking with CHTO’s Duncan Steele-Park

Ever had a horse that looked strangely unbalanced, had an abnormal gait or a lameness that you couldn’t put your finger on? It’s possible that horse is suffering from Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis better known as EPM.

It’s a disease that’s probably more common than you may think. Most horses have antibodies but no clinical signs, hence are immune, but many don’t and diagnosing EPM can be challenging because it presents differently in every horse.

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Trainer’s Corner – Dustin Gonnet – Cayley, Alberta, Canada

October 5th, 2020 by Simone Cobb

Photo By Hudyma Photography

Total Earnings: $1,672,203

Dustin Gonnet bought a horse from a sale that a cutting horse trainer had put some time on and he ended up getting a job with that trainer, Doug Reinhardt, to start colts and later he worked for Scott Amos. He never turned back! Gonnet grew up cowboying and riding colts his whole life in Saskatchewan, Canada. Gonnet was a true student of the sport, spending many hours watching other trainers in the practice pen at shows and applying what he thought would work for him and building on that.

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World Cutting Horse Association – Making Cutting Accessible

September 14th, 2020 by Simone Cobb

Friendly, fun, and affordable is the mission behind the fast growing World Cutting Horse Association based out of Oklahoma and Texas. Six years ago, Lainie Whitmire founded the WCHA to help cutters with smaller budgets have a place to show. They started with some very small shows but prayed it would work. With the help of friends and their wider network spreading the word, the shows were a success.

With approximately 2,000 members, the WCHA works, Whitmire said, because it is made up of friendly, helpful, salt of the earth people who do the hard work. The goal is to make the association fun, inclusive and easy to get involved with.

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Member Spotlight – Lilly Loraas – Duluth, MN

September 14th, 2020 by Simone Cobb

Lilly and Smart Like Pepto Rio

Lilly Loraas first started cutting about a year ago and at 14 years old she has big dreams. She is a regional director for the NYCHA and hopes to one day become president or vice president of the board. She also hopes to compete at the world finals and continue learning about the sport.

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Tiffani Veltri – The Power Of Massage For Cutting Horses

September 14th, 2020 by Simone Cobb

Tiffani Veltri assessing a horse

Like any athlete, a cutting horse must be kept comfortable in order to perform to the best of his ability. While this involves a team of people such as the vet, farrier, and equine dentist, another health modality that’s becoming increasingly popular is massage therapy. Nationally Certified Equine Massage Therapist Tiffanie Veltri said massage can have immediate benefits for helping a horse release tension and rehab sore muscles.

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Trainer’s Corner – Wesley Galyean – Claremore, OK

August 4th, 2020 by Simone Cobb

Wesley Galyean

Total Earnings: $4,051,497

An Open Futurity winner as a 21 year-old non-pro, Wesley Galyean had always known he wanted to be a cutting horse trainer. There was no plan B for him. Cutting has been in his family for three generations, both his father Jody and grandfather Kenneth Galyean were trainers. A lot of people tried to convince him to go to college and skip the horse training, but Galyean said it was in his blood. If it’s what you love, keep on fighting, work hard, pray hard and give it everything you have he said.  

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Member Spotlight: Kylie Barnett – Tamworth, NSW, Australia

August 4th, 2020 by Simone Cobb

Kylie and Yugilbar Gday Kitty

Kylie Barnett has been around horses her whole life. Her background is in camp drafting (an Australian sport that shares some similarities with reined cow horse) which goes back to her grandfather, but she has always enjoyed watching cutting at the Australian NCHA Futurity. She was watching the Futurity sale and saw a mare she liked that wasn’t going for much so she decided to take a chance and buy her!  Keep On Reading!


Member Spotlight – Roberta Rollins – Belle, MO

July 24th, 2020 by Simone Cobb

Roberta receiving her Reserve Champion $5000 AM buckle at The Bonanza

Roberta Rollins began her riding career with Western Pleasure Futurity horses. She and her trainer, Jaime Bissell, went to Tom Lyons’ ranch in 1994 where Rollins got a taste of cutting. After a 3 day crash course in the sport, she purchased Doc’s Lord Monty and attended her first cutting show.

“I was terrified at the thought of showing in cutting, when my background was a slow lope around the pen on a pleasure futurity horse,” Rollins remembered.

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Trainer’s Corner – Guy Woods

July 24th, 2020 by Simone Cobb

Guy Woods

Total Earnings: $2,729,007

Originally from Australia, Guy Woods grew up in the horse business. His dad was a cutting horse trainer and so he started showing as a youth. At age 18, Guy moved to the States to work for a reining trainer. His boss later suggested he work for cutting horse trainer, Bill Riddle, and the rest is history!

Guy has been working for EE Ranches for an impressive 32 years! He said the key is really good communication with the owners, the Ellards. Several years into working for EE Ranches, Mrs. Ellard started showing a lot. She was the head loper and she was in the trenches with Guy. She saw the good, the bad and the ugly, Guy said. She saw every aspect of the sport, which helped her understand cutting from a trainer’s perspective and the challenges they face. He said this has been the key to their partnership’s success and longevity.

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