The best 2 1/2 Minutes of your life

So as last Friday’s post stated, Practice Makes Perfect.

And oh so long ago I tried to briefly explain what a Cutting Horse is, or really how you show one… all the rules, guidelines, etc.

And I didn’t do such a hot job of trying to explain… but it’s really so in depth at times that a small blog post doesn’t do it justice.

So… Every year starting around Thanksgiving and ending about 2 weekends before Christmas (give or take) is a thing called the NCHA Futurity.  These are 3 year old babies (of the equine persuasion) who have never been shown in front of a judge for a score, ever.  It’s their first run out.  There are 3 categories, Amateur (Rider has won less than $50,000 Lifetime earnings, never been a trainer), Non Pro (not currently a trainer, gave up training status or never been a trainer), and Open (all the Big dogs or trainers, haha).  So the rider pays their entry fees to take these babies out for their first big showing in Ft. Worth, TX.  There are 2 go-rounds, Semi-finals and the Finals and it is a weeding out process as in so many go back, so many go back and eventually you wind up with 25 in the Finals battling it out for the title to be called Champion.  (and the money too 😉 Open wins $250,000)

So… here is the 2010 NCHA Futurity Open Champion, One Time Royalty Marking a 230**; Lloyd Cox trainer/rider; Jeffrey Matthews, Matthews Cutting Horses of Weatherford TX, Owner

**At the NCHA futurity you show in front of 5 judges, the top and bottom scores get thrown out, then they add the 3 middle scores together and that is your score for that ride.**

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysol98Jf9GY]

The best seat in the house is on the back of the horse.  The second best is in the Judges stand (right out front watching it all happen).

One of these days when we have the flag working, I’ll video that for you as well 🙂  Enjoy!