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Superb Athletes at the Wrangler Cutting Horse Futurity

October 19, 2005

Calgary, AB --- Exclusive to Alberta Equine ...On-Line --- The Wrangler Cutting Horse Futurity in Calgary, October 11 – 16/2005 was a chance for many of the most talented horses and riders in Canada and the United States to display their superior athletic partnership skills in the highest-purse futurity in the Pacific North-West.

The event provides an opportunity to watch horse and rider working together as a team as they handle cutting a cow from the herd. Rob Stirling, Chairman of the Western Performance Horse Committee of the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede, describes the event as “…beast against beast, with the rider having the best seat in the house.” (From “On the Fly”, International Agriculture Profile, Vol.13) Good cutting horses, mostly quarter horses, are tested as they complete a set of mandatory maneuvers; the rider must trust the horse, holding the rein loosely but working as one with the animal. Highly trained cutting horses are valuable; those competing at the Wrangler Cutting Horse Futurity range from $15,000 to $50,000.

A couple of excellent teams were Loren Christianson, working with Ikes Lil Badger in the Open Futurity Finals, Saturday, October 15, and Carl Gerwien, partnered with BSF Chicy High in the Non-Pro Futurity Finals, Sunday, October 16.

These experienced riders make this challenging event look easy; Loren Christianson, one of the top 19 competitors vying for the $17,000 championship in the Open Futurity Finals, started cutting ten years ago. “I used to work in rodeo, then I started working cow horses and cutting”, Christianson says as he prepares Ikes Lil Badger, (owned by Harvey Giese), for the night’s event, “this is a great show – the way it’s set up, and the show ground. Ike Lil Badger is really consistent, comes out and tries – he could make the big score!”

While Christianson, of Stony Plain, AB, was the Reserve Open Champion of the 2003 Maturity at the Peace River Cutting Horse Association’s Futurity in 2003, (riding Doc Dry Badger, owned by Mark Cathey), the Open Futurity Championship eluded the team this time. “It’s been kind of nice to break back into the finals”, Christianson muses; “it was a chance to show our abilities. Ike Lil Badger wanted to be good, but the cows dictate how it goes – the first one was a little soft, but worked nice, then the second was not a good cow, running all over.” The teams had an additional challenge as the Open Futurity Finals happened to coincide with the first Calgary – Edmonton hockey game at the Saddledome since the hockey strike, and the ecstatic hockey fans and their tailgate parties had unsettled the little herd of cows before they arrived into the arena for their competition. Christianson takes a philosophical attitude; “It’s been good, and I’ve really enjoyed the Wrangler Cutting Horse Futurity and the finals…the way it turned out is just the way it goes!

The following day, Carl Gerwien on BSF Chicy High from Willow Spring Ranch, Gerwien’s southern Alberta ranch near Nanton, was the champion in the Non-Pro Futurity Finals, winning a $7,000 purse and a bronze trophy.

Gerwien and BSF Chicy High were poetry in motion as they expertly cut animals from the herd, and delighted the audience with their keen, precise moves back and forth, preventing the cows from returning to the herd. “It’s all in the genes”, says Gerwein with a smile, “the horse wants to work a cow, it’s athletic ability, mental ability, but mainly heart and desire, something you can’t train into an animal…the horse can look like a freight train, but if it’s got heart and desire, it will be a good cutting horse.” Gerwien says that it’s become a mission as he’s put in a lifetime of breeding to look for “that good horse. You have to really respect these horses; their instincts are so strong. I’ve being doing this for 20 years, and I really enjoy it, it’s fun, it isn’t a job!”

The weeklong event was a chance for spectators to get a feeling for the cowboy way of life, as cutting is still used on today’s cattle ranches, as it has been for generations. It’s an opportunity to see the best horses and riders in the country demonstrate a demanding sport – one that’s growing in popularity all over North America.

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