Shuttle Runs

Yesterday I was flipping through the channels, and stumbled across an equestrian event I had never seen before, called cutting. Check out the video. You don't need to read Seabiscuit to realize that horses really are athletes.



I don't know enough about cutting to know if it's more impressive to cut a spry calf, or a lumbering but strong buffalo. But I do know cutting a buffalo looks pretty cool.



It seems to me, though, that a huge piece of this sport is mental. Yes, you have to ride and handle an athletic horse, but you and your horse also need to have the attitude that you can stare down and control the bull. If you get a fearless calf, it may have no problem running right past you, no matter how quick and agile your horse is. For example, Toonces would be harder to cut from a cat herd than Nacho, no matter how athletic Pancho is.

And that's one of the things I saw on TV yesterday. As far as I could tell, half the challenge as a rider is to a) identify the calf you think you can control and b) actually be able to separate that specific calf from the rest of the herd. 

Then somehow you are also judged for style.  I don't know how they do that.