Total Earnings: $4,187,197
Michael Cooper never worked for a cutting horse trainer and literally came from nothing. He is from Missouri originally and learned about cutting when he traveled to Arkansas to visit relatives who happened to work for a cutting horse trainer. They offered to let Cooper work a cutting horse and he couldn’t believe what he was feeling. He learned by watching everything he could about cutting and even wore out training dvds. Keep On Reading!
Total Earnings: $2,238,026
As an NCHA AAAA judge, one of Brett Davis’s favorite things about judging is the finals. Everyone’s goal is to make the finals and hopefully win. As a judge, it is exciting to see what everyone brings to the table when they lay it all on the line to win a coveted buckle. He was of the five judges in the 2019 Futurity that Gary Bellenfant won.
Eric and Katherine Van Boekel
Eric Van Boekel was originally a team penner. There was just something about that feeling when a horse gets a hold of a cow. He then started riding with Randy Chartier in 2003 and ventured into the cutting horse scene.
The obvious next step for Van Boekel was to buy his own cutting horse. He tried to do both sports together but it started to get complicated because one sport was offensive and one was defensive. He picked cutting.
Levi and Miss Cheekacat
Growing up rodeoing, Levi Price has always loved the western lifestyle. The summer before he started high school he got a job with a cutting horse trainer 10 miles from home. It did not take Price long to fall in love with the sport.
Later, he attended college on a rodeo scholarship at Conners State College where he almost finished his Animal Science degree. After college, he worked for Ed Dufurrena’s as his two year old trainer for more than two years in Gainesville, TX.
His favorite memory is the night Stevie Rey Von won the NCHA Futurity in 2015; he had been at Dufurrena’s for about a year. It was a great experience for Price to see the horse work everyday and watch it pay off claiming the coveted title. He said they were all very inspired to get back to work after that big night!
Total Earnings: $1,546,036
When Allen Crouch was seven years old he happened to move across the street from a huge cutting operation in Kentucky owned by non-pro rider, Ronnie Titsworth. He loved hanging out at the barn where Titsworth would give him jobs to do around the ranch. That soon blossomed into a great friendship. Titsworth would take Crouch to cuttings and let Crouch show his horses.
Katy and Kitty Hawks Marie Photo by Ann Mulchay Photography
Katy Rosane participated in the Reno Rodeo cattle drive three years ago and thought chasing cows was a blast. The following year she was preparing to retire and decided she wanted a horse.
She attended a clinic given by a cutting horse trainer. The clinic ended up being cancelled but Rosane was already there and got talking with the clinician. Keep On Reading!
Michael starts his clinics with a classroom session to find out participant’s challenges and goals.
There are really good riders, really good showmen, good trainers and good educators and it’s very rare that you find one that is all four. Michael Cooper is all four.
That’s according to Sheila King, who came from Tennessee to watch Cooper give a two day clinic put on by Cutting Horse Training Online at Weatherford, TX on July 3-4 at Stormy Cutting and Cattle Ranch.
Travis Stewart looks at two year olds like an artist looks at a blank canvas.They have limited experience with people so he can mold them into what he thinks they need to be to succeed in their performance careers. While Stewart has been focused on two year olds, he does get to show on occasion to complete the picture. He truly enjoys the day to day process of training at home.
He attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, in California where he earned his Animal Science degree. It was there he discovered the performance horse world, which soon replaced his plans for vet school. Stewart is also a talented painter and sculptor in his free time.
Total Earnings: $3,005,912
Two-time NCHA Futurity Champion, Craig Thompson, grew up showing cutting horses in the youth. His grandfather, Thomas Nichols, who was a huge inspiration to him, got him started in cutting.
In 1996, Thompson went to work for Kenny Pew Jr. in Brenham, TX. He then worked for Matt Gaines and with his assistant at the time, Clint Allen. Winston and Paul Hansma were living across the road at Bar H, so Thompson also spent time learning from them. He said the brothers were instrumental in helping his career.
Veltri assessing a horse’s range of motion
Stretching before a big show or a hard training session is very important to keep muscles flexible, strong and healthy. Many horse owners already stretch their horse’s neck side to side with treats before a ride, but did you know there are more stretches you can do to keep your equine athlete performing at his best?
Equine Massage Therapist, Tiffanie Veltri likes to educate her clients on how to thoroughly stretch their own horses. These techniques help owners maintain their horse’s flexibility and make sure the key muscle groups are getting released.
Total Earnings: $892,000 Aus
At 18 years old Rob Hodgman left home in Australia and traveled to California to ride reined cow horses. He returned home where he said the sport was more popular then and bought a cow horse. That horse did not like reining so a friend suggested he take it to the cutting futurity. He ended up winning the 1983 Australian NCHA Open Futurity on the horse.
Samantha McPherrin & her mom Suzanne Stilwell
Samantha McPherrin rode a cutting horse for the first time in 2010 when she was working for a trainer. She had a blast and her mom, Suzanne Stilwell, also got into cutting at the same time.
Stilwell bought her first horse in 2010. Stilwell said Todd Bimat and Jose Mendez were a big part of how she got started in cutting.
Buffalo getting a feel for the arena
They’re goggled-eyed, mop-headed, unbalanced looking creatures that can seem downright intimidating, but the ungainly bison can be a cutter’s best friend when it comes to tuning your horse.
With constant supplies of fresh cattle a fantasy for most cutters, buffalo are a much more affordable substitute. Unlike cows which sour quickly after being worked, buffalo can be used to train six to eight horses a day for a number of years, provided you handle them right.
Josh riding a 2 year old with his son
What started out as a quest to make the best rope horse has become a journey that has taken Josh Keimig from working on the power line to ridin two year old cutting horses.
A friend with a cattle ranch introduced Josh Keimig to the fast paced sport of cutting with a YouTube video and broke cutters.
Total Earnings: $3,453,801
As a high schooler, Russ Westfall worked for a cattle ranch that provided cattle at cutting shows in the Northwest. That winter he went to work for a trainer and started colts. Then he got the incredible opportunity to work for Buster Welch in Texas. He was there for three years.
“It was the best time of my life. I learned so much!” said Westfall.
