NCHA Weekend comes to Grant County Fairgrounds

MOSES LAKE — The National Cutting Horse Association hosted its NCHA Weekend event at the Grant County Fairgrounds Saturday and Sunday, bringing in riders from across the Western United States and Canada.

“Cutting is an old tradition from ranches many years ago, in order to get cows to where they needed them it was basically a form of cutting (individual cows away from their herds),” Washington Cutting Horse Association President Bruce Pinkerton said. “Now it’s refined to a very large sport in the United States.”

The competition is based on a rider separating a cow from its herd and corralling it in a centralized area.

“You’re riding a horse that has got to be disciplined and trained well because once you get yourself on a cow you can’t move your hands,” Pinkerton said. “Basically you go to the herd and bring one cow out, and your job is to keep it in front of you - between you and the judge.”

Once a rider enters the arena, he approaches the herd of cattle and selects one to bring out. After selection, judges look for the connection that a rider has with their horse, as the rider cannot use their hands to control the horse during the run. Pinkerton said that the rider sometimes uses their feet to guide the horse during the run. The objective is to keep the cow from returning to its herd.

“The main thing that the judge is looking for is that the horse controls the cow in the middle third of the arena,” Pinkerton said. “If you're going to the walls, running back and forth, you’re not going to make as many points in your run.”

Scoring is based on the overall performance of a rider’s run. During a run, the rider must herd at least two cows but can go for a third if desired. Points are awarded for keeping the cow in the middle third of the arena, something Pinkerton calls “the money area.”

“If you’re in the middle third, that’s what we call the money area,” Pinkerton said. “That’s how you make points.”

Each rider has two minutes and 30 seconds to make their runs and is awarded a score up to 80 by the judges. Pinkerton said that riders typically will look for cows that haven’t been picked before to use in their run.

“You don’t want to use used cows,” Pinkerton said, “we want to compete with fresh cows. Ones that somebody hasn’t picked before.”

NCHA Weekend events are hosted to bring riders out, offering double circuit points and extra prize money. This weekend's event was a specially-selected regional event, where members of the Pioneer Region came to Moses Lake.

The Pioneer Region, which is where the WCHA belongs to, consists of states across the western US and up to Canada and Alaska. Colorado, Idaho, California, Montana, Utah, Oregon and Washington make up the remaining states in the region.

Final results of the competition were not available by press time, but may be found at: https://bit.ly/CUTTINGML.

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.