by Cyndi Rowat
The Stampede Stock Show hosted some of North America’s top cutters in the 32nd Annual Cutting Competition on Stampede Park July 11 to 13, 2006.
The cutting events sponsored by Vada Capital included Open, Non-Pro and Youth divisions with the finals offering trophy buckles and prize money for the top aggregate scores in each and top final go money for the Open and Non-Pro divisions.
“With 72 entries in total, we’re really pleased with the numbers at this year’s events,” said Western Performance Horse Committee chairman Rob Stirling.
Thirty competitors in each Open and Non-Pro divisions were whittled down to the top ten and top eleven.
Open competitor and professional cutting horse trainer Russ Carroll of Edna, Texas, rode nine-year-old Cats Smart, owned by Crystal Doehling of Gardendale, TX, fifth in the order. The first cow gave the snappy sorrel an opportunity to show off for the judges and, in the end, they were awarded 148. But the first two goes are what put Carroll in the driver’s seat to the aggregate victory with his runs of 151 and 149.
“If I could have hand-picked my draw, I would have picked fifth,” he said. “It’s the ideal place to be.
Carroll was just as happy about his horse. “I was really pleased with her. She just never has a bad day. She’s one of those special kind of horses.” says Carroll in his soft Texas style. “She not only does her job, but she also wants to do a little extra to help you win.”
Growing up with cutting horses, Carroll obtained a business degree and during his junior year began to focus on the cutting industry, following his National Cutting Horse Association’s (NCHA) hall of fame father’s footsteps.
This was Carroll’s first visit to Canada and it will be a memorable one. “My help, Denton Moffat, Carl Gerwein, Steve Ginn, and Joe Howard-Williamson were the key ingredient.
“My Dad taught me that you can have four people trying to get you through a run or you can have four people trying to help you win. They were definitely trying to help me win.”
In the Non-Pro finals, Joe Howard-Williamson of Texas (currently leading the National Cutting Horse Association Non-Pro division) and Teri Paradis of Okotoks, AB, were tied with an aggregate score of 298 coming into the final.
Howard-Williamson lost the last cow on his final go and departed with a disappointing 137. The next two riders would also fade from the leader board. Running sixth in the order, Paradis piloted six-year-old Just Call Me Turner to a 148 with a big smile on her face.
Last in the order, David Anderson of Calgary, AB, on Otammy White put together a champions challenge and captured the go money for the day with a 149.5.
For Paradis, it was his lowest score in a very consistent competition, but plenty enough to capture the aggregate and a trophy buckle.
Paradis began cutting in 1994 thanks to her husband, Jim, the main owner of the horse. “He let me ride his horse as he was busy helping with the rodeo. I haven’t ridden him in a year. I had really good scores in the Open too – I missed the finals by half a point,” she says with a broad smile.
Trained by Gerry Hansma, the horse was well-tuned. “The horse has been so consistent all year for my husband, we didn’t even tune him up between go rounds. “He’s very fragile – he whinnies when you get off a cow – he’s just very sensitive. He’s a horse that’s really on the edge. He’s just so keen and excited.”
“My help was Carl Gerwien, Guy Heintz, Dustin Gonnett, and Cody Smith. I couldn’t have done it without my loper and best friend Kelli Abreham. What I do is probably the most minor part of the whole thing.
“My help helps put my horse in position and puts the cattle in position so I can show my horse. And, having a good loper allows me to watch cattle, to see which ones are good, which ones are fresh, and then I just get on and go ride.”
“I was just so excited just getting into the final – I was tied with world champion Joe Howard-Williamson coming into it!”
With over 80 different classes, there were plenty of long, flowing manes and high-stepping horses to be seen at the Didsbury Agricultural Society’s Annual Horse Show held July 8 and 9, 2006.
Five days of world calibre horseshoeing competition wrapped up at the 27th annual World Champion Blacksmiths’ competition held during the Stampede Stock Show, July 5 to 9, 2006.
For the second time in history, Reining Canada will be sending a team of four riders to the World Equestrian Games (WEG).
Last month, Lyn Anderson shared her thoughts on show strategy and the boxing portion of the reined cow horse fence run. This month, we are going to discuss the real deal, the place where the “rubber meets the mat,” sort of speak. Only in our case it is the place where steel plates meet dirt and the only thing between the rider and the dirt is his trusty mount, the ever-loyal cow horse!
The Calgary Stampede Team Cattle Penning competition started off with a big bang when the Open riders went head-to-head in the Saddledome, Saturday, July 8, 2006.
Surgical specialists use lidocaine as a local anesthetic during surgeries and as a nerve block in lameness tests, but can they rely on it for damage control after small intestinal colic surgery? A team of scientists at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) in Saskatoon, SK, is striving to answer that very question.
