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Jay Winborn – From Polo To Cutting – Life Lessons

July 23rd, 2020 by Simone Cobb

Jay Winborn

NCHA Executive Director Jay Winborn has a background in an equine sport you don’t hear much of in performance horse circles. For 15 years, Winborn was an international, professional polo player!

He started off as a groom in a polo club. As a third generation polo player, it was a natural progression for the young rider. He not only competed in the sport, but trained polo horses and ran polo clubs in the Dallas district.

Playing professionally meant a lot of traveling. He would spend four to five months a year in Florida for the winter training and riding. In the summer, the team would travel to New York, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma and other states to play in month-long tournaments.

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Creating The Conditions For Success With Michael Cooper Pt2

June 1st, 2020 by Simone Cobb

Michael Cooper talking to clinic participants

As most cutting horse shows start back up in June, it is time to think about your strategy for the rest of the year and get your head in back in the game! Top trainer Michael Cooper offers some great insight into how to do just that!

Set Goals

Michael Cooper spends time with each of his clients on developing their goals. He said setting goals depends on three things: the horse, the rider, and the steps they need to take together to accomplish those goals. For example, what does the client want to do with their horse? Show more themselves or have Cooper show it to try to win the most money on it?

Together, they also decide if it’s an open or a non pro horse or if it can be both at some shows. From there, they work out a plan for the horse. If it’s a horse they just want to show in the non pro or amateur, Cooper will still show it every third show or so at the weekend level to keep it tuned up and increase its money earned.

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Trainer’s Corner: Cullen Chartier

June 1st, 2020 by Simone Cobb

Cullen Chartier Photo by Martin Lengals

Total Earnings: $1,004,761

With two generations of cutters behind him, you could say cutting is in Cullen Chartier’s blood. Before committing to be a trainer, Chartier’s main focus was other sports. At one point, he pursued a sports broadcasting career, but made the switch after watching his brother, RL Chartier make the Futurity finals.

Cullen showed in the youth and worked for his dad, Randy Chartier for two years. He then went to work for RL at Wrigley Ranches. After two years, RL told him it was time to go work for someone else, so Chartier headed off to Paul Hansma. He spent four years with Hansma, before starting his own business training out of Paul’s place.

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Member Spotlight – Garth Bullis, Holcomb, Kansas

June 1st, 2020 by Simone Cobb

Garth Bullis and Reyality Check

Garth Bullis began his horse career in the English world and soon moved into the western disciplines. He tried reining, and roping but still hadn’t found his niche. He came across cutting in a video and thought it was the coolest thing he had seen. After finding a retired cutting horse trainer who helped him learn, he became hooked.

He purchased a mare in 2014, got her started and showed her. She taught Bullis a lot. The pair ended up winning the Minnesota Non Pro Breeder’s Futurity and all three go rounds before that. He really felt like cutting was what he should be doing and after his dad passed away, he decided to really go for it.

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Trainer’s Corner: Scott Amos, Loma, CO

May 7th, 2020 by Simone Cobb

Scott Amos

Total Earnings: $979,937

Scott Amos got his start in the reining and cow horse world. He said his parents had horses and he rode and showed growing up. Tim Denton introduced Amos to cutting and gave him his first job during school summers.

Winston Hansma and John Mitchell offered a lot of help and advice along the way when Colorado based Amos was able to come to Texas. He would bring three or four horses down and ride with the two Hall of Famers.

Amos was originally going to go to school to be a prosthetist (a specialist in prosthetics). He had been interested in making artificial limbs after he lost his lower leg in a tractor accident. Amos had a passion for helping kids dealing with the loss of a limb. While he had a full scholarship to study, the lure of training horses was too great.

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Yes! You Can Show During The COVID-19 Shutdown

May 7th, 2020 by Simone Cobb

We are living in a brand new world right now! The current corona virus pandemic has forced all horse shows to be either canceled or postponed for the foreseeable future. But that hasn’t stopped the American Paint Horse Association. They have come up with a way for people to be able to compete from home. Steven Hayes is the APHA’s senior marketing director and he’s the person behind this great idea.

How did you come up with this idea?

“Well, I will say it was a team effort. We have some great people on our team that are very innovative and really thinking for the future. This is a project we’ve been working on for quite a while and it’s been in the queue even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With everything that’s going on, we obviously pushed this to the front of the line to try to help get this released and allow people to still do things with their horses while they’re stuck at home and trying to bear what’s going on in the world.

The whole idea is that we live in a virtual world, right?…We want to be able to touch all the markets and give opportunities for people to do activities with their horses on a lower-cost scale.

In this scenario, it’s a smaller entry fee than most horse shows, but you also have to think that you don’t pay a stall fee, you don’t have to haul your horse, you can do it right from your arena.

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Member Spotlight: Dirceu Grigoletto Jr.

May 7th, 2020 by Simone Cobb

Dirceu and Rodrigo Taboga

Dirceu grew up in Brazil and always rode horses and worked with cattle. He has been interested in cutting horses from a very young age. He learned about the American Quarter Horse from an episode on TV that showed all the different sports you could do with the breed. He saw cutting and decided that was how he wanted to make a living and he began a journey to learn the sport of cutting.

In Brazil, he mainly focused on two year olds. He said his favorite thing to do is to train and ride horses. You can’t beat the thrill of riding a colt for the first time, getting it trained and showing it for the first time, he said.

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How You Can Compete In A Cutting During The Covid-19 Shutdown!!!

March 31st, 2020 by Simone Cobb

It’s called e-shows and it’s a concept being offered by the American Paint Horse Association. CHTO is a sponsor of the cutting e-show where you get to video yourself cutting three cows at home and send it in for judging. There’s even money to be won!

APHA Senior Marketing Director Steven Hayes explained the concept to CHTO’s Simone Cobb. To enter now click here https://apha.com/showing/e-shows/

Member Spotlight: Matthew Koenig

March 30th, 2020 by Simone Cobb

Matthew on Cee Cat Play

Matthew Koenig started out racing motorcycles. His wife was the horse lover. When they got married and wanted a family, racing motorcycles didn’t make sense, so he picked up trail riding. But Matthew still enjoyed competition so he began to look for something to challenge him. A nearby cutting horse trainer got Matthew intrigued and two years later, Matthew is the owner of three cutting horses and going strong in the sport.

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Trainer’s Corner: Wes Ashlock

March 30th, 2020 by Simone Cobb

Total Earnings: $462,067

How did you get into cutting?

“My dad and mom raised horses, and they wanted to upgrade their program. There was a guy that had a son of Little Peppy. So we made a deal to breed some mares to his stud… We did some welding to pay for the breedings. That man was Tom Merryman who is now my father-in-law. I quit school in 8th grade and I was over there helping my dad with welding. I saw Tom cutting and he asked me if I wanted to turn back for him. I had no clue what that was but I said yeah I’ll try it. I started helping him and ended up working for him for 3 years…”

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Creating the Conditions for Success with Grant Setnicka: Part 1

March 30th, 2020 by Simone Cobb

Grant Setnicka

It takes more than a good horse to be successful in cutting. It takes planning, practice and positivity. That’s according to someone who’s had plenty of success of the show pen, $3-million trainer Grant Setnicka. Not only that, Setnicka’s clients also enjoy plenty of success themselves. Setnicka shares his tips on how to set yourself up for a satisfying experience in cutting.

➤ Step one is decide what shows you are going to attend for the year. And then learn what each client or yourself needs and adjust the training, work and practice schedule to suit.

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Member Spotlight: Greg Gallagher

March 4th, 2020 by Simone Cobb

Greg Riding Better Moonshine

Greg and his family own an equestrian facility in Canada and the trainer there taught him how to ride. She asked him if he wanted to work cows one day and he fell in love with cutting after that.

Greg has been cutting for two years now. He borrowed a horse and says he doesn’t think he marked above a 60 that whole first year.

He then looked for a horse he could buy. He bought Better Moonshine and they have experienced a lot of success together. One of his most memorable moments was when he marked his first 72 with the new horse.

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Trainer’s Corner: Andrew Coates

March 4th, 2020 by Simone Cobb

Earnings: $1,116,543

Andrew Coates

Hall Of Fame trainer, Andrew Coates, started his first horse at 13 years old in Australia and now he and his wife Nicole own and operate Southern Cross Ranch in Esparto, California. A few years ago they chose to change their business model to keep their family together. Coates now trains 2 year olds and shows a few 3 year olds. Coates said they are very blessed to have incredible clients that have stuck with them through the transition as well as great friends like Morgan Cromer and Eric Wisehart. Coates also raises and sells Wagyu Cattle, and runs a feedlot.

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Jay Winborn – Part II: Making The NCHA Great Again

March 4th, 2020 by Simone Cobb

Jay Winborn

How do you revamp and modernize an organization to secure its future yet stay true to its western-heritage roots? It’s a challenge the new NCHA Executive Director Jay Winborn has already begun working on. With experience in business, marketing, event promotion, sporting associations and as competitive horseman himself, Winborn has all the necessary skills and attributes to manage this daunting task.

In part two of our in-depth interview with the new NCHA leader, Winborn divulges more of his plans to restore the Association to its former glory but in a way that is more inclusive for all levels of riders and budgets.

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New NCHA Executive Director Jay Winborn

February 20th, 2020 by Simone Cobb

You could say Jay Winborn is a man with a plan, or two or three. Not only is he brimming over with creative ideas, he has a track record of implementing them, successfully. It’s why the National Cutting Horse Association, plagued by membership decline, lack of leadership and financial strife, was prepared to make a lucrative offer to get Winborn on board. So in December of 2019, the NCHA welcomed Jay Winborn as the new executive director.

Jay sat down with CHTO’s Simone Cobb for an indepth chat about his goals and challenges in steering the NCHA onto a path of growth, stability and longevity.

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