Tiffany’s Place

Cutting

You’ll see a horse and rider in a pen with a small herd of cattle. The riders sits motionless, ready for the task of separating two of the cows, one at a time, from the herd. The horse, with his head down and completely focused, almost seems to anticipate the cow’s movement, and horse and rider play a game of one-on-one, keeping the quick, determined cow from joining the others.

Cutting started out as part of a cowboy’s job on thousands of cattle ranches throughout the West in the 19th century. Originally used to separate individual cows from large herds on the open range, cutting was a skill required of every cowboy and cow horse. Nowadays, cutting has been refined into a delicate art. Judges look for horses that are athletic and have innate cow sense. The rider’s role is to let the horse do his job. Some people believe good cutting horses are born, not made. An intelligent, agile, obedient cutting horse will succeed as a western sporthorse with good professional training, and, of course, some cattle to practice with.

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