Total Earnings: $237,828
Cory Deel grew up in Denton, North Carolina and rode bulls. He was encouraged to get a job and with no horse experience at all he started working for a horse trader cleaning stalls. The trader had cutting horses and gave Deel his first experience riding one. Deel went on to work for Eddie Braxton in South Carolina for four years where he worked a lot of horses and gained most of his knowledge. Deel moved to Texas to work for Mike and Tammy Jones in Wichita Falls. He showed horses and rode their colts. He then bought his current facility in Jacksboro, TX two years ago.
Deel had one of the highest selling colts at this year’s NCHA Futurity Sale selling the two-year-old for $600,000. He also made the Open Futurity Semi-Finals and Limited Finals in 2020 and 2021. When Deel is not training sale toppers, he enjoys hunting and spending time with his family.
What is your training philosophy?
“I like to work a cow and let the horse develop a really good cow sense. I like the horse to feel a cow so everything I do revolves around the cow.”
What is the best piece of advice you have received?
“That a lot of hard work makes up for a lack of talent. Hard work gets you a lot of places you never thought you could go.”
What inspires you?
“[Training cutters is] a dream of mine and my family’s. I love it. I don’t know what else I would be doing. Even when I’m not working I am still thinking about working.”
What are your goals?
“I want to run a really good two-year-old program. I think [it’s important in our industry to have] a really good twoyear-old program. Focus on the babies and get them trained.”
Deel enjoys staying home and working with two and three year olds.
How do you define feel and can you teach feel?
“Feel, to me, is no different than the horse feeling the cow or my hands feeling when to let go or get a hold. [Feel is] something that has to come over the years. If you put in enough work you feel the right thing and you feel the wrong thing. If the horse doesn’t feel the right spot to be on a cow, you still have a lot of work to do… Every cow, horse, person has a different bubble and you have to understand when to get in and when to get out of that bubble.”