Total Earnings: $3,181,574
Todd Bimat learned about cutting from his dad. And at 17 years old, he went to work for Leon Harrell for a summer. He always wanted to be a cutting horse trainer and his love for the sport continued to grow as he gained experience. At 18 he went to college briefly but then an opportunity opened up when Harrell’s full time help got hurt. Bimat said he threw all of his stuff in his truck, headed to Harrell’s and never looked back.
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.
Gavin Jordan
How did you get started in cutting? “Well, I worked for a horse trainer in Australia before I came up [over to the USA] a guy named Craig Emerton. We always… had pleasure horses and reining horses and everything, when we were kids and just did every event we could throw a leg over and it just progressed from there.”
What brought you from Australia to the USA? “Well, just the horses. A guy that Craig actually worked for named Stan Fonson who was a great reined cow horse trainer and ventured into the cutting by the time I got over there. So I was just looking for a change out of Australia and something different. So I got a job with him and went from there.”
